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Writer's pictureBella Bee

Plaster of Paris printmaking


Knowing Sunday was forecast to be wall to wall rain, it seemed a good day to try out something not done before. Stumbling across a post online about printing using plaster of Paris, I ordered a small bag and tried it out using a take-away carton. (If I am going to do this in future I will make up a proper cast using a glass sheet and some doweling).

Making some random marks in a piece of acetate, inking up was done with black oil-based relief printing inks. All was kept very simple.

The result could have been better cast-wise as the carton's bottom was not flat, but newly-set piece is still easy to carve into, like chalk.

It took just a kitchen paring knife to take the excess off and pull out the plate. I then cut away the curved edged outer sections and had a play, carving into one of the shapes and making a few extra circles, as if embossing on paper.

This is the first try but now I know how well it works, next time more thought will be given to the back, such as hanging wires which need to be set. There is a very smooth almost shiny finish to the front which I find most pleasing :)

And of course, there's always colour to play with too.

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