Recently I had the opportunity to visit the studio of a well known glass artist, Karen Murphy. She is busy undertaking work for the University of Hertfordshire, but managed to squeeze us into her schedule for a spot of enamel screen printing!
Now, screenprinting is my bag, however I've not had much to do with enamels, but mixing the two!? Oh the possibilities!
Jill, one of the Foundation Degree Fine Art students at Hertford Regional College, was considering creating a glass installation for her final exhibition. Using her photo's and images of tree's printed onto glass, she had ideas to project light through the prints, creating shadow.
Karen mixes up the enamel from powder and it is pressed through the screen like you would a textile or paper print. I prepared the silk screen the original way, using a standard emulsion and exposure time. The enamel is thicker than your standard screen inks, so we had to be careful not to leave it too long before cleaning off the screen.
The glass print is then 'cooked' in the kiln, where the enamel gets to set properly. The result is as crisp and clear as a normal paper print, yet printing onto glass opens up new possibilities for final outcomes.
Exciting times!
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