trip to Oxford

We went to look at the Egyptian mummies and were fascinated by the method of wrapping with linen cloth-couldn't find any detailed info about it,so this will need a long trawl on Google.It's like Log Cabin patchwork and has many exciting possibilities for felt, I think.

Close up of the pattern.Must have taken ages to do this and a great deal of skill.

This is a carved pattern on a stone statue,which I intend to do some work on this afternoon, so should have samples on the site later ,allowing for other distractions!Another technique which will be part of my PURE WHITE course.

Pasta machine for printing

Finally managed to get into my shed and take some pictures-not good ones ,but enough to give the general idea.The results are nowhere near as good as from my press, but good enough to try things out and also to show students who come on my courses that adequate results can be gained at home with determination and no expensive press.

 This picture shows(as well as a lot of clutter!) the standard pasta machine with the base plate unscrewed and mounted on a piece of board.This is so that the print and the plate don't hit the base before they are wound through It's clamped to the table of course.The machine has several settings and a good starting point for a small collograph plate is number 3, but for a plastic drypoint, a higher number is needed.This is where the experimenting comes in.

Obviously,the print/plate goes through the machine between the rollers,where the brown card is in this picture.The drawback,of course,is that only A5 or smaller prints can be made, but it does work well and is worth experimenting,for those without a press.