Didsbury Summer Open - Screenprints inspired by the Parsonage

After teaching BA (Hons) Graphic Design for many years, i've finally found time to rediscover my own creativity. I'm revisiting silkscreen printing at Hot Bed Press print studios in Salford and learning stained-glass window making at Manchester Stained Glass in Ancoats. I'm enjoying creating designs with a contemporary abstract, mark-making and typographic style whilst also using found vintage patterns adding texture.

I'm currently exhibiting a print at The Didsbury Parsonage for Heritage Month Open Days 2025. My interest in stained-glass windows, typography and local history has inspired the Didsbury Parsonage print. From photographs taken of designs and typography on the leaded windows, the unique style of the 'candy cane' staircase spindles and intricate wood panelling, I have created an abstract design that hopefully captures the character of this unique building.

Silkscreen printing is a printing technique where images are exposed onto screens which have been coated in an emulsion by a photographic process which leaves a negative image. When ink is forced through the screen with a squeegee the result is a positive print image. By using a number of images overlayed, the design starts to build. I'm enjoying playing with the process from under-exposing screens to misaligning layers and sometimes learning from happy accidents.

I also exhibited a print at the recent Didsbury Summer Open entitled '3B8 Pink' (3B8 as people read the 3 as also a B and an 8). As with all my designs so far, I create the individual design elements in Illustrator which allows for fine detail especially in line work. Re-using the screens also allows you to reprint the design in a variety of colour schemes or different layout of the design elements.

Rachel Mozley

Instagram: @rachel.mozley