Clay Monoprinting - Something completely different! pt 1

Father Brian with art displayed by a young artist who is also the receptionist 

I met this delightful woman who was coordinating an event at a local church. The young and energetic priest, Father Brian, decided to host an evening of celebrating beauty. It included four musicians playing chamber music (one of the musicians is in the parish) and artists displaying their work. Most of the participants of this evening celebrating beauty were either people who worked at the parish in some capacity or related to someone who works there. Except me. I have a friend who works there and she gave my name to the event coordinator, who is also an artist. Fr. Brian gave a short, maybe 20" talk on why beauty is important in our life and that we need to support those that create beauty, whether through their music, their art, architecture, etc. Wow! Was that ever a breath of fresh air. That beauty nourishes our soul. Indeed!

My table with St Joseph

Mary Lynn had clay mono prints displayed at her table. I was intrigued. I had never seen any print of any kind that looked like these. I could not wrap my head around what or how do you print with clay?? After the event I wrote her a thank you for her hard work and success and for including me. I also told her I would like to know more about this process if she would ever be willing to let me observe when she was in her studio doing this mysterious printmaking technique! I had looked it up online so I had a vague clue, but really more questions than answers. In response she sent me a flyer of an upcoming 15 hr CE credit workshop over three days. One spot was left out of the 3 weekends it was offered. I took the spot. Not surprising with CE credit being offered, most of the students were art teachers, taught by two retired art teachers.

'Blank' Canvas, or clay plate covered in kaolin

This is the start of our first full day. The evening before we had built the frame (16x20) and pushed the clay into the frame to make a flat surface. After getting the clay rather flat, 3-4 coats of kaolin (a clay often found in facial masks) was brushed on. Each coat had to dry before applying the next coat. It is now ready to apply color and texture and the tools are lined up for that. I did not take enough photos in between and for that I am sorry. So we jump from plain plate to showing the results down below of the first set of prints. Mine is the one with stars. I will provide better photos of what I produced in part 2.

Samples of first days efforts - in print

 In creating a print, I had no expectations. I had grabbed a pile of objects to create texture and patterns. I had mixed up the teal and raspberry pigments and then used colors from other students at the table. As newbies we always mixed more than we needed... Of which very little actually shows up in my print. I am showing Mary Lynn's demonstration below. She had her plate covered and is now adding decals. The whole thing will be covered in a solid color of white and the color will only remain where the decals or stencils are.

 The resulting print that Mary Lynn did is below in the upper left hand side.  The prints are printed on a plastic fabric similar to Pellon in texture and content. ie plastic. I could not figure out in the videos I watched when the called it 'fabric' yet it look and acted like a paper you would use in printmaking.

Also in the photo above is my second print done on Day 3. It takes time to build up the layers you need to pull a print. Each layer of color you put on has to dry and then be embedded. Any texture or pattern or decal or stencil all have to be embedded using your roller and newsprint. It is a process. Most of us had two plates we were working on so that while one was drying we could be creating on another. In the first image below I am considering doing what Mary Lynn had done in her demo using stencils I had made. Since my background was mostly shapes I made my stencils to recreate those shapes, remembering that where the stencils are, the original background will show through. Everything else will be covered. I used a denim blue as my cover coat on this one.

Did you notice the lined newsprint used in elementary schools is my stencil material?
I also used post it notes of varying sizes in the first layer.  

Here I am pulling my print after much rolling and pressure using the back of a spoon to get the transfer to be as much of the pigment as possible. The corners and edges tend to dry faster than the main plate so it takes much spraying of water and more pressure to get the color and edges to be as clear and sharp as the original.
What I learned is that you are only limited by your imagination! If this is of any interest to you there are some upcoming workshops. They do fill up fast. Contact Mary Lynn or Michael Cellan, who is the main instructor, Michael Cellan's Great Art Workshops, 2415 Tremont St, Colorado Springs, CO 80907. These workshops are held in Littleton, Colorado.