I’ve been inspired by Japanese printmaking for quite some time, with fond memories at age 16 of visiting the Kuniyoshi Exhibition at the RA with my Dad, but In all my years of print I hadn’t used Washi before – the strong thin paper made from mulberry fibres.
With the AIMPE 2025 miniprint exhibition running I returned to investigate Japanese concepts and contemporary printmakers. With a surface level of reading I found the theories of philosopher Yangai Soetsu and Mingei, translated as folk crafts talked about the appreciation of the unknown craftsperson in appreciation of beauty and form in utilitarian objects such as pottery and fabric dying. (Note to self, read some of his books!)
In further research I fell in love with the work of Mori Yoshitoshi, who once aligned with Soetsu through his trade as a traditional textile designer and dyer, split in his ideologies when he turned to a printing method called Kappazuri to create unique artwork under his own name.
The Kappazuri is similar to the indigo dying process Katazome. Its process involves stencils cut from a paper stiffened by persimmon juice, and a resist painted onto paper, which at the end of the process is washed off to reveal the final image.
The nature of brush strokes, imperfections and variations within editions appeals greatly to me, as well as the design challenge faced in creating hand cut stencils which require connections between elements that serve function to the process.
Without the full technical knowledge of Kappazuri, a skill I would one day love to explore, I looked to work out ways to incorporate the ideas of resists and hand painting prints into screen printing and ink studies. The choice of payne’s grey ink to reflect the tones of indigo.
Using acrylic varnish these test paintings explored the development of tone and depth reverse orders in the centre square, creating more saturated concentrations of payne’s grey washes
Other experiments in this process can be seen below
This last image of two paintings together served as the basis for a screen print, exploring the varying depth effects created by reversal of layering. The project title Opposites attract refers to the combination of creating attractive compositions through competing mediums, as well as inversion of ordering to create opposing united images.
Still favouring the blue palette, I pulled a tub of a blue that took my fancy, and in some tiny paper cups mixed a shade, and four tints of the colour.
With an open screen I printed the base colours starting at either end of my spectrum. After each i would use a sponge and mist sprayer with screen filler to slowly enclose the areas that ink could pass through, working in reverse order.
From the beginning I wanted to create stronger graphic forms to hold weight against the transitional forms below
I was thinking about the bulbous curves of pottery vessels in the shape as well as concentric forms. The decision of how to proceed lead me to do digitial mock ups using my phone to comparing options, giving myself a bit of time to consider before printing the final screen.
Screening the orange I overhit it with a washier black and used paper and tissue to pull back the colour and add texture that I liked from my digital mockups, a process I repeated on the black screen.
I was very pleased to have this piece accepted into the 2026 RBSA print prize exhibition. My friend Andy helped me by making a lovely frame, which i decided I didn’t want to have glass, so you can see a varnish I screen printed on the piece to finish it off. If you’re interested in purchasing the piece please do get in contact