Print on textile has a huge history, possibly longer than that of paper in many parts of the world.  I have a love of textile print after working in Rajasthan, India, when I was younger with the woodblock printers and indigo dyers. The banners and textile works in that I explore and make as part of practice are all printed using traditional oil based inks, no modifiers or no plastic based acrylic textile inks.  All threads and fabrics used are 100% cotton.  I often work with reclaimed fabrics and scraps.  If buying new, I endevour to work on unbleached cotton or linen.

Many of the textile pieces have a use as furnishings, quilts, napkins.  Art is part of everyday life and it is crucial it does not always get put into a gallery but embraced and used.

Objects I make are usually hand made from timber generated through sustainable forestry management at a local woodland.  The timbers used are all solid, no plywood or man made reconstituted woods, to avoid the use of formaldehyde glues and plastics.

The objects are have emerged trough inspiration from our children and watching their interaction with the world.  Collecting acorns, playing with toy boats, the joy of a finger puppet.  Play and playmaking is a wonderful way to express and learn and should never, ever, be devalued.

Object often ahve a printed element, and these papers or decorative components are all handprinted.  All glue used in the objects is rice or wheat paste, not plastic PVA or similar.

Traditional printmaking processes are the backbone of my education and practice.  They are utilised for their multi-disciplinary aspects, to tell a story and engage with visitors.  Techniques used include lithino (lithography on lino), lino cut, mono-print, collograph, dry point, ink transfer and hand stamping.  All inks used are oil based, made using a non-toxic pigment and linseed oil binder.  No additives or driers have been used in the inks and all clean up is done with oil, cotton rags and soap solution.

I work from home in an old two up two down terraced house.  I have access at home to a plan chest and storage.  It is a wonderful space and facilitates much.  I do however require different presses for different purposes and to print large scale works.  I have the amazing opportunity to use the Print Room associated with the wonderful Fine Art department at West Dean College of Arts and Conservation and the facilities of the brilliant Ochre Print Studio in Guildford.  I do not drive.  I train to Guildford and pedal cycle to West Dean (electric thighs, not electric bike).  I have racked up huge mileage cycling for this project and it is awesome to contribute to a shared transport network and a low emission transportation option.

Paper is made up of a fibres that is pulped or beaten with water. This paper pulp is then formed into sheets over a frame which allows the water to drain, leaving the pulp behind in a sheet. The wet paper is pressed of excess water and dried to form a sheet.

The fibre in modern papers contain a lot of cellulose and mis managed forestry tree pulp, which takes a lot of bleaching and water to bring the commercial consumer the desired white smooth sheet. 

I started making my own paper after I realised that all the offcuts from my workshops are beautiful acid free print papers. I trialed pulping all these off cuts together and forming sheets. The results were very successful, and even if following a very simple model of paper making, I was happily producing imperial sized printing paper (56cm x 76cm) by the sheet. This paper was tough, sustained much abuse under a press and printed multiple disciplines successfully. 

Ever since I collect all my offcuts and have a season of paper making to produce my studio stock of imperial paper. I am now even adding size to the paper to improve quality. It has been a huge journey. 

The project has spread in reputation and I now get gifted off cuts from other makers to add to my mixed bag. It is getting everyone thinking!

I make paper also from the fibres of plants and trees. I am very interested in studying and researching an alternative to the famed Japanese kozo fibre, or the inner bark derived from the paper mulberry tree. The paper mulberry tree is indigenous to Asia, where it grows wild and can also be managed as a sustainable coppice. The tree is not indigenous to our land, and I am interested to research into tree barks that might pose an alternative and also be manageable under a coppice rotation. 

The tree bark fibres are an ongoing research project as many of them require retting (rotting) and alkaline boiling with soda ash (a solution lovingly made from the ash of our wood fires) until the fibres soften. They then require stripping, separating, beating and finally mixing to see if they form a cohesive and string sheet. It is a wonderful journey to take with each tree and I have had some hugely promising results thus far, and even printed and exhibited on paper made from 100% tree bark fibres, no extra additives. 

Plant fibres are often used by paper makers as a decorative input into a cotton or even linen pulp base. And indeed they look beautiful.

However, I am interested in delving deep into ancient research about how plant fibres of this land were used to make paper, with no extra additives. My research has come up with many indigenous plants for me to try, and just as with the tree bark, they require specific processing to render a fibre that is useful. 

It is wonderful to work with indigenous plant fibres that are often growing in abundance. Each paper has a specific characteristic and sings with a specific print medium. The traceability of each sheet is so local and so tight, it takes sustainability to a new level of awesome. 

As an artist, I print and utilise fabric hugely within my works. 

The fabric I source is lovingly handpicked for its fibres and its levels of degradability. I work a lot with unbleached 100% cotton and 100% wool felt. Both offer me wonderful surfaces and sculptural properties, as well as offer one of the better sustainable fabric choices.

I use my oil based inks to print on the fabric, rather than switching to an acrylic based water version. It offers far more traceability regarding the ink choice.

I endeavour to source second hand fabrics from gifted items or charity shops.  I only buy cotton or wool threads from second hand shops and this offers a unique colour palette, which I find involves many greens and yellows!

Lithino offers the artist a unique form of expression that takes lino into a whole new realm.

It is fun, direct, expressive and can be monochrome or colour. I incorporate at least one lithino layer into pretty much every work I do on lino.

The future of lithino is very exciting. The research is ongoing in my practice as I refine the technique and make it more stable.

I am excited to be able to teach it and have several publications documenting the process and its potentials.

As with any printmaking medium, it has its fickle and needs time and love to understand and develop its language to your own. But it is hugely exciting and worthwhile. 

Using oil based ink used to be a killer for commercial and individual artist printmakers. In the past, the commercial printmaking world had a very low life expectancy, due to the copious use of highly toxic solvents sloshed around with no regard for health and safety. Things have much improved commercially, and individually in personal practice there is no need to use solvents for clean up or thinning.

Oil base dinks can be easily cleaned up with vegetable oil and a cotton rag. Residual oil films can be then removed with a vinegar or soap solution wipe. It is easy and effective. No white spirit, methylated spirits or turpentine.

Gum Arabic is used a lot in my practice. I use it in lithography, lithino and in glazes, watercolour making, paste paper making and much more. It is derived from the sap of an Acacia tree that is not indigenous to this land.

I am undergoing continual research to see if I can derive the similar qualities of gum Arabic from saps of trees that are indigenous to this land, from cherry to pines. It is really exciting to gradually eliminate another material from my practice that is shipped in, with packaging, travel costs and commercial quantity of making. If I am able to small batch make just for my needs, then this is a far more manageable, traceable and sustainable approach to a material I use daily.

I now only use rice paste or wheat paste glue in all my sculptural and paper projects. The glue is often made by myself to varying consistencies for different needs, and completely eliminates the need for poly vinyl or plastic based glues that do not naturally degrade. It is a wonderful change I have implemented over the last year.

The matrix is the surface which receives ink to then take an impression. Over the last two years I have developed and pursued lithino to the state where I teach it and incorporate it into my daily practice. I am also pushing the boundaries of other forms of print matrix and how these can be developed to allow for expression but also a keen sense of sustainability and traceability.

I use traditional oiled card to cut stencils for printing with as opposed to acetate, I use sustainable or homemade varnishes for collograph as opposed to shellac, I am developing my own alternative to plastic coated tetra pak or paper dry point card and I am researching printing with a homemade beeswax recipe as an expressive and completely traceable alternative for relief printing. 

The research and material science investigations are ongoing and exciting. They form part of my education and are continually updated and pushed to allow for individual sot make informed and expressive choices within their own practice.

I rarely edition work anymore. I produce unique prints, celebrating printmaking for what is, not for a commercial and business gain. Furthermore, editioning is heavy on materials and resources, it often produces spare prints that just sit around. I am keen to eliminate waste from my daily practice and to be a light as possible on material consumption. 

To not edition is an ethical decision.

I will only edition small colouring sheets which are given out to the local community for free. This is my link to political printmakers of old, making works available to the masses for free.

Anything that can be safely composted without leaching unwanted chemicals or additive into the soil, will be composted. 

I use old prints and oiled momigami papers as fire starters for our wood burning stoves.

Timber offcuts from object making go on the fires and oily rags are dried out and reused until an inch of their existence. Even then, I am looking into the feasibility of composting them.

Tissue paper is reused after the oil based ink is dried upon it and paper scraps made into more paper.