Calligraph

 Today, I worked in the Print Room making my calligraph plates and printing them using the etching press onto damp paper and fabric. 

To begin my design process I started with five thumbnail designs based on a few selected photographs from the Southerndown trip, leading to the first design being the water between the rocks and the moisture left upon them. The second being the moss/algae that laid on top of the rocks focussing on a much more close up view of one of the photos, the third design was inspired by the ground beneath my feet featuring the rocks sitting upon the bed of a stream and the sandy, worn down grass that laid beside the edges almost like a  border. The fourth was designed on the much larger stone slabs where the rocks became a lot more dryer and the gaps between the stones became smaller. Then the final design was inspired by what I found to be a very interesting photograph where a remnant piece of wired net laid on top of a pile of rocks leaving me to question, how did it get there? How long has it been there for? And what purpose did it serve before? After I had designed the smaller thumbnails I narrowed it down to three which I then drew again on a larger scale within the circles which are to scale for the calligraph plates I was going to create, the three designs I chose were the wire netting on the rocks, the algae/moss laying on top of the damp rocks and the ground beneath. 

              

Before starting to create any of the three calligraph’s I began with cutting out the three circles to size out of mount board, I cut out the circle’s by drawing around a paper cup to keep them all at the same size and then scouring along the outline using a craft knife. Before continuously following around the circle shape adding more pressure each time I rotate to get a clean sharp edge around each of the circles. I did struggle trying to cut the shape without the knife slipping and making an edge sharper in some areas, but after a practice attempt on the first circle I was able to progress a lot easier with cutting them out as I began to scour them multiple times that restricted the knife from being able to move. 

For the first calligraph plate I focused on the algae on the rocks where I tried to be really free and open as to what materials I chose to use within my calligraph plate’s and for this one I used carpet, paper towels, wool string, cardboard and salt. Showing that I have been extremely adventurous as to exploring the potential of the materials, which although was completely out of my comfort zone I found really intriguing and enjoyed being so playful with the materials I had at hand, as opposed to traditional art materials. I think what worked really well when creating this calligraph was the tissue paper as once the varnish touched it, it freely reformed itself into a fluid, natural, crumpled like state. What didn’t work so well was the carpet as where I had strips of it separated it made it harder for the press to reach the lower less prominent materials such as the string preventing the texture of the string from creating a mark against the paper/fabric. If I was to do this again I would substitute the carpet for a different material such as sponge or a easily pressed material, a major problem I experienced with this calligraph was how it struggled to get through the press due to it’s thickness resulting in me pressing the paper/fabric over the top of the calligraph using my hands in order to try and achieve some form of a print. 

The second calligraph was focused on the close up photo I took of a remnant wire net left on the rocks next to the beach. To create this calligraph I used carpet, felt circles that I cut into rock-like shapes, salt and some yellow fruit netting. What I found interesting was how when I added the varnish on top of the net and had to use the heat gun to dry it in between layers the net altered it's original state as it melted slightly and reformed allowing it to lay more securely on top of the carpet. I feel as though the experiment with the materials for this calligraph worked well as it shown me experimenting with completely new materials especially materials that I haven't used together before. The salt with the carpet didn't work very well because the carpet elevated the surface that the print is going to pick up, and the salt being a lot lower compared to the carpet restricted the salt from giving the texture of the grains. If I was to recreate this calligraph I would substitute the carpet for a different material such as a coarse sand or an alternative fabric that would have a flatter surface for the calligraph. 

                                                   

In the third calligraph I focused on the ground beneath where I created a less complex design using completely different materials except continuing to use salt as one of the main mediums to create texture, in this calligraph I used cotton wool that I made into rough ball shapes and for the grass/dirt texture I used wool string that I cut up into short, small pieces. Although I didn't get to print this calligraph I feel as though the design for this piece was successful, however if I was to do this calligraph again I would experiment with possibly the felt circles so that they don't flatten and spread like the cotton wool. 

I was only able to print the first calligraph (the algae on the rocks) which i printed on top of a raw fabric, using a brown colour ink that I mixed myself. I believe that to an extent this was successful because I created a print that picked up all of the different textures, I feel as though the circle shape also worked well and transferred cleanly without getting ink across the fabric. If I was to create not only this calligraph but the other calligraph's I would make them all flatter, making them much more easily printable as I had to use alternative ways such as using my hand to print the plate onto the fabric due to the thickness not being able to go through the print press, proving some difficulty. My practice could be improved upon by sticking to a much more basic shape and using less 3D, thick materials to create the texture and shape of the calligraph. To develop my calligraph skills I would experiment with using plates of different sizes and shapes testing my skills on different surfaces, I would also use different photographs making a varied selection of calligraph's.