Screwing Down The Hinge Clamps.

Screwing the screen clamps to the screen bed.

Getting Prepared

I’m working on a community arts project in the Waun Wen area of the city for the next few weeks and I’m going to be doing some screenprinting demonstrations. I bought some new kits for the project with screens, squeegees and screen hinge clamps so they can be used on portable bases. I had some 18mm MDF cut to size and screwed the screen clamps to them. And here’s one below, ready to go!

Taped, clamped and ready for action.

Part of the Home and Hinterland community arts project in partnership with Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Manholes And Parcel Tape

Ready to tidy up the edges of exposed photoscreens screens

Sealing The Edges

I had a contented afternoon at Waun Wen Community Centre today, preparing my photoscreens by fixing parcel tape around the interior edges to seal the space between the edge of the photo-solution and the frame of the screen. This has to be done before printing otherwise the ink will seep though onto the paper.

The edges of the screen have been sealed with parcel tape.

The images are developed from digitally altered photos of manhole and stopcock covers on local pavements (taken by Melvyn Williams).

Part of the Home and Hinterland community arts project in partnership with Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Old Lace And Rice

Pressing rice into porcelain clay

Here’s another porcelain cup being made yesterday at Esther Ley’s pottery session in Waun Wen and Brynmelyn Community Centre. This participant has pressed antique lace into the top edge of the teacup and then pressed grains of rice into the rest. These will burn out in the kiln when the cup is fired and the little holes they leave behind will be filled with transparent glaze and fired again.

Still Time To Book A Place

If you fancy coming to one of the pottery sessions, there are a few places left on Friday 18th February, 13.00 – 15.00, for people who live in or near Waun Wen. Message me, but hurry up, they’re going fast ….

Part of the Home and Hinterland community arts project in partnership with Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Slip, Stamps And Lemon Drizzle

Today I was at the third of the six planned pottery sessions at Waun Wen Community Centre, run by Swansea ceramicist Esther Ley. We had tea and lemon drizzle cake and porcelain and moulds and stamps and slip and people made some quite spectacular teacups. This participant has decorated their cup with rice, liquid slip and a stamp. I can’t wait to see it fired and glazed!

Still Time To Book A Place

If you fancy coming to one of the pottery sessions, there are a few places left for people who live in or near Waun Wen. Message me, but hurry up, they’re going fast ….

Part of the Home and Hinterland community arts project in partnership with Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Chilling With Ceramics

Aaaah what a lovely evening yesterday, with a small group of people and local ceramicist Esther Ley at Waun Wen and Brynmelyn Community Centre. Esther and I are running arts sessions for the next few weeks for Swansea University (see below). Esther has devised this cracking one-off session for people to make their own porcelain cup and spoon. The pictures show, from the left, smoothing the interior with a weird spongy thing; trimming the edge of the cup with an old store loyalty card; and decorating the inside with tiny, tiny alphabet pasta. This participant spelled out Waun Wen. Fair do’s, it wasn’t easy using those teeny, fiddly letters.

The First Stages

The first four stages of making a cup

From the left, rolling a ball of porcelain clay; squidging it up the plaster mould; squidging it up some more; smoothing it to get it as thin as possible.

Still Time To Book A Place

If you fancy coming to one of the pottery sessions, there are a few places left for people who live in or near Waun Wen. Message me, but hurry up, they’re going fast ….

Part of the Home and Hinterland community arts project in partnership with Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Teacups And Spoons

Four stages in making a moulded porcelain teacup. Photos by Esther Ley.

Busy Busy Busy

February is going to be a busy month for the final few weeks of my arts residency in the Waun Wen area of the city. One of the things that’s happening is a series of free ceramics sessions by the talented Swansea potter Esther Ley to make a porcelain teacup and spoon with local residents at the Waun Wen and Brynmelyn Community Centre.

Four stages in making a moulded porcelain cup handle. Photos by Esther Ley.

The History Of Tea in Britain

It started out as a very posh drink, tea caddies were locked to stop servants from nicking it. But the price fell because of smuggling and slavery and it became cheap enough for working class people to afford it. One of the advantages is that it’s made with boiled water, which made it a very safe drink throughout the 18th and 19th centuries when water was filthy and full of germs. You can read more about it if you click on the images below.

Posh Or Common?

Do you put your milk in first or are you a milk in last person? One of these is supposed to be posh and one is common. Click on the images above to find out why. If you fancy coming to one of the pottery sessions, there are a few places left for people who live in or near Waun Wen. Message me, but hurry up, they’re going fast ….

Part of the Home and Hinterland community arts project in partnership with Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Coating And Exposing

Geeking Out

I spent a happy morning geeking out at at Swansea Print Workshop, coating my new silkscreens with photosensitive solution and exposing and developing images from the acetates I prepared recently.

It’s Complicated!

As they’re new screens, I started by de-greasing and drying them. Then I coated the surfaces with Azocol photoscreen fluid and dried them in the darkroom. Then I put the acetates onto the glass surface of our UV Unit and placed a screen face down onto each acetate and went through the process of exposing them for 2 minutes. Then quickly into the spray booth to wash them, which is how they’re developed.

It sounds complicated. It is!

Part of the Home and Hinterland community arts project in partnership with Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Plants And Blueprints

Local Plants

Here are some of the cyanotypes (sunprints) that I’ve been doing with local residents in Waun Wen park recently. I’ve been using plants found locally – some sedum spectabile seed heads, crocosmia seeds and bay laurel. I used commercially coated cyanotype paper and exposed outside for 8 minutes (it’s winter, the light is weak). I moved the piece of bay laurel half way through and that’s why there’s a sort of shadowy effect. It’s one of my favourite plants – hardy, evergreen, nice shaped leaves and lovely to cook with.

Part of the Home and Hinterland community arts project in partnership with Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

More Prepping

A Digitally Altered Photo of a Manhole Cover

Photoshopping

I did some more preparation today, using source photos of manhole covers around the Waun Wen area of the city (taken by Melvyn Williams). I used Adobe Photoshop and put them through some filters and turned them black and white. I added halftone dots to a few and a couple I turned into negatives. I’ll print them out onto acetates to use as stencils for photographic silkscreens. It’s all very tecchie – I love it!

Part of the Home and Hinterland community arts project in partnership with Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Coming Out Of Covid: Ceramics In The Community Centre.

Quick scribbles in my sketchbook

People and Porcelain

Spent a lovely afternoon at the community centre in Waun Wen today, working alongside local ceramicist Esther Ley who was running a short workshop, making porcelain cups. It was good to be able to have a small group of people together, within Covid19 restrictions of course. I had to have a quick scribble, I can’t help myself. It was an intergenerational group, older people through to children and the mix of people worked really well.

Part of the Home and Hinterland community arts project in partnership with Swansea University’s Taliesin Arts Centre.

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the antique taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these vintage artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.