Print making, Paper making and Collage.

My most recent show is titled Sanskar/ Impressions. The works are on paper and use mixed media techniques.The works are a combination of Printmaking (monoprints and etching) handmade paper, fabric and paint.

The meaning of print is - a mark made on a surface by pressing or stamping.Printing is an ancient technique of the application of a mark (simple, repeated juxtaposed or superimposed) on a surface.The first attempts to invent a simple convenient method of reproducing markings are no doubt quite ancient – the Egyptian and Babylonian wooden stamps must surely have a history reaching far back. The simple line woodcut developed from the far older process of textile printing.

Block printing is one of the earliest forms of printing. Printed fabric using blocks or some form of resist printing can be traced back to the 2C BC in India and China.Documentation of very early Indian trade in textiles with other countries has been found to suggest that India was producing fine textiles in ancient times.

India may well have been the original home of textile printing. The abundance, variety and the richness of woven and printed Indian textiles are legendary. Thanks to visionary women such as Kamala Devi Chatopadhya and Pupul Jaykar textile design and traditional methods of printing and weaving enjoyed a revival after Independence and continue to flourish.

Printmaking is the process of making marks by printing, generally on paper.

The printmaking process is capable of producing multiples of the same pieces. They are not reproductions since each print has to be made by inking by hand and is not a copy. Monoprints or monotypes are the exception – as the name suggests.

Artists have been interested in printmaking as an art form for close to five hundred years. Prints are created from a single or multiple original surfaces. The surface can include:Plates of Metal, usually copper or zinc for engraving or etching.Stone, used for Lithography.Blocks of wood for wood cuts Linoleum for lino cuts,Fabric plates for screen-printing.

Plexiglas plates for monoprinting.A single print can be the product of one or multiple techniques.

Printmakers apply color to their plates in many different ways. Each plate or block is inked up in different colors.

In monoprinting the print maker can paint directly on the plate like a painter and then use the press to transfer the image to the paper.

Printmaking techniques can be divided into the following basic categories:

Woodcut or woodblock, wood engraving, linocut and metalcut.

d.Stencil, including screen-printing.

e.Viscosity printing.

Many of these techniques can be combined.

The word paper derives from the Egyptian Papyrus – a writing material woven from papyrus plants. The Egyptians invented papyrus around 3000BC. It is made by crisscrossing thin sections of the papyrus reed, which grows abundantly in the marshy delta of the Nile River.

Paper on the other hand is made of pulped cellulose fibers like wood, cotton or flax.

Paper was invented in China circa 105AD and by the third century was widely used as a writing medium there. The Chinese guarded their paper making secrets and skill.

The technology was first transferred to Korea in 600 AD and then imported to Japan. and sometime later it appeared in India possibly by way of Persia.

Handmade paper in India is an ancient art but was revived during the Swadeshi movement by Mahatma Gandhi.

In Central Europe the first paper mills did not appear till the 15C.

The first paper Industry in North America was built in Philadelphia in 1690.

The tools and the technique that I use today to make handmade paper are not that different to the ancient way of making paper.

The raw materials can be cotton rags, hemp, leaves, straw or other fibrous material. These are broken in small pieces.

Small bits of fibrous material are placed in a vat and beaten to separate the fibers. A large electric beater can also be used for this purpose.

The mixture is washed under running water to remove the impurities. Once the fibers have been sufficiently broken up and cleaned they are kept in water and this constitutes the pulp.

Fibers are floated in a thick soup of water and fibers, in a large vat. A wire screen mould (similar to an old window screen) with a wooden frame called a deckle is the main tool of the paper maker.

The frame and deckle are dipped in the vat containing the fiber water mixture. The frame is shaken to distribute the pulp evenly, the fibers are allowed to settle and the water to drain out.

When the fibers have stabilized in place and are still damp the sheets are lifted and transferred to a woolen felt by mild pressing. The mould and deckle can be now used again to make the next sheet.

The layers of felt and paper build up in a pile and a weight is placed on top to press out the water and keep the paper fibers flat and tight.

The sheets are dried and are now ready to use.

The wooden frame or deckle leaves the edges of the paper slightly irregular and wavy – this "deckle edge " is one of the indications that the paper is hand made.

Hand made paper can be made using a wide variety of natural materials and pigments. The paper maker can give each sheet of paper individuality. I have used pigmented paper pulp to create designs that are part of the paper.

Owing to its natural unprocessed fiber content, handmade paper is stronger, and has an elegant natural look.

Handmade paper can be made using and re-cycling agricultural wastes like cotton rags, jute, wool etc. making it biodegradable and environmentally friendly.

Some historians believe that paper was the key element in global cultural advancement. Chinese culture advanced during the Han Dynasty and preceding centuries due to the Chinese invention of paper and Europe advanced during the Renaissance due to the introduction of paper and the printing press.

This is a very brief introduction to the beginnings and techniques of Printmaking and papermaking. I use the same techniques that have been used for hundreds of years - this connects me to paper makers and print makers of the past

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