Lithography

For my Fashion Communication course I was required to attend a Lithography workshop and create some of my own prints.  I chose an image of a particular Irregular Choice shoe called 'Abigail's Party' (named after a 1970s play by Mike Leigh).  I love the floral patterns, ribbons and stitching on the shoes and thought they would be perfect to use as my design for my Lithography print.

I traced the image of the shoes onto clear plastic using a quill and black ink.  Then a sheet of metal which had been treated with special chemicals was put into a machine with my design placed on the top.  It was then put in a machine under a UV light and my design placed on top.  The exposure of the UV light on to the chemically treated sheet of metal burned my shoe images onto it.

The metal sheet was then covered in a kind of gum and ink was then spread over the top.  The ink was then wiped away and was only left where my image was present.  It was then put through a printing press with paper and my design was then transferred to the paper.  

Modern Lithography printing is the method used to print most mass produced books, posters, newspapers, magazines and packaging.