The Gocco experiment

I'm very interested in prints and print making, and own a few original prints that I love.  I've never attempted printing myself, however, but have long wanted to give it a try.

And now I can!  For Christmas, my parents very kindly bought me a second-hand Gocco set - they're no longer made and so can't be bought new.  This will allow me to make small (B6 paper size) screen prints.  They were intended for home use and so are designed to be easy to use; in their heyday they were hugely popular in Japan, but were overtaken by technology, and are now mostly used by arty-crafty types.  There are a lot of artists producing beautiful work using Goccos, which gives me something to aspire to.

So, let's give it a try!  Here's the box:

And the goodies within:

The set comes with the basic printing machine, a housing for the flash bulbs needed to make a screen, and some bulbs to go in it:

And some inks to get you started, though there are more colours available to buy:

The small tube at the bottom is screen cleaner.

The idea is to make an original image in something containing carbon; some pens are suitable (one is provided) or, more commonly, photocopies or laser printouts. I produced a design based on the same photo I used for the 'White Iris' embroidered panel, printed it out on my home inkjet printer, then took a photocopy of it for use.

This is placed on the foam base, and a blank master screen slotted in above:

I forgot to take a photo, but there is also a blue filter placed in front of the master screen, between it and the flash bulbs, which should be used with a photocopy or laser printout.

The top part of the machine is lowered, and the housing with the bulbs placed on top:

The front of the machine is pressed down, causing the bulbs to flash.  This heats up the carbon in the original, making it melt the thin plastic layer on the back of the master screen.

The original sticks to the master, allowing you to add ink accurately:

It is possible to make multiple screens for proper colour separation; I'm just playing about here as I've never done this before, so I'm not too concerned about the colour bleed that I fully expect to happen by putting several inks on one screen.  The inks themselves are oil-based and quite thick, so don't run, and a clear plastic sheet folds over the top, forming an ink sandwich, and stopping a great deal of mess from getting everywhere.

The original is peeled off the back of the master screen, and it's slotted back into place:

As this is the small B6 version, I can only use paper up to A5 size, as here, though it should be great for small prints and cards.  There's also a B5 Gocco machine that can do A4 prints, but one thing at a time!

The top part of the machine is lowered and pressed down, and voila, a print!

Lots of prints, in fact.

There is a problem, though.  Here's a print close up:

While this isn't bad for a first attempt, it's not the look I'm after - it's very, shall we say, textured.  While it does actually look rather nice, I wasn't aiming for texture, I was trying to achieve solid areas of colour.  Having now read up on this, it seems that it's a very common problem: too much carbon.  Modern photocopiers and laser printers deposit a lot of carbon, even on the 'light' setting, and even using the blue filter, which is supposed to prevent this, there's just too much of it and it sticks to the master, blocking the mesh and preventing the ink from getting through properly.

Hmm.  More research needed.  Still, I think this is a good start, and well worth pursuing, don't you?

Lindisfarne Beasts: birds' necks, bodies and legs

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all have lots of successful stitching awaiting you in 2013.

My current project is coming along, despite the festivities. and the birds are now finished.

The neck of the first bird:

His body:

And legs:

All are done in Madeira stranded cotton 0105.

And the same for the second bird - neck:

Body:

And legs:

Just to finish off the birds, beaks (in 0114), and eyes (in the same blue as the bodies):

That's the birds finished! Onto the dog next.

Lindisfarne Beasts: bird outline and tail

Happy holidays!  I hope you have a joyful and peaceful time, however and wherever you celebrate.

Just a quick update before I get back to my own preparations. Adding the colour to the birds is coming along nicely. I've done the outline strip, in Madeira 0511, for one bird:

Then his tail, in the same red:

The outline of the second bird:

And his tail too:

Now I need another bright colour for the necks and legs...

Lindisfarne Beasts: colouring in

Time to start adding some colour!  I want this to be quite bright and colourful, which before anyone points it out is quite anachronistic for the period, as bright pigments weren't available then.  My excuse is that this is my interpretation, not a scrupulous historical recreation.

So with that out of the way, I can make a start.  I haven't planned a colour scheme - unusual for me, as any regular readers will know (I always plan everything!) - but will just see how things go.  For no particular reason, I've started with the birds' bodies, and have picked a deep blue stranded cotton, Madeira 0913.

First one, worked in split stitch:

and then the other:

Hmm, what to do next?

Lindisfarne Beasts: second bird - and all the gold

Things are coming along well, and I've now finished all of the gold outlining (inner and outer lines) for the second bird.

Outer neck and head:

Leg and foot:

Body:

and tail:

Then the same again for the inner line.  First the neck and head:

The leg and foot (which looks even more squashed up than the first one.  It should be fine with the colour added - I hope!):

and the body, complete with feathers:

That's all of the gold done - next time, we can start to see some colour!

Lindisfarne Beasts: first bird outline

Adding the inner line for the bird gives it a lot more detail, though to start with it's much the same as for the dog.  First we have its neck:

The its leg and foot:

This was a bit fiddly and looks rather cluttered at the moment, but it should (I hope!) become clearer when the colour is added.

Finally, and making the most difference, there are the feathers:

Now onto the second bird.

Lindisfarne Beasts: first bird outline

The birds are similar to the dog in that they also have inner and outer lines to be stitched, and in the same metallic gold chain stitch.

Starting with the bird on the left, here's its head and neck:

Leg and foot:

Body:

Half its tail:

And the other half:

The inner line adds a lot more detail than it did with the dog, so we should see quite a difference next time.