For my proposal of the personal project I wrote that I wanted to consider using a layering of techniques in my visual communication of a story. To start this process I drew a series of ink drawings in a newsprint sketchpad, I did like these but they didn’t seem to complete the images like I expected they were too stark and contrasted the colours and feel of the other pages.

I wanted something with a bit more character and authenticity.

For myself this meant getting reacquainted with the print room,  I wanted to look into Gum Arabic transfers and monoprinting. Both, techniques I have used before but only to really make a final piece, so it was really fun to let loose a bit more and just print things as the inspiration came to me.

First, I attempted the Gum Arabic transfer technique for this I made a set of symbols which centred around the common folktale of sunken church bells in the Sussex countryside. These stories are really interesting because they are all so similar but have a lot of crossover making it difficult to know what church bells and locations they are talking about. This made it the perfect story to use a layering technique such as Gum Arabic transfer. I printed out some landscape drawings that I had made on my week long drawing project at Cuckmere Haven and decided to print over them. I used a deep blue ink which looked really good against the monochrome and also pale orange of the landscapes. The symbols came out well I was impressed with the quality of line and the composition on many worked out great. I was inspired to make something more out of these pieces so using a bookbinding slot I decided to make them into simple concertina books. Helen helped me make a prototype for the books and we looked into how best  to fold them so they would hold their shape.

(Above are images from the monoprinting session_

Next, I looked at monoprinting for this technique I really wanted to work on textures, I already had many drawn pieces but wanted something that I could layer up. I chose to crochet a knit sample as I was inspired by some images online of monoprinted fabric, I loved the outcome of the printing and made every attempt to get every ghost print and overprint on every different piece of paper I had. I wanted to use a knit fabric because I felt it symbolised a lot of the folk tale culture; it is an authentic method of creating something which is practical, full of skill but still a beautiful object.