Glossary of Techniques

Monotype: A monotype is a one of a kind print which is created with the use of an etching press. This printmaking process is not a new one, having originated in the 1800's with artists such as Carravaggio and Degas. As with any printmaking process, the intent was to create affordable, and in some cases, repeatable images. Making a living as an artist is nothing new, and printmaking was seen as a way in which to make that happen .Monotypes fell out of favor by the end of the 1800s but has reemerged in the last 30 years as an immediate, affordable, and spontaneous way of creating affordable originals for the public.
The basic idea of a monotype is to create a design on a thin plexiglass plate, using inks, stencils, textural elements, etc. and then to transfer this image to special papers with the use of the pressure created on the printing press.
I almost always layer my monotypes, and the images are created by running the design through the press multiple times. Only after I am satisfied with this design, do I proceed to the second step of my creative process....collage.The print medium which underlies all of my mixed media designs. My patterns and compositions spring from the monotype image.


Collage: A technique that has been around for the past 100 years or so. The word is french in origin and means "to stick". Almost anything stuck together can qualify as a collage.....including papers, wood, found objects, metals, ceramics, etc.....on and on. The name was born when critics took offense at Picasso and Braque, who, true to the inventive spirit of artists, experimented with glueing things together. Legend has it that the critics, after seeing these creations, coined the work collage, meaning to stick.
My collage usage includes handmade papers, surface designs on paper that I create well in advance of adding the papers to monotype, foils, dyed silks and rice papers that I create, and other things as I find them. I will shop in specialty stores and find both domestic and imported papers that often are in scarce and limited supply. I have discovered that this process has proven to be both expensive and addictive..... For the past few years, I have made a study of the ancient techniques of "Shibori" 6th century Japanese textile design, and many of my current works use both fabric and papers that I have created using these methods.

Shibori: A Japanese term meaning to fold or manipulate fabric in some fashion...by tying, stitching, scrunching, etc. fabric and then applying various dyes. This process has its roots in 6th century Japan with kimono construction. Usually, kimonos had 9 layers of silk underlying the outer coat of the kimono and as the person moved, there was the flash of color and textures, usually tied to the seasons.....The stencil designs found on Samari armour were also Shibori techniques, and stencil was an integral part of shibori technique.
In my own work, I have experimented with Shibori techniques on silk, both modern and antique, and also on various weights of rice paper. I use these creations in the collage techniques that I work into my monotype designs.

Recommended Reading

Printmaking:
Printmaking Techniques by Julia Ayres
Watson-Guptill Publications New York

Decorative Paper:
Diane V. Maurer-Mathison
BDD Illustrated Books
1540 Broadway
New York, N.Y.

Creative Collage Techniques
Nita Leland & Virginia Lee Williams
North Lights Books
Cincinnati, Ohio

Shibori:
The Inventive Art of Japanese Shaped Resist Dyeing
Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada Mary Kellogg Rice Jane Barton
Kodansha International
Tokyo New York London

Katazome
Kumiko Murashima
Lark Books
Altamont Press
Asheville, N.C. 28801