Project 4 Preparation Stage 1

Preparation

I've been busy making a solid surface to print on and a printing pad.  I've also been reading notes on what is coming up and it seems to give me no clue as to what I do with the printing pad.  A question to my tutor I think.

Here's the response:

Hi Irene,

This is an interesting question and one that I haven’t been asked before! I have re read the instructions on p87 and I am assuming that you saturate the surface felt or fabric with either ink , paint or dye and then press your printing block/found object etc. into the felt or fabric surface to coat it ready for printing or stamping. I have to say, this is not something I personally would do, but that’s not to say it isn’t a valid technique. I prefer to use a roller to get a thin even coverage onto the printing block but as you have already made the printing pad, give it a go and see what happens! I’ll be interested to see the results.

Kind regards,

Liz  

No wonder I was puzzled.  I've been using a sponge to get a thin coat of paint onto my block and been quite happy but having made the pad I've just got to try it.

Some days later I tried using the pad.  I've been quite happy with using a small sponge to apply the paint so I wasn't very excited about this.  It's a good job because I found it had no advantage over my method and it was very  extravagant with paint.  Maybe if you were using just one colour for a large piece it might may be OK but right now I have a very wet pad (I washed it) and lots of paint down the sink.

I used a couple of stamps I hadn't used before which was good but all in all I'll be using them again but not the pad.