Monoprints

Recently I was playing around with trying out some monoprinting.  A monoprint or monotype is essentially a simple transfer print from glass,plastic or metal plate. The plate is painted or inked and drawn into and wiped and smudged to produce various results, and then printed onto paper. I used a small press, but it's also possible to simply rub the back of the paper with the back of a spoon,or use a print roller.  The image prints in reverse and you only get one print. Hence "mono" print. However, usually there is still the ghost of the image left on the surface of the plate, and this can then be reworked to produce another print.  It encourages working in series and can be quite addictive! 

 The use of myself as subject matter was incidental really, and I hardly even looked in the mirror. I just wanted to experiment, and the first ones above were done with etching ink and oil paint onto a copper plate.  Then I tryed using acrylic paint. Because of it's fast drying time I had to work very fast and they were executed in about a minute or less. There is a new type of slow drying acrylic available - Golden's Open Acrylic - and I have just ordered some to try out.  I also discovered, much to my surprise that if I drew directly into the paint with a soft graphite pencil, the marks were transferred perfectly. 

I was using various small samples of fine paper and I was rather pleased with the serendipity of this one on a paper called "Husk".