Paul Musgrove  –  Artist Practice                                                                                                                                        2009 

My background is in hot glass making, running a studio in Edinburgh during the 1980’s. Among my first artistic endeavours during my schooling was printmaking.

I retired from running a heating company in 2008 and decided to have a self funded sabbatical and as a result attended a course in photo-polymer etching at Edinburgh Printmakers, with Alfons Bytautus, since which time I have been a practising printmaker.

I have since undertaken an extensive exploration of all of the currently used photo-polymer processes, both etch and non-etch and have satisfied myself that I have learnt, at least some, of what these techniques have to offer.

My original intention was to become involved solely with the photographic elements of modern printmaking techniques, however I have subsequently become interested in the more traditional etching processes.

As a result I have been working on a series of drypoint etchings. By using multiple printing plates I have been able to achieve layered, multiple coloured images rather than be confined to the monochromatic of drypoint black.

Alongside this I have been investigating the use of photo-polymer emulsions and how they adhere to glass as a substrate. I have now successfully managed to get photo-polymer film to do this and have successfully used it as a mask to create sandblasted panels on glass using photographic imagery.

I now want to combine the photographic plate making techniques with traditional glass etching and cutting techniques to produce glass printing plates.

NB – I have recently discovered that a fellow hot glass worker (In fact, the father of the hot glass movement, Harvey Littleton.) has for some years been experimenting with glass as a matrix for the printmaking process (Named by him and now known as Vitreography.) I aim to make this technique my next area of exploration.