Screen Printing Day 2

So, with the screen ready i went for a day last week to Artlab at UCLAN and spent the day printing dandelion designs on to different Japanese papers and card for the book i will make. Actually, Magda did all the screen printing for me - i did things like move the paper into position, put it on the drying rack and wash the screens. I then had a go at screen printing myself - some of my attempts came out good - some were crap. It's not as easy as Magda made it look...

Screen Printing

I spent a whole day in the print studios at the University of Central Lancashire yesterday getting a screen ready to print my book about the trip to Japan looking for dandelions.

Because i'm a bit of an idiot I didn't save the right files on my memory stick so i actually spent half the day walking to and from my house (walked up to uni, found the file was wrong, walked back to the house, walked back up to uni (via Snape Printers to drop off another project file that was going to print yesterday) walked back home - each walk is 25 mins). At least it was hot sunny weather.

So the screen is now ready and i'll go again for another day next week to start to print dandelion leaves and flowers on to a selection of different papers.

Imported Dandelions

I went to Artlab last night - the first time in ages (i'm a bad student) and i was really chuffed to see my friend Muffy again. She'd been back to US to visit her family and i'd not seen her for months.

I was delighted to receive some dandelion leaves she'd collected while she was visiting home. This is the message on the card keeping them flat:

"Becs!
Imported dandelion leaves from my alley in Washington, DC
Muffy"

Here, i've scanned them all - aren't they lovely?

Dandelion Dibber

I got a lovely email and images this morning from an artist called Christian who I met on my Weed Tour of Preston at the end of April.

"Hi. Find attached two photos from my Mum who is modelling the dandelion tool and for a bonus a daisy fork. The tool belonged to my Grandfather who fought in the first world war. The war on dandelions, a constant obstacle to the putting green finish to which he aspired for his lawn, lasted considerably more than four years.

C. "

I've only put one of the images on the blog, but the others show more of the dandelion dibber, plus some of a funny little daisy fork. I expect that if you really wanted a clear green lawn nothing could infuriate you more than a pesky weed popping up in the middle. I like that there's a little daisy in this photo - all confident.

Code

I'm going to Accrington again today to interview more of the allotment holders about their plots. It's sunny again and i've arranged for tea and cake to be served for everyone that turns up.

I'll try and remember to collect a couple of dandelion leaves too for the dandelion diary, but i have to admit that sometimes i forget - even though i've been collecting for 3 years, i often forget to take a book to slide them between the pages. But today i'm taking my flower press to collect other specimens too so hopefully i'll remember.