Jewelry - 3 Silver Earrings

Since I found the lost wax surprises in the basement I have been dragging out all my jewelry supplies. I made 3 pairs of earrings today, I am rusty so the ear wires need to be replaced as they are not perfect. It is fun playing with this stuff. The earrings are made of sterling silver, freshwater pearls, garnets, glass and stone.

Gelatin Printmaking

When I first moved to my present home I didn't have my press available so underwent printmaking withdrawal.

I started using gelatin plates to make monoprints as I could do this in my kitchen.

Here are some tips:

• Use unflavored gelatin but double the amount of gelatin to water that the package states. You don't need anything but your palm to get good contact of the plate and paper.

• Although Nancy Marculewicz in Making Monoprints Using a Gelatin Plate uses various types of inks, I found that Speedball inexpensive inks with an extender work the best.

• The paper used for Scallops is I think Arches 88 which was the best of the stiffer papers for picking up the ink. Thinner, flexible but strong papers such as mulberry work well for gelatin plate printmaking.

Nautilus is another monoprint and as you can see you can combine gelatin printmaking with other methods such as xerox transfers. Both Scallops and Nautilus are examples of layering of inks, even with Speedball water based inks you can layer colors quite well. Because the ink dries fast you don't have to wait long to add another layer.

Clay Relief Etching - My History

The first clay relief etching I made and printed in 1997 in Linda Neely's workshop in CT is Trumpet Shell. Oil based Graphic Chemical (GC) inks are used, mixed with EZWipe. The plate is printed in color in a single printing. The intaglio is printed with burnt umber GC ink, the relief is a la poupee* with GC oil based inks. The same method was used on my second plate, also created during that first workshop. Scallops. Linda said this wouldn't print well as it had too much "architecture". The plate did print although it did crack under pressure of the press. I think that adds an old world flavor and I love this print. Some people believe that if prints are not identical these should be called monoprints. With new and different materials and printmaking methods the lines between what you call the method and how you number it are blurred. Hope you liked this, more to come in the future! * a la poupee means that the ink is applied to the surface of the etching plate prior to printing.