Forest Book Lutradur and Encaustic Page

Another page is ready for my Forest Book and it is composed of paper clay, encaustic, waxed linen, digitally printed and melted lutradur, dyed burlap, threads and pieces of a multitude of digital prints on alternative surfaces.  This page measures approximately 4 feet x 2 feet.  The back side will be posted here soon.  I have included a full shot and detail.  If you would like to see some other pictures of the base and the start of adding encaustic pieces go to my texture blog.

Forest Book Kauri Page

Enter more to the inside of my Forest Book with a page based on the Tane Mahuta, New Zealands largest known living Kauri tree.  This tree is in the Waipoua Forest on the north island.  This forest is magnificent and the print this page is based on is but a tiny section of this immence tree that is upwards of 1200  years old.

The image is printed on these surfaces: lutradur, tyvek, rice paper and dyed canvas.  The layers also contain dyed burlap, chrocheted hemp, twigs and dyed cheesecloth. The stacks are wired together an attached to hardware cloth.  A large border of crocheted jute surrounds the tree composition.

Mesa Contemporary Arts' 32nd Annual Contemporary Crafts Exhibition

My piece Forest Surfaces 15 will be displayed in this Mesa Contemporary Arts show from January 21, 2011 through March 6, 2011 with an opening on January 21st.  The show is curated by Perry Price, Assistant Curator of Exhibitions and Collections at the Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, Massachusetts.  The Mesa Contemporary Arts Crafts exhibition will include 47 artworks by 37 artists representing 18 states. 

Forest Surfaces 15 Artist Statement

My visits to forests that are home to the largest trees on the planet, has been inspirational in depicting a response to this incredible environment.  Photographs of trees and their surrounding areas evolved into a series of work.

Forest Surfaces 15 is an expression of the Waipoui Forest in northern New Zealand.  An image is manipulated and printed on an alternative surface with archival ink. Visually stepping into the composition of layers inspired by the forest, hemp is crocheted for a base. The digitally printed surface is melted and torn then layered with beads for the final composition. 

Forest Surfaces 15 is 78" long and 20" wide.  

Clear Matte Precoat from inkAID

Last year inkAID introduced a new product Clear Matte Precoat.  In the last couple of weeks I have been using the coating on a variety of surfaces. These surfaces include: recycled beverage cans, hand made bark paper from kozo fiber, hand made cheesecloth skins, metal mesh, pima tex cotton, organdy, lace paper, lutradur and recycled printers plates.  I tested it on surfaces next to inkAID's Semi Gloss Precoat, Pearl Iridescent and Type ll since these are my most used coatings.

Clear Matte gives a translucent, matte finish which allows the underlying image to show through. If you have a dyed or painted surface, the colors will show through on the print creating an overprint. Depending on how dark the colors are on the surface of the fabric or paper, you will see sections of the print or not.

What I found with my printing is that on porous fabrics such as organdy, the clear matte will give a slightly clearer print then the semi gloss.  When printing on metals and cans, it has a nice matte finish, but still allows the shade of the metal to show.  In some cases it is hard to see the difference between the coatings used.  I encourage you to try it on the surfaces that you like to print to see what you think.  It's always good to see how coatings perform on various surfaces.

As with all the inkAID coatings Clear Matte results in a quality print.  It has some adhesive in it, so it is safe to use on metals, but may show tracking with pizza wheels from some printers.  I had none of that going on with my prints.  Each print was professional quality with a clear bright image.  My printing was all created on my Epson 4800.  I printed the same image on all the surfaces so that it could be easily compared.

I loved the comparison of Type ll, Pearl and Clear Matte on the recycled beverage cans.  All 3 of these coatings created a beautiful print on the cans.  For more information on using inkAID products on fabrics and specialty papers see my workshop, "Getting Started with Digital Prints on Uncommon Surfaces."