Each print starts life as a series of around 60 brushstrokes made on OHP film, which is then contact-printed on x-ray film and developed to a high contrast in the darkroom.
These negatives are then used to make carbon transfer prints on fresh OHP film, which once dry will be cut up into their individual strokes.
Once the watercolour paper has been sized with a number of layers of gelatine solution and then dried, it is then briefly wetted to allow the brushstrokes to adhere to the paper when they are pressed into contact.
Because of how each stroke is attached to a backing piece of plastic, the composition has to be completed in steps as the excess plastic that surrounds each stroke prevents another being placed on the paper.
After each “layer” the print is hung up to dry, and then the plastic is carefully peeled off each part, leaving the brushstroke on the paper. The process is repeated over and over until the composition is complete.
From start to finish a handmade print like this takes over 10 hours including all of the necessary preparation of the materials involved before I can even begin making the initial negatives.
