Trying something new – Lithography at the Draw Studio

Let me start by stating, this is not a ‘How To’ post, I still can’t quite get my head around this particular practice, but what I can say, it’s so mind-blowing I had to share my experience with you. I’m also not going to sit here and copy and paste from the internet the theory of it, you can do that yourself, and I reckon, it still won’t have you coming close to understanding without doing the practice. I was lucky enough – as one of the tutors at Draw – to be offered a taster session with professional printmakers and lithographers Scarlett Rebecca, Ruta Prusinskaite and Euan Harries. With a new direct press in the studio, we were all eager to learn and test our skill and new equipment.

Drawing freehand isn’t my strongest skill – yet. So I had asked beforehand, if I was able to bring in something I’d done before and transfer it, I didn’t get as much time as the others to add more detail to my piece, but this gave me, not only the opportunity to create something I will actually like, but to keep this in mind for the next time I try the art of lithography.

Now I’m sure there are some, probably many of you out there that understand the techniques that come with Lithography, but as I stood and listened to the process; my jaw continued to drop. It’s nothing like the printmaking I have experience; there are a lot more layers to the process. What I can tell you which first blew my mind, you create your print on a massive limestone canvas, you then use different types of inks or charcoal (if my memory serves me correctly) to create your design, which you then have to cover with different acids and chemicals that create different reactions for you to begin making your final print. after a lengthy process of calculated measurements and exact times, times that can span over 8 hours, you are then ready to start printing.

I hope you get the gist, whether I have or haven’t explained it quite right, you got to give this a go, it’s truly amazing and so much fun! For more info and how you can have a go with the Draw specialists, CLICK HERE.