Cultural Creations-Tetrapak Printmaking

Karen Wicks- UK Printmaker

About the Artist:

Karen Wicks is a UK printmaker based in the Midlands. Her printmaking practice is inspired by derelict buildings and captures the presence and intrigue of these abandoned structures using intaglio print techniques. The Japanese notion of ‘wabi-sabi’ is central to her art practice, which celebrates beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete and the narrative of everyday and forgotten places inspires her to record these places using sustainable printmaking practices. Her work explores low-fi home print techniques and uses recycled packaging which becomes fragile and disintegrates over time to reflect the subject matter of the ‘ghost buildings’ that inspire her.

Karen’s work can be seen online at www.ghostbuildings.co.uk and on Instagram as @iacartroom and she runs other online classes in home printmaking.

What will the session cover?

The online session will be a talk and demonstration from the artist on how to use simple materials at home to create an intaglio print using ‘tetrapak’ which is readily available in fruit juice and milk packaging. Karen will show how she creates her work and provide an equipment list for those who want to give this a try at home after the session.

Equipment needed:

Juice cartons/ oat milk cartons with silver lining (flattened)

Takeaway lids with foil lining

Etching or relief ink of your choice (Caligo SafeWash ink works well)

Engineers scribe or drypoint needle

Scalpel

Cutting mat

Items to create texture eg sandpaper, nail file

Scrim

Jersey rags

Vinyl gloves/rubber gloves for inking

Tissue paper

Newsprint paper

Water spray bottle for damping paper

Paper for printing onto (300gsm Somerset or Fabriano works well or

you can use 300gsm cardstock)

Craft press/ etching press/ pasta press converted

*Please note this technique will not work with hand burnishing, cold

press laminator or lino press

Link for access to course materials: Tetrapak course

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gp2evsadgvdb4ns/AAAbOBmwTiQ

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www.ghostbuildings.co.uk [email protected]

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Host or Publisher Atlantic Institute