{"id":3217,"date":"2016-02-07T07:04:14","date_gmt":"2016-02-07T07:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/?p=3217"},"modified":"2026-04-16T07:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T07:24:09","slug":"six-by-six-by-eleven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/?p=3217","title":{"rendered":"Six by Six by Eleven"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With September&#8217;s exhibition at\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #000000; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.the-ropewalk.co.uk\">The Ropewalk<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0coming up fast, I&#8217;ve been so busy preparing, that I haven&#8217;t had much time to think about making new printing plates. Last week though, all that changed. I was able to devote\u00a0the best part of two days to it, so I headed for the garage and all those bags of materials, ready to make a mess. This is how Six by Six by Eleven came about.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Recently, I&#8217;ve loved working in the (for me) small format I call &#8216;6&#215;6&#8217;. At roughly six inches square, it allows me to miniaturise many of the platemaking techniques I&#8217;ve been using for a while into something that is relatively quick to create. At the same time, I&#8217;m able to experiment with scaling down my mark-making techniques and play with the space, particularly around what happens at the edges. I like the tension that occurs at\u00a0the perimeter of a plate; sometimes I &#8216;hold the image back&#8217;, as if at the edge of an imaginary cliff; sometimes it&#8217;s interesting when I allow a material to spill or break out of the confines of the four sides. As ever, for me it&#8217;s about responding to what I feel the material &#8216;wants&#8217; to do \u2013 it just feels right, or appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>With the luxury of time I had, I decided to work even more quickly than usual. I prepared eleven birch plywood plates by coating them on both sides with three coats of quick-drying varnish. Then, I\u00a0grabbed some materials from all those bags of stuff, looking for interesting texture combinations. Without glueing any thing down, I quickly\u00a0move elements around.\u00a0Always responding to the material, sometimes the arrangement is simple and flat, whilst others become more interesting through layering.<\/p>\n<p>So, here they are&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2492.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3222\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-3222\" src=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2492-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Six by Six by Eleven: birch plywood printing plate with edging material\" width=\"940\" height=\"705\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_0001.jpg\"><br \/>\n<\/a><em>Edging material: 1<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2498.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3224\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-3224\" src=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2498-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Six by Six by Eleven: birch plywood printing plate with edging material. (close up 2)\" width=\"940\" height=\"705\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_0003.jpg\"><br \/>\n<\/a><em>Edging material: 2<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2500.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3225\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-3225\" src=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2500-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Six by Six by Eleven: birch plywood printing plate with filler and carborundum\" width=\"940\" height=\"705\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_0007.jpg\"><br \/>\n<\/a><em>Filler and carborundum<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2503.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3227\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-3227\" src=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2503-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Six by Six by Eleven: birch plywood printing plate with stuck glasspaper\" width=\"940\" height=\"705\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_0010.jpg\"><br \/>\n<\/a><em>Cut\u00a0glasspaper shapes<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2504.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3228\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-3228\" src=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2504-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Six by Six by Eleven: birch plywood printing plate with stuck glasspaper (close up)\" width=\"940\" height=\"705\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2505.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3229\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-3229\" src=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2505-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Six by Six by Eleven: birch plywood printing plate with hessian\" width=\"940\" height=\"705\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Hessian fibres<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2508.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3244\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-3244\" src=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2508-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Eleven: birch plywood printing plate with carborundum shapes (close up)\" width=\"940\" height=\"705\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Carborundum: I used a card stencil to spray glue lines, before sprinkling the powder<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2512.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3232\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-3232\" src=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2512-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Six by Six by Eleven: birch plywood printing plate with stuck glass paper shapes\" width=\"940\" height=\"705\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Cut\u00a0glass paper\u00a0shapes, with punched holes and scalpel scoring<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2517.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3233\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-3233\" src=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2517-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Six by Six by Eleven: birch plywood printing plate with stuck glass paper shapes (close up)\" width=\"940\" height=\"705\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2519.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3234\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-3234\" src=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2519-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Six by Six by Eleven: birch plywood printing plate with stuck fabric webbing\" width=\"940\" height=\"705\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Fabric webbing<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2523.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3236\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-3236\" src=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2523-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Six by Six by Eleven: birch plywood printing plate with stuck glass paper with holes\" width=\"940\" height=\"705\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Glasspaper, with punched holes and scalpel scoring<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2524.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3237\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-3237\" src=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2524-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Six by Six by Eleven: birch plywood printing plate with stuck glass paper with holes (close up)\" width=\"940\" height=\"705\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2527.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3238\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-3238\" src=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2527-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Six by Six by Eleven: birch plywood printing plate with stuck glass paper with various edging materials (close up 1)\" width=\"940\" height=\"705\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Various edging\u00a0<\/em><i>materials<\/i><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2529.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3240\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-3240\" src=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2529-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Six by Six by Eleven: birch plywood printing plate with stuck glass paper with various edging materials (close up 2)\" width=\"940\" height=\"705\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2532.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3241\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-3241\" src=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2532-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Six by Six by Eleven: birch plywood printing plate with torn dishcloth\" width=\"940\" height=\"705\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Torn dishcloth<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2540-e1454827329693.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3243\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-3243\" src=\"http:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/IMG_2540-e1454827329693-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Six by Six by Eleven: birch plywood printing plate: all eleven plates\" width=\"940\" height=\"705\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>All\u00a0eleven plates!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The next day, I finished the plates with more varnish layers, before placing each plate\u00a0under a heavy weight. This helped to flatten out the plate surface and to make sure that all elements were firmly stuck.<\/p>\n<p>Tomorrow, I&#8217;ll be off to the Print Room at the University of Lincoln for an entire day printing these plates. It&#8217;s been so long \u2013 I can&#8217;t wait!<\/p>\n<p>Find all my posts\u00a0about Art Printworks stories on Twitter at:\u00a0<strong><a style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/artprintstories?src=hash\">#artprintstories<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><script><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With September&#8217;s exhibition at\u00a0The Ropewalk\u00a0coming up fast, I&#8217;ve been so busy preparing, that I haven&#8217;t had much time to think about making new printing plates. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80858,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[357],"tags":[404,373,370],"class_list":["post-3217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prints","tag-6x6","tag-prints-2","tag-the-ropewalk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3217"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82525,"href":"https:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3217\/revisions\/82525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/80858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sinclairashman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}