LIMITED Edition 1/1 Pieces | screen Printed for Collectors
Mono Printing | why these are 1/1
These screen prints are all unique, one-of-a-kind pieces of art. Although they belong to a series, or an edition of prints, the way they are made means that no two are ever the same. Each one is a true original.
The process begins with the vase, which is screen printed in three separate layers of ink. Each layer is hand screen printed, dried, and then carefully printed over with the next. It's a slow, considered process, washing the ink from the screen each time before preparing for the next layer. I also print a very faint layer of my flower outlines onto each piece as a guide for the really fun part to come!
The floral elements are created using a technique called mono printing, which means that just one print is pulled. I paint the inks and colours directly onto my screen, creating these gorgeous, fluid floral colours inspired by the riot of colour from the Zinnias and Cosmos growing in my own Somerset garden during the summer months.
With mono printing, you get just one pull of the squeegee. Each print has to be carefully lined up, the colours painted onto the screen and the print pulled in one go, before the screen is washed out and dried again. There is no second pull, as the colours merge and change with every impression.
There is inevitably more ink wastage with this process than with traditional screen printing, where one colour is printed at a time. But the results speak for themselves. I have an idea of how I would like each flower to look, but until I pull the squeegee and lift the screen, I never quite know how the colours will come together. That element of surprise is part of the magic.
Once the floral layer is dry, I mono print a second time, adding my hand-sketched flower outlines. Again, this is a one-off pull. Each print is carefully aligned, and I hand paint a variety of colours onto the screen to complement the floral colours already printed beneath.
These prints have been an absolute joy to make, but also a real labour of love. They take time, patience, plenty of ink and lots of waiting between layers for everything to dry before the next stage can begin.