Lo-Fi Printmaking - Kitchen Lithography

Kitchen lithography tutorial for Medway Print Festival '20 Lockdown.
Using tin foil and cola, Xtina Lamb from Medway Fine Printmakers in Rochester (North Kent) shows you how to create lithographs in your kitchen with a miraculous fast and easy technique. Great for people who like drawing with soft sketchy lines.
This kitchen-friendly version of lithography was developed by Émilie Aizier (alias Émilion) as a response to the toxic chemicals, special equipment and long learning process required for stone lithography.
What you'll need:
Cheap cola
Extra strong tin foil
Vegetable oil
Old newspaper or magazine
Kitchen roll
Scissors
Smooth paper (120gsm or heavier)
T-shirt material rags, or sponges
Small rubber roller
Water dish
Chinagraph pencil / litho crayon
Soft brush
Wooden spoon
Sheet of plastic x 2, or laminated card
Masking tape
Washing up bowl
Small tub or bowl
Oil based litho / relief ink (intaglioprintmaker.com/catego...)
Tissue - wrap wet prints in this and place under a heavy book or boards
Zest-it brush cleaner (optional)
Medway Fine Printmakers, INTRA, Rochester, North Kent
medwayfineprintmakers.co.uk/mp...
@medwayfineprintmakers
/ medwayfineprintmakers
/ medwayfineprintmakers
Part of Medway Print Festival '20 Lockdown
www.medwayprintfestival.com/
#mpf20lockdown

[@gloriabyers8356]

Enjoyed this tutorial. I have been looking for an easier and more economical way to make lithographs. Thank you, this was very helpful.

[@adeevision1297]

Thanks for the video you have inspired me to do some artwork for my music channel.

[@redsequana6584]

Only just come across Kitchen Lithograph & thought what sorcery is this. Nicely explained & want to give this a go, thank you.

[@g-r-a-e-m-e-]

Thanks Xtina, that was quite engrossing to watch, and I will have a go!

[@richardmorgan2679]

Thank You for this wonderful tutorial. I appreciate your calm presentation and easy explanations.

[@rolft.7697]

Great Tutorial, nicely explained, Thank You

[@yusufbanna]

thank you very much for the video.After watching this, I realised I got everything I need except the ink, to make prints. I am gonna try some of my drawings transferred into tin foil and make.print. Thanks for showing me the process.

[@FranOnTheEdge]

Also, I just had a thought: how about those aluminium 'tins' that chicken etc comes in? That'd be thicker than kitchen foil.

[@alistairsinclairness7543]

Yes nice and clear I will be having a go very soon thank you.

[@medwayfineprintmakers9477]

I hope you have fun with it, let us see what you make!

[@denisepatton9184]

Best Ive seen.

[@rolft.7697]

amazed...how you manage to keep your hands clean..?!!! :-)

[@medwayfineprintmakers9477]

Years of practice! It’s much easier with this process than something like etching or screen printing.

[@Gamureth]

Would oil crayons work for the drawing?

[@FranOnTheEdge]

Nice explanatory video. But how do you clean your orange T-Shirt? And is it ANY fizzy drink, like Fanta, or does it HAVE to be a cola? I'm going to try this. Ta for the demo.

[@medwayfineprintmakers9477]

The orange cloth is just cotton rags - you could wash it with detergent if you wanted to reuse them. Cola contains carbonic acid, but I've not tested other fizzy drinks. You can buy litmus strips cheaply and could do tests to see which the best fizzy drinks are. The cola definitely varies - sugar free vs normal cola, cheap vs branded. I can't remember all the different ones I've used now, but the one in the video is a supermarket own brand non-diet cola.

[@seansverige]

Ta for this; some explanation of process principles might help; I presume regular not diet cola is better, being more acidic Also, a few close ups of the finished prints on your insta would also give some idea of texture/line quality possible with this process

[@edenheaven5175]

How long will plate last and how many copies ca you pull from it?

[@medwayfineprintmakers9477]

I’ve printed about 30 from this type of plate without significant quality degradation. I only usually stop because I don’t want more than that though. Let me know if you get a longer run out of yours please. I haven’t really gone back to plates much after the first printing, other than after a week or so, so can’t advise you on that. I’d be interested to know too.

[@lucretiaonutube]

I've been trying this using Caligo ink and it doesn't work, I wonder if you can use oil paint?

[@medwayfineprintmakers9477]

Caligo isn't suitable for this technique, because although it contains oil - it's water soluble. The key thing in this process is the separation of oil and water. Go for an ink that can be cleaned up with oil or spirits. I'm not sure about oil paint, the consistency might be too fluid, but it might be worth a go.

[@juljos9343]

is alright to glue the foil down to stop the creasing?

[@medwayfineprintmakers9477]

That might be worth trying. Maybe using something like the high tack glue spray used for textile screen printing. You’d risk getting a slight texture from it coming through though. I find just using tape at the edges, getting the thickest foil you can find, and being gentle with it is enough to stop creasing.

[@juljos9343]

Medway Fine Printmakers thankyou

[@stevendevolder942]

i waisted 6 days of my hollidays and life watching kitchen lithographie videos and trying it , destroyed some good drawings in the process, waisted some good ink(charbonnel taille douce) and cola . every time i roll it in with ink everything turns black .i am very angry ..

[@stevendevolder942]

i solved some gum pastilles (accacia senegal E414 = gum arabic) in water and added cola to that . and lemonjuice and this worked .i am not angry anymore

[@pavelozdani439]

It doesn't work at all for me either - I am disappointed