My Year of Print
Embracing mess, learning and staring into the middle distance with an oily rag.
This time last year, I was about to start a new course — The Complete Printmaker at Hot Bed Press, Salford. I’d been eyeing it up for literally YEARS. And every year, I talked myself out of it. It’s too expensive. It’s too much of a time commitment. I won’t keep it up. It’s fully booked (after I faffed around too much and missed the boat).
But last year, something made me seize the day. Paid the deposit. Booked it.
Yes.
The first day on the course wasn’t what I’d been expecting. It was February, and it was FREEZING! Like ridiculously cold. RIDICULOUS. I’m not even exaggerating when I say it was warmer outside than inside the building. There were more people than I was expecting. Which, after years of lockdown and hiding from reality, left me a little overwhelmed. Our first lesson kicked off with a simple monoprint. There were people in all the spaces and I felt in the way. I couldn’t find myself a spot to work and I was so very cold. I left that day feeling a little deflated and wondered if I’d made a mistake.
I missed the following week (due to a holiday) but decided to go back and give it another chance. I know from experience that first go isn’t always the best. So back I went. The same things were true, but I was more prepared this time and a bit more assertive about finding myself a space. I also prepped to the max with layers upon layers of warm clothing and hot flasks of never-ending coffee.
By the time we were a few weeks in, we’d figured out how to work around each other. I was starting to enjoy the familiarity of routine, the friendly faces and morning chats. And the slow hands-on process was giving me a lot of good head space.
The thing about printing, is that a large percentage of time is spent prepping, cleaning, trialling and testing. The printing bit is tiny in comparison. And while I am a very messy person, I found myself having a bit of a moment while cleaning up my inky workspace. Because I know it takes ages, I’d allowed a whole hour for cleaning, and found it to be weirdly relaxing. I didn’t know that was even possible. Tidying and cleaning is my ultimate chore. But it turns out you can use vegetable oil to clean up ink and it feels very wholesome. Amazing! So, I was slowly soaking rags with oil and gently mopping up ink. The act of gently transforming my space from inky mess to sparkling clean was kind of meditative. Completely unexpected, but very zen.
And so week upon week, I headed in to my freezing classes, arriving to the smell of old building and inky prints with a big smile on my face.
The other hurdle to overcome was the ‘learning to do something new bit’. This is tricky. When you haven’t been a beginner for a while, it’s very hard to go back. It’s not fun being rubbish at things. It’s easily forgotten how you improve with practice once you get over that initial block of not being amazing at stuff. I had to remind myself that practice is fun. Once I switched my brain from trying to create ‘output’ and final work, to the process of learning instead, I was much happier. I could then spend the time playing, experimenting and messing about. Not only did I begin to enjoy it way more, but I found that allowing myself this experimental playtime injected my other work with a boost. I felt more imaginative, more enthusiastic, and ultimately more creative in all aspects of my work. Taking the time to do something else gave my brain a kind of unintentional but gentle work out.
I discovered there were certain elements I enjoyed more than others. Processes that were fun to learn but knew I wouldn’t pursue. I’ll never be an etcher for example. I loved learning about it, but the idea that acid was involved added a whole perilous angle that I’m simply not here for. Turns out, if you put the wrong metal into the acid, it results in a toxic mustard gas. So er nope, I’m not leaving myself open to those kind of mistakes. Oops, I’ve accidentally gassed you all. Soz. An etcher I won’t be.
Unsurprisingly I learned that screeprinting is my favourite so far. I’ve done it before, and it lends itself to my work. But I discovered other new processes that I’ll defnitely be going back to. I loved gum arabic, and the prints I made by waterless lithography were very pleasing. And so, I’ve booked myself on to the second year of the course to crack on with more of the learning good stuff.
I guess my main takeaway from the year is not to be afraid of being a beginner again, embracing the mess and being less precious and ‘perfection'-y’ about work. I’ve found it to be pretty transformative so far.
If this floats your boat, I’ve added a few of the prints, practices and play things I made over the year and how I found each process for paid subscribers (where you can also ask me any questions). As you can see, it’s not my most ground breaking work…yet, but we all deserve to spend time playing, experimenting and making a mess.
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