by Sophie Elm.
May Day Flowers is a three colour risograph print.
"May Day marks the beginning of spring and has been celebrated throughout the ages with many traditions, including Maypole dancing and the crowning of a May Queen. One of these traditions is to leave an anonymous posy of hand-picked flowers on friends or neighbours front doors."
Risograph printing is a mechanised printing process, with results much like screen printing. A riso machine prints one colour at a time, building up layers of vibrant semi-transparent inks, using stencils, much like a screen print. Due to the mechanised process, registration of layers and colour density may vary from print to print, making each unique.
Printed in Manchester, UK, onto 100% recycled 300gsm card, using soya based inks.
Image size: 12 x 14.5 cm.
Paper size: 14.8 x 21 cm.
Open edition, signed.
Sophie Elm is a printmaker, illustrator and designer based in Gloucestershire. Her work often features botanical imagery, taking inspiration from seasonal changes, as well as traditions. She likes to use vibrant colours, pattern and often combines typography too. Although her work is predominantly hand burnished linocuts, she also likes to experiment with other forms of printmaking, such as risograph and screenprint, as well as hand drawn imagery and papercuts. She begun to combine the latter with risograph printing and found it to be an exciting medium to be experimental and playful.