This chapter I will discuss the procedure for preparing fish skins for the embossed print making process. The following descriptions should give a relative idea what is involved with the process of utilizing flora and fauna for nature prints and the spiritual connection as the artist.
Here I have collected some filleted fresh water fish from a local fishing camp. The fish cadavers are soaked in Methyl Hydrate(Engine Alcohol) for about a week to remove the fish grease and to sterilize them.
The desired specimens are skinned with a scalpel from nose to tail. The dorsal fins are also left attached as so to acquire a good image for conservation and documentation.
Once the skinning process is complete, the fish hides are stapled to a tanning board. With powdered borax I massage the borax on the flesh side of the skin. This absorbs left over fish oil and keeps beetles and wasps from eating the skin. Borax also eliminates the odor of dried fish and keeps the smell from attracting raccoons. There is another purpose for using borax, thats so to keep mice from nibbling on the specimans that took hours to prepare. In the early stages of experimenting with tanning the bird or fish skin, I was disappointed with going into the tanning shack in the morning to retrieve the tanning boards, as so to hang out in the sun, and they were chewed to pieces. It was a very important ritual to take care of the biological specimans once they were on the tanning board. Spring and summer was spent collecting the species as well as preparing them, the fall and winter was the time to print them in the studio.
This is a prepared sunfish skeleton. It is ready for printing. This fish has oil based inks rubbed onto its surface and with a Q-tip, the colour has been applied into the crevices and hard to reach places. This stage of the process is an extremely delicate procedure. Time and patience has to be maximized during the applying of colour by hand, for I am after the coloured impression. Sloppy inking = sloppy print image = wasting an expensive piece of archival rag paper. Now that the fish is covered in ink, I use a cloth and wipe off all the ink. In theory the wiping removes surface ink, leaving ink in the surface textures. This is what gives a detailed embossing...the pores within scales, feathers , skin and bone are what hold the ink.
Once the found object from nature is ready, it is laid on the steel printing press bed. The paper which I use is archival rag paper,usually 120pnd ARCHES or SUMMERSET paper from FRANCE, and it is soaked for one hour. When the time limit is up, the paper is removed and hand held to drip dry over the water basin.
Placing the damp rag paper in between 2 towels, hand pressure is applied to the towels to remove anymore surface water on the paper. In theory, the damp rag paper is almost like soft clay, thus allowing the press pressure to compress in and around the flattened three dimensional object. The point being, is to acquire an embossed print without having the sheet of paper with holes and pressure tears.
When the damp paper is ready, it is removed from between the towels and gently placed over the inked objects from nature.
Then three layers of felt blankets are placed over top of the paper. Now I am ready to turn the wheel of the printing press.
As the wheel is turned , the press bed with the object, the paper and the felts are fed between 2 steel rollers, which in turn exerts 2000pnds of pressure per square inch onto the found object. After the press bed has passed under the rollers, the press bed comes out the other side. The felts are lifted and the paper is ever so gently lifted from the surface of press. The object that was pressed, lays on the bed, and I am left with its embossed image in the paper.
Here is the same sunfish skeleton embossed into the paper. The pressure picked up the details and the colour came along with it. Its a fossil in paper. Its textured and wonderfully detailed. As an artist, it did not have to be drawn or sketched. The image is directly created from the source. Its the best way to show love of natural history. Albrecht Durer always stated that if one can grasp it from nature, one truly has it. He was right!!
Here is a view of the press bed with inked objects laid down and ready for printing. There are zinc plates in and amongst found objects from nature. There is 5 etched zinc plates, 4 bird feet, a mouse skin, a blue heron head, 2 fish skins, a small dried tree frog, a fox snake skin, a large bullfrog skin, along with a mallard wing. This is the stage where the damp paper is laid over top.
Here is a detail section shot of the objects from nature on the press bed. The dark plate is a zinc plate with a detailed engraving of a fish skull.
This is the final print with all the previous objects you saw laid out on the press bed.
Title: "Self Portrait at 24"
Medium: Hand pulled Embossed Print
Size: 22" X 29"
Date: 1993
Once and edition of prints are pulled, they are hung on a wire to dry.
As for the spiritual connection with my art making, its a personal choice to send back to mother earth, the tanned skins and animal bones after I no longer need them. I am a artist that is merely suspending the wonders of nature from DECAY. My work is about conservation and to have the ability to suspend beauty from decay is one that requires some type of honor.
Sometimes people will bring me deceased animals they find on their personal journeys to see if I am able to utilize them in my art making practice. This is a document photo of myself returning to the cosmos a Loon that was covered in oil. This majestic bird was slick with oil and I couldn't utilize it, so its body and spirit were sent home, respectfully buried by the creek.
Here I have collected some filleted fresh water fish from a local fishing camp. The fish cadavers are soaked in Methyl Hydrate(Engine Alcohol) for about a week to remove the fish grease and to sterilize them.
The desired specimens are skinned with a scalpel from nose to tail. The dorsal fins are also left attached as so to acquire a good image for conservation and documentation.
Once the skinning process is complete, the fish hides are stapled to a tanning board. With powdered borax I massage the borax on the flesh side of the skin. This absorbs left over fish oil and keeps beetles and wasps from eating the skin. Borax also eliminates the odor of dried fish and keeps the smell from attracting raccoons. There is another purpose for using borax, thats so to keep mice from nibbling on the specimans that took hours to prepare. In the early stages of experimenting with tanning the bird or fish skin, I was disappointed with going into the tanning shack in the morning to retrieve the tanning boards, as so to hang out in the sun, and they were chewed to pieces. It was a very important ritual to take care of the biological specimans once they were on the tanning board. Spring and summer was spent collecting the species as well as preparing them, the fall and winter was the time to print them in the studio.
This is a prepared sunfish skeleton. It is ready for printing. This fish has oil based inks rubbed onto its surface and with a Q-tip, the colour has been applied into the crevices and hard to reach places. This stage of the process is an extremely delicate procedure. Time and patience has to be maximized during the applying of colour by hand, for I am after the coloured impression. Sloppy inking = sloppy print image = wasting an expensive piece of archival rag paper. Now that the fish is covered in ink, I use a cloth and wipe off all the ink. In theory the wiping removes surface ink, leaving ink in the surface textures. This is what gives a detailed embossing...the pores within scales, feathers , skin and bone are what hold the ink.
Once the found object from nature is ready, it is laid on the steel printing press bed. The paper which I use is archival rag paper,usually 120pnd ARCHES or SUMMERSET paper from FRANCE, and it is soaked for one hour. When the time limit is up, the paper is removed and hand held to drip dry over the water basin.
Placing the damp rag paper in between 2 towels, hand pressure is applied to the towels to remove anymore surface water on the paper. In theory, the damp rag paper is almost like soft clay, thus allowing the press pressure to compress in and around the flattened three dimensional object. The point being, is to acquire an embossed print without having the sheet of paper with holes and pressure tears.
When the damp paper is ready, it is removed from between the towels and gently placed over the inked objects from nature.
Then three layers of felt blankets are placed over top of the paper. Now I am ready to turn the wheel of the printing press.
As the wheel is turned , the press bed with the object, the paper and the felts are fed between 2 steel rollers, which in turn exerts 2000pnds of pressure per square inch onto the found object. After the press bed has passed under the rollers, the press bed comes out the other side. The felts are lifted and the paper is ever so gently lifted from the surface of press. The object that was pressed, lays on the bed, and I am left with its embossed image in the paper.
Here is the same sunfish skeleton embossed into the paper. The pressure picked up the details and the colour came along with it. Its a fossil in paper. Its textured and wonderfully detailed. As an artist, it did not have to be drawn or sketched. The image is directly created from the source. Its the best way to show love of natural history. Albrecht Durer always stated that if one can grasp it from nature, one truly has it. He was right!!
Here is a view of the press bed with inked objects laid down and ready for printing. There are zinc plates in and amongst found objects from nature. There is 5 etched zinc plates, 4 bird feet, a mouse skin, a blue heron head, 2 fish skins, a small dried tree frog, a fox snake skin, a large bullfrog skin, along with a mallard wing. This is the stage where the damp paper is laid over top.
Here is a detail section shot of the objects from nature on the press bed. The dark plate is a zinc plate with a detailed engraving of a fish skull.
This is the final print with all the previous objects you saw laid out on the press bed.
Title: "Self Portrait at 24"
Medium: Hand pulled Embossed Print
Size: 22" X 29"
Date: 1993
Once and edition of prints are pulled, they are hung on a wire to dry.
As for the spiritual connection with my art making, its a personal choice to send back to mother earth, the tanned skins and animal bones after I no longer need them. I am a artist that is merely suspending the wonders of nature from DECAY. My work is about conservation and to have the ability to suspend beauty from decay is one that requires some type of honor.
Sometimes people will bring me deceased animals they find on their personal journeys to see if I am able to utilize them in my art making practice. This is a document photo of myself returning to the cosmos a Loon that was covered in oil. This majestic bird was slick with oil and I couldn't utilize it, so its body and spirit were sent home, respectfully buried by the creek.
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