Before I began printing I created some jig’s to help with the registration of the print. I made two different sizes for the two different sizes of paper I wanted to print on.
Jigs for different sizes of paper
Layers of print:
For the first ‘background’ layer I picked a light grey colour to act as a neutral back drop for other colours to sit on top of. Initially they didn’t print as well as I hoped with the white lines not showing through as crisply as hoped for but they improved over time.
1st Layer print – grey for large paper
1st Layer print – grey colour for Polaroid paper
Below is one of a number of badly registered second layers. I discovered that I didn’t have my jig the same way round as I did in the first layer and this was the reason for the purple layer being higher than the grey layer. I wrote top on jig to make sure I kept it the right way round when I realised the problem.
I also initially tried transfer the ink with a rolling pin on the back of the paper, but found this made the print blurry and that using a hand held barren stopped me producing such a blurry second layer.
2nd layer print – purple for large paper
2nd layer print – purple for large size paper – better registration
Below is my artist proof showing all layers of the print. It’s badly registered but shows the process I went through to improve registration and the quality of printing.
Artist proof of all layers – grey, purple, brown & pink dab printing
Complete prints in first colour pallet:
These are two of the completed prints for the grey,purple, dark brown colour combination. They registered fairly well and I used a cotton bud dipped in pink ink to dab that colour onto the cheeks and lips. I think that worked really well, there’s a few little areas where the background layer shows through, which isn’t great but I couldn’t think of a way to rectify this!
Prints with different colour pallet:
I had already had a bit of practice with registration by the time of printing the second colour pallet so these look better than the first prints I did.
1st & 2nd layer print – green & purple for large size paper
another 1st & 2nd layer print – green and purple for large size paper
Complete prints for second colour combination:
There are area’s of overlap in each of these prints where the registration isn’t perfect and where I’ve made mistakes. But I think the colours work well together and the overall image components are completed by the final layer of the person on top. If I’d given myself more time I would’ve liked to have tried some more colour combinations and to have tried dab printing the dress a different colour to see the effect.