Images from the successful castprinting workshop September 2016
We were fortunate to have the pleasure of Jon George sharing his expertise and castprinting technique in the workshop at the gallery 24-28 September. All the places were taken up and everyone enjoyed themselves and worked hard.
This post has photos from the workshop. I’ve included at the end a list of all of the equipment and materials needed for this process. It isn’t a full explanation of the process, but just intended as a reminder for if we run the course again or any people who attended. And the photos are roughly in the order of the process except for the prints that I have included next to their glass painting or cast block for comparison purposes. Clicking on any image will enlarge it and allow you to scroll through the set as a slideshow.
For this printing process you need:
- Ingredients for gesso – chalk and a water soluble binder
- A small water bottle with suitable lid for allowing small drops of water
- A piece of glass to paint your image on, bigger than the image you want to make
- A smaller piece of glass or tile to mix the gesso on
- Another piece of glass to roll out your ink on at the printing stage
- 4 pieces of wood the same thickness, bigger than the image you wish to make
- Palette knife (knives) to mix your gesso
- Paint brushes to paint your image with gesso
- A handful of clay to seal the wood on to your glass as a frame to then pour plaster into
- Plaster
- A bucket to mix the plaster in
- 2 cups – one to measure the dry plaster the other to measure water – preferrably with handles
- A wet area for washing off plaster from any buckets and cups and washing the gesso of the plaster cast
- Ink
- Paper
- White spirit or turps (to clean off the oil based ink)
- Rollers for the ink and for pressing the paper on to the cast block
- Lots of cloths and newspaper for cleaning up
Future plans
Jon George is working on a book about his work, life and the castprinting process. We hope that he will be able to return to the gallery next year and run some more workshops on this technique and also painting with egg tempera. If you are interested in any of these things, please contact us (if you are not already on the mailing list for updates) or check back on this website regularly.
Photographs by Karen Cropper and Bernard Young.