"pulp printing"
"As for emulators of (William) Blake in technical innovation, consider the analogue example of Australian Tim Mosely’s works created with his pulp printing process, where the “ink” is actually colored pulp" Robert Bolick
"pulp printing" refers to a papermaking / printing technique developed by Tim Mosely in 2004.
As a medium, paper has for centuries offered creative professionals unique properties that extend it beyond the role of a substrate. These include; refined sheet formation techniques reaching pinnacles of practice exemplified by Annarita Librari's stunning chiaroscuro watermarks, potent histories held within a papers source material such as the traces of battle within paper made from soldiers uniforms in the peace paper and combat paper projects, the stencilling techniques that David Hockney and Chuck Close creatively employ in their paper pools and portraiture projects respectively, and Rick Hungerford’s haunting pulp sprayed drawings.
As rich as these outcomes are many artist / papermaker’s are aware of the cumbersome nature of the “drawing” techniques associated with papermaking. Drawing with paper pulp plays a very distant second fiddle to the refined mark making possibilities of drawing, printing and painting on paper, and educators are constantly searching for papermaking techniques that activate the medium and attract more artists to it.
Mosely developed this new technique at Southern Cross University in response to two articles from the journal Hand Papermaking. His investigations were prompted by Gangolf Ulbricht’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” (WINTER 1999, Volume 14, Number 2) that documents an ambitious experimentation of photo emulsion on a mould and deckle with a striking outcomes, and Jana Pullman's “Complex Watermarking with Patterned Shas in Japanese Handmade Papers” ( SUMMER 1998, Volume 13, Number 1). Migrating the patterned sha technique into photo emulsion on silk screens promised the refined mark making that papermaking imaging techniques lacked.
After three years of experimentation Mosely reached a degree of refinement by legibly printing American Typewriter font (size 19 bold) with paper pulp onto the wet surface of a freshly made sheet of paper. Most of what photo emulsion facilitated within silk screening, including photographs and fine text, was opened up to hand papermaking. The only limitation of the technique at this point is the size of the silk screen mesh used. 100 t mesh proved to difficult to use and 80 t mesh has proved successful. As the results attracted attention it became apparent the technique needed a name and as it literally involved printing paper pulp he termed it “pulp printing”.
Having documented pulp printing it in his article "Integrating artists’ books and paper making" in the Blue Notebook (vol 1, # 1, October 2006) Mosely integrated the technique into “the codex events” 2005 – 2011 and has delivered master classes in pulp printing including at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK, in 2009. Pulp Printing is now a component of the Fine Art teaching program at Queensland College of Art and has attracted attention across the globe, see Drew Matott, (USA), Pien Rotterdam (The Netherlands), Stephanie Turnbull (UK), Amy Richards (USA) and the Combat Paper Project.
the following selection of books by Tim Mosely include pulp printing
ep’s, 2018
byregard2, 2010
lookback, 2009
given, 2008
aesthetic distance, 2007
volatile actions, 2007
icons of a bush ranger, 2006
hope/hate, 2006
& books from codex events 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8
The paper for the Queen's Baton is the first significant
creative research project from QCA’s new hand paper-making mill.
... dc3p is a contemporary fine art publishing project framed within print culture and haptic aesthetics. The venture supports studio research into artists books practice, autographic printmaking and hand papermaking, and is an active element of print culture @ QCA (Queensland College of Art)
artists books @ dc3p
… the emergence of artists books in the twentieth century as a medium that engages the breadth of our senses was underpinned by collaborative practice between poets, artists and designers within print culture. This intersection between the fields of fine art, literature and design facilitated by the printed book continues to attract interest across the creative arts. Responding to the fields emerging critical discourse a research focus on books by artists textured by 'the haptic' has been established at dc3p. This focus embraces the production, reception and evaluation of artists books within the antipodes. In keeping with the haptic, the nature of the focus is dynamic, responding to the surfaces of the field.
To date those surfaces include;
the abbe events (artists books brisbane event)
these have featured a conference, artists book fairs and exhibitions,
the publication of peer reviewed articles/essays academic papers from the abbe events have been published in The Journal of Artists' Books,
JAB39 , JAB42 , JAB43
the pinch - the development of a peer review collective supporting critical discourse on artists book practice,
the codex events - a series of collaborative publishing events and masterclasses featuring invited and visiting artists or scholars,
exhibitions - national & international, featuring books and prints by artists ,
advances in studio techniques, including
pulp printing - & fine papermaking techniques
other epicentres of artists book research dc3p has links with include:
