assembled at Malaspina Studio (Howe St), Vancouver
12-plate etching on vintage Japanese handmade tissue, woven and stitched for Friday Health clinic
April 2025
This piece was commissioned for this space (treatment room) in 2023 with the intention of bringing the outdoors in and fostering a sense of calm, warmth and abundance. Evocative of Vancouver’s beautiful spring blossoms, and influenced by trips to Japan, this depiction of a Bradford Pear tree (Pyrus Calleryana) in bloom is a metaphor for growth, healing and new beginnings.
The piece is made from two pressings of a 12-plate etching, printing on an assortment of vintage Washi (Japanese Paper) made with gampi and mitsumata fibres, which are seemingly delicate but surprisingly strong. The 24 prints were assembled into two composite images, which were then cut into strips and woven together. Once combined with more tissue and stitched together to create a shawl, the finished piece explores themes of interconnectedness, elements working together, family and community bonds, and the wild creative energy of new growth.
The shifting quality of the image suggests movement, time passing, imperfection and impermanence. The soft scallops and tassels on the edges were chosen to give a sense of a whimsy, magic and ceremony, and perhaps conjure memories of a favourite childhood blanket.
This is the unveiling of the work in my sister’s treatment room at Friday Health Clinic in Vancouver. The process was long and nerve wracking while also exciting. People are often curious about the steps of creating an etching and especially interested in these larger works that involve weaving and other techniques. Here are some photos of the process with a quick list of steps involved in this work.
Lots of time at the drafting table working on a tree of spring blossoms
first the drawing happens
transfer drawing to copper plates with ground and draw through the ground with scribe point
after first etch in ferric chloride, remove ground and print a test ‘proof’
lines are etched and now to etch the tones by painting coffee in areas to etch before covering with B.I.G. red ground
red B.I.G. ground is rolled over whole plate and when hard the coffee is removed in hot water opening up areas to etch
six of the twelve plates in progress at early stage of etching
acrylic stop out paint is painted on areas in between etching to create tonal variation. There were six different stages of etching in these plates
six of the twelve copper plates after weeks of the etching process are ready to print. Etching press in the background.
one of the etched plates ready to ink and print
oil based ink is applied all over the surface of the plate
the ink is worked into the grooves and etched lines of the plate by rubbing with a tarlatan cloth
after the surface is polished and the ink remains in the etched lines the plate, it is ready to print and placed on the etching press steel bed
these are some of the beautiful vintage handmade gampi and mitusmata tissue papers that I will print on. The blue was voted out.
a dampened piece of the handmade tissue is carefully placed over the inked plate
the felts are placed over the paper and plate and then the steel bed is passed through the pressure of the steel rollers
when the plate passes between the rollers to the other side, the felts are lifted and the paper can be remove from the plate. The ink has been transferred to the dampened paper with the pressure of the press
this impression is the first print or proof and the whole printing process happens again to create the second print and so on
in this case each of the 12 plates was printed at least 5 times
after printing all of the plates with oil based inks on washi tissue, blossoms were hand painted to highlight
the first collection of twelve proof prints
it turns out that blue is not the colour and so we print the plates again with warmer colour inks on warm toned papers
to create a test piece, one section was printed twice and one part was cut into warp and the other the weft then woven and stitched together
finally, all 24 squares to make two complete images have been printed, hand painted, dried with fringe ready to be packed up for travel
Malaspina Studios Howe St location in Vancouver offered me space to work at a long table. Here is where I will assemble the piece and this is an amazing 40 foot long table
my partner Chris travelled with me to help with the assembly of the piece. Here he is cleaning the wonderful long white table before I unpack all my pieces
me unpacking and arranging all the parts to paste together in two complete images
pasting, wetting and drying the work flat before cutting into warp and weft
here I am with the two pieces. Chris took some good photos from all the different levels in this wonderful space. It took a little getting used to, the working in the centre of all the different studios but everyone was so kind and welcoming that I really enjoyed my time there
cutting the images into strips
cutting strips and then anchoring them onto large foamboards
starting to weave the strips together to create the final piece
there is no way I could have assembled and finished this work on my own
lots of slow and careful weaving
once the two pieces were woven together, the work needs to be anchored to hanging structure and fringe added. This was done with hand stitching
here I am tired and pleased with the completion of the commission and the lovely box that Chris built to transport the work to the wonderful framer Hal at Artryan
