Eileen Downs

I must admit that my initial reaction to my allocated Milecastle was one of disappointment as other than a nice bit of wall at Milecastle 33 (Shield on the Wall) which is clearly visible and located a few metres to the north of the B6318 on the Military Road there was little else for me to use to develop ideas for my print. However as a potter my love of all things ceramic led me to explore whether there had been pottery found along my section of the wall in the hope I would find some surface decoration patterns to incorporate into my print.

My initial search was futile however with the assistance of Dr Francis McIntosh curator of collections for Hadrian’s Wall I identified patterns that were associated with the wall to use in my print. Chine Collé is a technique, used in conjunction with a printmaking processes that results in a two-layered thin paper, cut to the size that is placed on the inked plate prior to printing, I used Indian inks and tissue paper to create the colours I required. The pattern for the Chile Collé section of my print was taken from the surface decoration from the IIam Pam a bronze trulla or ladle which is inlaid with red, blue, turquoise and yellow-coloured enamel. I then developed a lino cut incorporating my section of the wall and used images found on hunting cups to recreate a scene to depict Roman solders hunting along the wall this was then printed over the Chile Collé onto Somerset paper.

Hunting was a popular pastime for the Romans and it would have been a leisure activity of the soldiers based at Hadrian’s wall, hunting cups were used as tableware. It is thought that the IIam Pam was a souvenir of Hadrian’s Wall, made for a soldier who had served there, it has an engraved description of forts on Hadrian’s wall around its rim. This was my first time using Chine Collé I would like to thank Francis McIntosh and staff at Housestead Roman Fort for their assistance and everyone involved in the organisation of this collaborative project for giving me the opportunity to take part.