combining prints

 

Combining box prints with other printed elements to add interest and local identity to the work.

Ilkeston was one on the neighbouring towns that had a thriving industry and this is covered in the museum, so I wanted to pull in an element from my lace project.

The piece of lace I used for the cyanotype on my last project  I have used again here. The main decorative part f the design is along the edges making it quite versatile to combine with other elements. I also like the central net design; its  diagonal grid pattern and looks very similar to the iron work on the viaduct.

In these prints I have used a blue ink, as its consistent with the blue print / cyanotype work I investigated in my last project and also it works within the print, behind the structures as blue sky.

I used a box that was in my Christmas gift packaging hoard that looks like a row of towers, this for me looks similar to the huge pillars of the viaduct.

Combining card board and lace to make prints.

Arranging boxes together to create a built up area, like a town or city. Second print - lighter ink, its more gentle and dream like due to the faintness of the colour, i like both the bold and the gentle prints for different reasons. they change the whole feel of the print from something bold and industrial and solid to something that is hardly there, like looking into the distance of clouds and hills and mist and creating cities from elements that not buildings

Firsts print, the colours are much bolder, lots of texture and the variation of the lace. I really like the colour combination of this, earthy tones, brick colour with greens and blues- town and country. The composition is quite good too, apart from the bottom left corner is blank.

Further adding to the identity of the town via print, here I'm using some fabric that has the lace design directly printed on it from the lace. To this I'm overlaying the print of he Erawash map. On the last round of prints I made with this I used black ink but it seemed too bold against the lighter, muted shades of my prints, so I'm bringing back the gold!
 For me the purpose of making this map, the lines I lifted from the original map is to highlight the trail of industry in and out of town, the canal and the viaduct would be used to transport the lace and the iron and all products of industry out f town. To make this map in gold is to symbolise the value of these routes to the industry. Here I used gold relief print ink. The lace print here in blue, again, as a blue print but for me adds to the language of a map , to represent water.

Here on the above image, Ihave again used the map print in gold relife ink. I liked this print as an original but composition wise there was an area that printed a lot paler so I have used this to my advantage here as its a similar size to the map print and allows me to print he map over t without it getting swamped in the colour underneath. 
the same aplys for the image below howvere in this print I wanted a more bolder gold shade as the relif ink is a little pale and not true gold. The relief ink takes a while to dry and is quite sticky so I allied gold leaf direct to the ink. i brushed off the excess once completely dry. I'm really happy with how this print with the gold leaf has turned out. the green building symbolise both the town and the country side. the map over the top is sort of abstract. its not immediately clear what it all is but i think the subtlety of it creates an interest, its neither a clear thing nor totally abstract.
I think the way we view places are so tied into either our experience r preconception that we don't really see a place through clear eyes. so for me these ghost/ abstracted images, made from rubbish and gold are coming from these ideas.

This is another "town" print I made that had areas that where a little blank. on this one Ive added 2 prints that I made with a dry point print plate. (I detail making this in another post ) The print is part of viaduct structure. Again done in blue to symbolise a blue print, a plan , overlaid onto the town, as part of its identity.
I got varying results on the boldness of the print. I don't mind, I think it works within this print. However I wish I'd printed one of them upside down so that it mirrors the way the boxes mirror each other in an un symmetrical way. Reminds me of a playing card that can be read no matter which way up it is. I would like to make another attempt at this if I get time.