Choosing Paper

In my test printing I used the following papers:

1. Mould-made Watercolour Board Hahnemühle
300 gsm - matt, rough and hot pressed
The mould-made Hahnemühle watercolour board 300 gsm is natural white, acid free, lightfast and extremely resistant to ageing. The Pads are glued and gauzed to ensure flatness when wet. All sheets contain the “Cockerel” watermark and have 4-sided deckle edges.
Hahnemuehle Website

2. Somerset® Printmaking Paper
100% Cotton - Highest quality papermaking material with excellent archival properties
Mould Made - Superior surface stability.
Acid Free & Archival -The paper will last for hundreds of years (in good storage conditions) and won’t discolour or fall apart.
Deckle Edges - The 4 deckle edges are visually very beautiful, and are perfect for float framing.
Beautiful Random Surface Texture - Surface enhances the finished print
Watermarked - For authenticity
Suitable for Multiple Printmaking Techniques
Somerset is suitable for block/relief printing, embossing, intaglio/etching, hand lithography, laser printing, letterpress, silkscreen/serigraphy, pastel and charcoal
Somerset Website

3. Super Alfa de Guarro Casas

El papel Super Alfa está compuesto en un 60% por fibras algodón, presenta marca al agua y barbas por los 4 lados
Tiene un color ligeramente amarfilado con filigrana.

Tamaño habitual del pliego es de 76*112 cm, con un gramaje de 250 gr, ideal para grabado aunque puede tener otros usos, especialmente indicado para Grabado al buril, Aguatinta y Aguafuerte. La textura del Super Alfa es rugosa.
Super Alfa Website

4. Fabriano Rosaspina

Made with qualitatively high-level raw material (60% Cotton). Rosaspina is a mould made paperboard and suitable for all printmaking techniques (etching, lithography and silk-screening).
The watermark runs parallel to the two larger sides of the sheet and reproduces the Fabriano trademark and logo.
The two larger sides are deckled.
Rosapina Website

5. BFK Rives is a 100% cotton, mouldmade paper which is acid free buffered. Its smooth surface and light sizing make it ideal for most artistic and printing techniques. BFK Rives has four deckle edges and a registered watermark.
Excellent for: Lithography, Intaglio Etching, Silkscreen, Linocut, Collotype and Drawing.
Also for: Typography, Embossing and Foil Stamping.
Advantages:
• 100% cotton for optimal absorption of water, a paper strength increased and the unique feel.
• Quality Conservation
• Smooth the delicate grain.
• Hue pure white, obtained naturally and does not yellow over time..
• 4 deckle edges, watermarked.
• Wide choice of weights: 210 gsm to 300 gsm.
BFK Website

6. Velin Arches ® is a 100% cotton, acid-free fine art printing paper. The paper is mouldmade using carefully selected cotton fibers that give the paper a sensual touch and strong resistance.
Its surface is marked and has a smooth grain similar to that of handmade papers. It is a watermarked paper, the four deckle edges, ideal for drawing, editing and art prints.
It is available in several weights from 160 gsm to 400 gsm.
Advantages:
• 100% cotton for optimal absorption of water, a paper strength increased and a unique feel.
• Quality preservation.
• Grain marked harmonious.
• Natural white that will not yellow over time.
• 4 deckle edges, watermarked.
• Wide choice of weights: 160 gsm to 400 gsm.
Velin Arches Website

Embossing

With the help of Cameron Fraser (http://www.fraserartworks.com/) I did a test emboss. This looks very promising, and after a serious testing session, I should be able to get cracking with making a series of prints before welding the sculptures of Pentecost. http://www.fraserartworks.com/ ) me hizo una prueba de relieve. Esto se ve muy prometedor, y después de una sesión de pruebas serias, debería ser capaz de darle caña a la fabricación de una serie de impresiones antes de soldar las esculturas de Pentecost.

Modern

"We find ourselves, in other words, in a late-flowering offshoot of one of the great modernist ambitions, which reached full bloom in "Ulysses": the urge to try out every conceivable style, not as a show of skill but in a bid to grasp a world so rich that it threatens, or rejoices, to elude our clutches."

Home Fronts by Anthony Lane p83 The New Yorker Magazine 29 April 2013

Howard Brenton on Conceptual Art

"...well he's a conceptual artist, and like all conceptual artists he takes experience and transmutes it into a more general statement about life. The difference between our conceptual artists and him, I think, is that many in this country and in the West, they concentrate it on themselves and their art is me, me, me. With him, his art is us, us, us. It looks outward."

Howard Brenton on Ai Weiwei
Front Row BBC Radio4 17/4/13

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rvpvk