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For what feels like the millionth time, I am rebooting this blog and having another go at putting down on paper, the actions that I am taking in the studio. More specifically, I am going to try to write about sustainable practice in printmaking, theoretically and pragmatically. I’m be sharing successes and failures, case studies, sources and resources, and maybe even some art.

A Printer’s Sustainability Stool

I am not a carpenter, ie an expert. When I make work, sat upon this stool, it will not be perfect, at least from the outset. I will wobble. There might be splinters, rough edges, poor design, the need for external supports, glue – as many metaphors for failure as you like. There may even be shoddy shortcuts taken in the name of deadlines and pressures. I am prone to falling down.

Why is sustainability important to me, personally? Simple – I want to print the whole of a long and happy life, and I want others around me to be able to do the same.

So that’s it. I’ll start posting, and we’ll see what happens. Suggestions for topics, questions, materials and methods to explore, are always always welcome.

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I’m back from Amsterdam, and ready to start writing about my month-long residency at AGALAB, formerly Atelier Grafische Amsterdam.

I was fortunate enough this year to receive a Develop Your Creative Practice grant from Arts Council England. My proposal was to fund the research and transition of my practice from traditional processes, to more sustainable, and lower toxicity methods and materials.

Part of the grant funded a residency to work with Geowash-K, a vegetable cleaning agent currently being used as an alternative to traditional VOCs and solvents at AGALAB. I had been there before, in 2019, and it was transformative. My intaglio practice now includes acrylic grounds and alternatives to traditional mordants, and I work much more with colour, and alternative substrates.

This second visit would be a chance for me to try this product as an alternative to traditional solvents in stone lithography. Unlike in intaglio, where solvents are usually used after processing to remove inks and grounds, solvents form an intrinsic part of processing and printing the image on the stone, so I was interested to learn whether this product would truly be a viable option. Results are mixed.

I am going to split this into four future posts, documenting my research, progress, or lack thereof, and tentative next steps. Stay tuned.