Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Printmaking Workshop (Lino printing) and Big Idea 152 is The market

Lino Printing


Today was the second session in the Printmaking Workshop at OPEN Ealing and Lino printing was the topic handled.
 Lino printing offers considerably more scope than Mono-printing, with this type of printing multiple copies can be produced and more than one colour used.
The basic technique is cutting into lino and one of the challenges is working in reverse (like mirror writing for example), areas removed will remain the colour of the paper.
If you're interested this site gives you a shopping list for what you need, it's great for making personalised cards and here are some examples of  what the technique can create.
Here's a video that runs through how it's done (cut away from yourself and don't forget that the blades are sharp), you can use the same technique with wood blocks too.



The Market is Big Idea 152


In Capitalist societies the market is where  goods and resources are traded for competition to take place (one of the requirements for a market to operate efficiently) there should be more than one trader as well as hopefully several customers. With these elements we can see the law of supply and demand in action. If you imagine your in a large vegetable market you can see how the 'Market
operates' - you walk the length of the market studying the goods for sale and comparing the prices and quality - if one stall is offering very good oranges at a low price they will make many trades and may sell out - if this happens customers may have to purchase more expensive oranges or those of inferior quality - they might even decide to have apples instead. A street market is often a good example of a market - the barriers to entry are low (cost of a pitch and some stock) and competition is visible and dynamic.
Generally more sophisticated markets can be more complex with government taking an interest (making sure that competition is 'fair' for example).
One of the characteristics of the command economies that operated in the Soviet Block was that there were shortages and black markets as consumer demand was not satisfied and prices were controlled externally (by the politicians)  rather than by supply and demand.



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