I have, however, got my next design ready and have started to draw it onto my second plate (using carbon paper this time, to hopefully save some time and so I don't make a mistake and have to prepare another plate).
(my sketches to work out the design)
(Final design, and working out where to aquatint)
Its a bit of a weird design. Its again an interior scene, so I will use the wallpaper pattern again. It shows a girl, Ashputtle, posed as a puppet (I hope to use soft ground to press thread into my plate for her strings, so this will hopefully create more of a connection with the stitched dress). A coi fish, is curled up onto Ashputtle's lap, symbolising the mother and daughter relationship as a positive one. However, a Russian doll set of two figures also sits on the decorative chair. This symbolises the opposite side to their relationship, where Ashputtle is trapped by her mother, and it refers to women as dolls.The fact that the fish is out of water also suggests there's trouble. In the background, in another room, appears another figure, the step mother. She is suggestively posed, sitting on the edge of a table, eating the remains of a fish bone, while an ignored child (which I'm going to add in) sitting on the floor reaches out to her. I wanted to display the part of the Chinese story where the step mother kills the fish. I though it would appear much more menacing if she were to eat the reincarnated mother though. The small child refers to the step sisters. They are still quite in need of their mother. They do not think for themselves and seem to trust in her to the stage where they cut their own feet off. But, according to Carter, the step mother does not really act on her daughter's best interests. She is acting on her own behalf and due to the competition in gaining a wealthy son. I have also tried to hint at the story by including my images in picture frames which appear on the walls in my image. One is of a woman with a bird's beak, whispering into another girl's ear. This symbolises the control of the mother. Another picture frame depicts a stalk stabbing itself in the chest to feed it's young. Katherine, the print technician, told me about this, it's called 'vulning'. It links to Carter's story as the dove pricks it's chest, covering Asputtle in it's blood which then turns into (provides her with a ) a red dress. I like this idea as it again seems quite menacing, an in fitting of Carter's writing. I want to have this drawn onto the new plate and ready to take into the print room on Wednesday.
Hi Stacey, just found your site and wondering if you are still posting?
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