East India Company heads – white ground etchings

I'm working on a series of East India Company head etchings, using Paul Dewis' fabulous white ground technique. It involves using a soapy mixture as a resist on the etching plate. I cut the heads out of lino, put the soap mix on and ended up with very different etching plates. I'm going to make a concertina book featuring the first corporate raiders.

 

 

Dragon Head

In February 2018 I embarked on my first big book project: Dragon Head – after making crocodiles at a short ceramics course. It is a book for young children.

The story was (partly) inspired by our experience of Chinese New Year in Chinatown in London, and the little paper dragon we took home. I came up with the story while lying butt naked, wrapped in clingfilm, in a dark room during a body wrap treatment in west London for an hour. I quickly wrote it down on the way home.

Over the next few months I made multiple colour wood cuts and printed hundreds of times. I opted for a reductive wood cut – I printed the background, then carved the crocs and printed the first colour; cut away a bit more and printed the second colour, carved some more and printed the third, fourth and sometimes fifth colour.

The text is screenprinted. Huge thanks to Paul Dewis at Morley College for his help with the screenprinting. I got all the printing done by July, but still need bind the book. I'll post here once it's finished.

October Revolution

Then I went back to photo etching, and discovered polymer etching which gives an embossed print.

I made these prints for the centenary of the October Revolution in October 2017.