Melanie Mascarenhas
Artist of Wildlife & the Natural World
Kitchen Litho
"Cuisine Lithographique"
Kitchen Litho is a non-toxic lithographic process invented by the wonderful Émilie Aizier. As the name implies, it is a form of lithography, which can be carried out safely at home in your own kitchen, well anywhere really!
The materials are wonderfully simple; the matrix is strong aluminium foil, the etch is cola - any sort, inking materials can be as simple as oil paint, sponges and a rubber roller. You don't even need a press to create prints, I have used the back of a spoon which works pretty well. The drawing materials to create an image are varied and easily available, such as coloured pencils, permanent markers, Indian ink, soft graphite pencils, oil pastels, as well as lithographic crayons, inks and tusche. Even fingerprints make excellent marks, although they usually appear where you want them to turn up least.
As with stone lithography, Kitchen Litho offers creative freedom and expressive mark making. With aluminium foil being so thin, you can also draw and print on different surfaces to create interesting textures.
I'm really only at the beginning of my Kitchen Litho journey, but now I am armed with my own copy of Émilie Aizier's Kitchen Litho handbook, the possibilities seem endless.
My first Kitchen Litho print using lithographic ink. It’s made up of five separate plates. All layers have been printed without the aid of a press. I entered this into the first International Kitchen Litho Contest.
Here the first plate is inked and ready to print. I began by painting the cola to create a negative image, for the areas that I wanted to remain white.
The final plate seen here being etched with cola. I used a Sharpie pen to draw the rather stylised dragonfly. As you can see, I pressed a little too hard whilst drawing. This meant the plate was a little fragile & I had to take great care whilst inking & printing.
My first Kitchen Litho print using lithographic ink. It’s made up of five separate plates. All layers have been printed without the aid of a press. I entered this into the first International Kitchen Litho Contest.
This Kitchen Litho was inspired by sketches made of a juvenile greater spotted woodpecker. I was still using oil paint for this three colour plate print. The red was hand painted with watercolour paint. Even though the oil paint was a real challenge to print with, even after I had thickened it with magnesium carbonate, I really love the textural effects in this piece.
This Kitchen Litho was inspired by sketches made of a juvenile greater spotted woodpecker. I was still using oil paint for this three colour plate print. The red was hand painted with watercolour paint. Even though the oil paint was a real challenge to print with, even after I had thickened it with magnesium carbonate, I really love the textural effects in this piece.
These slide shows demonstrate how my experiments have developed so far, from my getting to grips with the basics, then playing with layering colours. This is followed by the steps involved in a larger piece of work, using three separate plates. The third slide show is the beginnings of using a repeat printed image and varying the paper, the oil paint mix and applying other techniques to create unique prints.
You can click to enlarge any of the images.
The image was drawn with oil pastel and a soft 6B graphite pencil. The image was inked with black oil paint.
My first Kitchen Litho print, which I made using the back of a spoon. It was approximately A6 in size and on plain cartridge paper.
The first combination is the black, blue & yellow. The second is the same as the first, but with the addition on a fourth mossy green layer. The third is just the initial black outline.
The image was drawn with oil pastel and a soft 6B graphite pencil. The image was inked with black oil paint.
This is the first plate, once it has been inked-up. I originally created a textural abstract background to represent water, light and reflected reeds. I drew with cola to create definite marks and then used a spray bottle filled with more cola to try and create some half-tones.
This is the first plate, once it has been inked-up. I originally created a textural abstract background to represent water, light and reflected reeds. I drew with cola to create definite marks and then used a spray bottle filled with more cola to try and create some half-tones.
Apparently the Norwegian name for dragonfly is Øyenstikker, which means eye-poker & I think it’s a wonderful name for them. With this piece I tried to keep the background quite soft and muted, so that the dragonfly would stand out almost in relief.
I varied the paper, as well as the mix of oil paints. I tried to create a more abstract image, something suspended in time and the stillness surrounding that moment.
Here I used a much heavier black for the reeds over the first print. I also added a splash of coffee. It’s amazing how that addition helped to create a more coherent image.
Apparently the Norwegian name for dragonfly is Øyenstikker, which means eye-poker & I think it’s a wonderful name for them. With this piece I tried to keep the background quite soft and muted, so that the dragonfly would stand out almost in relief.