Experimental Printmaking Process
Lhotka Studio, Boulder, Colorado

A brief look at creating "Metamorphous"

"Metamorphous"
48 x 96 inches (122 x 244 cm)
© Bonny Lhotka 1997

Lhotka began by scanning scraps of a friend's pastel chalks because she liked the random shapes. She also chose a dead butterfly to scan, keeping it in sharp focus. Lhotka found paint scraps on her studio floor which echoed the lines and texture of the butterfly and scanned them for a frame.

Lhotka combined the three elements of chalk, paint scraps, and butterflies in Adobe Photoshop. Using another image editing program called Painter, a three dimensional effect was created in the composited images. For the frames, a doll house door was purchased, scanned and composited with the discarded print scraps in Photoshop. Spun bonded polyester fabric was used as a substrate for building the surface on which to print. The polyester is about as thick as 90 lb. paper, and will not buckle or shrink.

Lhotka began creating the surface of the print by building a textured surface for the image using Golden Light Modeling paste. Then various thin coats of acrylic paint and pearl coatings were applied to add intensity to the printed image. The final step in preparing the surface is the addition of a coat of glue to insure that the ink jet printer inks will adhere. Lhotka used granulated glue, melted in a crockpot and applied slightly warm with a sponge brush. After drying completely, the substrate was loaded into the printer for printing the digital file.