Armour Clad in LOVE: From Sculptural Suit to Animated Movie

The Process:

Using skills from my years designing in the fashion industry, I’ve crafted a suit (jacket and pants) from my original prints to represent the idea of our earth, and all of humanity as being armour clad, and protected by LOVE. The decorative papers are printed on Japanese Kozo paper (in English, mulberry paper), renowned for its exceptional strength and resilience, rendering the suit wearable.

Detail of stitched and printed jacket:

Detail of stitched and printed pants.

Printmaking technique:

   On 24” x 37” sheets of Japanese kozo paper I created a ground layer of pattern paper by using dried plants as a stencil together with printing multiple layers of plates inked with the transparent-like Akua Liquid Pigments.

Image of ground layer of printed paper.

The Final Top Layer:

Printed with the more opaque Akua Intaglio Inks using laser cut plexi printing plates, the sheen on the print was created by adding silver metallic intaglio ink to ultramarine blue + phthalo blue. The original designs for the laser cut plates were computer generated.

To learn more about my printed decorative papers technique link to YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGZYtCZ4ul4&t=10s

Inked laser cut plexi printing plate.

The Animated Movie:

The suit made its debut in a brief animated film titled "ARMOUR CLAD IN LOVE," showcased at the 2021 Southern Graphic Council International Conference for printmakers. This event, known as Printflix, highlighted the works of myself and eight other artists who utilize their unique prints to craft animations.

Screened in SGC International

MakerReady Virtual Event PRINTFLIX

Saturday, April 10, 2021

Organized by thepostdigitalprintmakers + Susan Rostow.