dylan thomas print project especially when the october wind
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THE PAPER
When we embarked on this project we began looking for a single make of paper for the whole edition. One of the first things to decide was the size of the paper we were going to use, for this would have implications for the image each printmaker would produce, which of our presses the edition could be printed on and the dimensions of the edition box. Something near half an 'Imperial' had the right size, at circa 510 x 375 mm, but it quickly became clear that nothing like this could be sourced from our regular suppliers, unless we tore larger sheets to size and so we looked into using a handmade paper, which would also add to the quality we wanted the box-set to have.
An extensive search for a mill in Wales delivered nothing, merely a few references to long-gone papermakers and so we came to work with Wookey Hole Papermill, in Somerset. At one time the mill listed a 'Demy' paper of just the right characteristics, but unfortunately it had stopped making this some time ago and the moulds were sold.
One admittedly expensive possibility was for us to get our own moulds and since there was still one person in the country with the skills to build these we decided to go ahead and commission a pair including one deckle. Ron MacDonald of E. Amies & Son in Kent did the work for us and on Christmas Eve 2002 our moulds arrived, beautiful items in their own right in mahogany, with copper fittings and a phosphor-bronze wire mesh. A few days later these were taken over to the papermill, where Ian Wilcox started producing 1500 sheets early in January. This beautiful white, handmade cotton paper carries the watermarks SPW and GAA, is acid-free and has a weight of about 425 gsm. Each sheet with its four deckle edges tends to vary in a minor way from the others in measurement, finish and weight. Two 'cold-pressed' surface finishes were chosen, one a 'slight glaze' with a somewhat rough texture, while the other is a smoother 'high glaze'. The degree of 'glazing' is the result of the amount of pressure applied to the sheets when passed between two rollers and is controlled by the number of zinc sheets which are interleaved with the paper. In general the high glaze was favored for the silkscreen and relief prints.
SWANSEA PRINT WORKSHOP DYLAN THOMAS 50TH ANNIVERSARY
Swansea
Print Workshop is a not for profit
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