Author Archives: Judy Csiky

Testing and Comparing Relief Printing Surfaces

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When it comes to relief printing, linoleum is traditionally seen as the obvious choice of cutting surface (apart from wood). There are many alternative surfaces on the market, but have they managed to offer something new or is it worth sticking to what you already know?

This month we set out to do a little experiment with our relief printing surfaces. I will be testing traditional lino, Japanese vinyl, Speedball’s Speedy-Carve, SoftCut and Quickprint blocks using the same design and our Professional Tofko press to see which one performs the best.

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Negative Painting with Watercolour

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Watercolour is a popular medium all year around with the prospect of taking it outdoors in good weather. With not much to do outside in the winter, it is equally fun to cosy up and wait for spring with a warm cup of tea and a watercolour palette.
If you haven’t tried this medium before, negative painting can be a fantastic way in; it is quick and simple and making mistakes with it is virtually impossible!

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Testing and Comparing Sablene Brushes

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There’s a new kid on the block, a synthetic watercolour brush called Sablene. It was developed to replace the need for natural sable which is generally regarded as the best watercolour brush because of its’ capacity to hold a lot of water. I am testing the new Sablene brushes,comparing them to other types of brushes.

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How It’s Made: An Enchanted Christmas Forest

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Our Lawrence Art Shop has been working on a collaborative craft project since early October to bring a Christmas forest scene to life. Our talented crew of artists made over a dozen figurines and set up a wintry street leading to a miniature model of the Lawrence Art Shop. Using commonly available materials in the household such as newspaper, cardboard and glue you can make your own paper mache models by following this simple guide.

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Testing Yupo – A Synthetic Paper & its Uses

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Yupo is a new synthetic paper with an incredible versatility, available in loose sheets and pads. You can use it with almost any dry and wet media which makes it great for mixed-media artists and experimenters like myself. I got excited when I heard Yupo is suitable for watercolour – I couldn’t imagine how this glossy, cotton-free, tree-free paper takes water – and I couldn’t stop there! I conducted a series of tests with watercolour, gouache, acrylics, Indian ink, pencil, alcohol markers and charcoal to find out what this paper is capable of – have a look at the results!

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Lawrence Printmaking Demo with Georgia Flowers

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Once again the Lawrence staff got together for an evening of fun, learning and culinary delights. This time, the demo was lead by Georgia Flowers who taught us about lino printing. Some of us have never tried this medium so we were very excited to put practice behind our product knowledge and test the different relief printing materials we offer. Stay tuned for our finished results!

Relief Printing Materials: Bench Hook, C Set of Pfeil Tools, Safety Hand Guard, Inking Slab, Tracing Paper, Japanese Woodcut Tool Set, Lawrence Durathene Roller, Cranfield Black Water Soluble Relief Ink, Faber Castell PVC-free Eraser, 2B Faber Castell 9000 Pencil, 10 x 15cm Lino Sheet, 10 x 15cm Japanese Vinyl Sheet, Imitation Japanese Vellum

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Brushes 101

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In this blog post we will be comparing brush types for watercolours, oils and acrylics to aid anyone starting out in their choice of medium. We will discuss materials, shapes and sizes you can expect to find in each category and help you chose the right brushes for your needs. We also asked three artists working at Lawrence Art Supplies to give us some hints and tips and share their experience with different brushes.

 

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Screen Printing Demo ’18

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We had a fabulous evening of fun last month where Lawrence staff members were given a screen printing demonstration by Vicky Ramsey printmaker. We thought we would share some photos and wisdom with those of you fascinated by this craft or looking to start out in screen printing.

Screen printing materials: Cutting Mat, Wooden Screen, Fabriano Accademia paper, Speedball Acrylic Screen Printing Inks (Medium Red, Process Blue), Artist Quality Squeegee 15cm, pencil, Craft Knife and stencil paper

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