PRINTING THE YEAR OF THE HORSE PRINT

I cut some paper and set everything up and printed about eight of the 'color' plate with Akua Carbon Black. Good thing I decided to check the registration with the 'line' plate, which turned out to be good, because it was the inks that weren't going to work.  I used Akua Mars Black, thinking it would be significantly darker and stand out over the Carbon Black, but it didn't.

I added a little Akua Titanium White to the Carbon Black and tried again.  It looked so great I was doing a little happy dance.

I took a picture of the first "Rupert".

Are you peeking?

I didn't have time to finish them all today.  I got only 8 made and this is a busy week.  I don't know when I'll get around to finishing the rest.  I was hoping I'd get them in the mail by this Friday, Chinese New Year, but it's not looking like that will happen.  But soon.

SECOND PLATE FOR YOT HORSE

The second plate will be a 'color' plate, although I'm thinking just different black inks.

I need to do a lot of scratching and crosshatching on the plate to make big sections of 'color.'

So, both plates are finished.  

TEMPLATE FOR PRINTING

I need to make a template to hold the acrylic plate when printing.  It will have marks to use to line up the paper.

I use mat board, cut a hold in the center the size of the plate, and then draw lines around the opening in various widths.

ACRYLIC? OKAY

After deciding on an image, the next hardest decision would be how I'm going to make this print.

Woodblock?  Moku hanga or oily?

Linoleum?  One plate or two? 

Hand rubbed or run it through the press?

Acrylic plates?...I just finished one and that went well...okay.  Let's go with that.

I didn't have a plate that hadn't been rolling around in my drawer and wasn't scratched all up.  So, where to buy - let's try the local hardware store.  Yes, they had some and it was cheap, but I have to cut it myself.

That's not too difficult,  score it and snap it.  The hard part is getting it really square, especially since I'm leaning towards using two plates, which means they need to be the same.

Let's just say, they ended up close.

Then it was just a matter of scratching the image into the plate - almost like drawing with a pencil.  

No peeking.

TIME TO THINK ABOUT YOT HORSE

It's time to start thinking about an image for my Year of the Horse print for the annual Chinese New Year exchange with Barenforum.  I drew up a couple of different ideas, but finally settled on this guy, who I'm calling Rupert.

I think he's very interesting.

MAILING MY YOT SNAKE CARD

I finished my Year of the Snake card this week and put it in the mail today.  They are slithering their way all over the globe, hopefully there's one on it's way to you.  Below are some progress pictures.

I did a reduction cut on a piece of bass wood. (Meaning I used the same block of wood throughout the process, cutting away the parts I want to remain the color I just printed)

I rolled on the Akua Intaglio inks with a brayer and used a baren to transfer it to the paper, which is probably Rives (I forgot to write down what it was after I bought it).

The pictures are in reverse order, the first steps are at the bottom...

Finished!

All the cards laid out to dry

Made quite the mess trying to decide on final color

Auditioning different colors for final outline

After the third color 

Rolling on the third color - a darker green

Second color - light green

First color - Red

First stage of block

Carving using a magnifying glass with a light

The original drawing

Happy New Year!

Hope the Year of the Snake is a great one for you and yours!

FIRST CARVING ON YOT SNAKE

I cut away everything I want to remain yellow.  It looks like this is going to be a reduction cut.  Oh my.

Celtic ring, Celtic snake

After the first carving

Tomorrow I need to get another color on the cards.  I'm thinking about doing a stencil for just the red tongue.  Everything else is pretty much going to be greens.  Red and green don't like to mix, and if I try to layer them it will be ugly.

I've seen another printmaker, Sherrie York, do wonderful things with stencils.  I haven't used a stencil in a long time, so I'm hoping I can work out the details in my sleep tonight.

A START ON A CELTIC SNAKE

It's time I got started on my Year of the Snake Print for BarenForum's Chinese New Year's Exchange.

First, come up with a drawing and transfer it to some wood blocks.  I'm going with two.  I haven't even figured out how many colors, but I'm only doing two blocks.

Peeling the paper off, and hopefully leaving the drawing.

Mixing a very transparent yellow using Akua inks.

Rolling  the first color directly onto the card.

I'm starting with 60 cards.  

I'm hoping Bentley the cat stays off them while they are drying.

THORVALD'S STORY

When I started thinking about an image for my annual Chinese New Year print exchange with BarenForum, my mind kept returning to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  I read those books last year, saw the Swedish versions of the movies, and on Christmas my husband and I went to the theatre to see the new version on the 'big screen'.  I love the books and all of the movies (this latest version is fantastic!).  It's a very intriguing story with interesting characters,  and if you haven't already read the books I urge you to go get them now.

So, back to my Year of the Dragon print, I couldn't get the title "Dragon with the Girl Tattoo" out of my head.  So, I had to go with it.  

I struggled with the image, I was trying to make it like the theatre ads, where it shows the Girl in profile, with the dragon tattoo on her shoulder. 

When I did that way, the tattoo girl was too realistic or something, and didn't look quite right.  Plus, I couldn't figure out how to turn it into a print, it was beyond my skill level.

My original sketch

I was about to abandon the whole idea, when I had an epiphany while out walking in the deep woods of our local park.  The image of the girl (woman) from the mudflaps of trucks came into my mind.  It's a simple image, one I could duplicate in a print.  But I started thinking about why the dragon had that image tattooed onto his shoulder/wing and came up with his story.

THORVALD STARGAZER:  A DRAGON WITH A DREAM

As a youngster, Thorvald dreamed of one day being a long-haul trucker.  To travel the highways and byways, to be a King of the Road, to be in control of a 'big rig', that would be the ultimate in fun and adventure.

When he saw the TV reality show, Ice Road Truckers, Thorvald knew that was what he wanted.  He gave up everything to go to the great wilderness of Alaska. He begged for a chance to prove he could be an Ice Road Trucker. They doubted he could do it.  What would he do with his wings?  Could he drive all alone out on the ice? He talked and finagled and finally, he was given the chance.  He got behind the wheel, took control of the big rig and headed out onto the frozen lake.  The farther out he went the more nervous he became.  He found himself alone in the middle of a vast frozen wasteland and he was getting very cold and very lonely.  He panicked.

The sad fact is when dragons panic they usually react by burning up everything in sight.

Alas, that was poor Thorvald's mistake.  When he breathed flames in his cab and set it on fire, he immediately felt better and more at home.  He exited the truck to bask in the flames.  Pretty soon the entire rig was afire.

The ice beneath it began to melt.

The whole rig, truck and trailer, was burning up and melted through the ice and fell into the lake below.

Thorvald was embarrassed and ashamed.  He flew home in disgrace and was asked not to come back to the frozen north.

His time as a trucker is now but a memory, the Girl Tattoo his only memento.

The resilient Thorvald is now dreaming of his next great adventure.

FIRST DRAGON PRINT PULLED

"The Dragon with the Girl Tattoo"

image size 4" by 6" on 5" by 7" paper

two woodblocks using Akua inks and watercolors

There's even a story that goes with this...

but I haven't actually written it, yet.

Stay tuned.

BLOCK TWO OF DRAGON PRINT

I carved the second block for my Year of the Dragon Print, the color block.  You can see where this block had been painted white, and then I had transferred the key block onto it yesterday.

I mixed up a green from my Akua inks and printed up a few.  It wasn't covering very well, there were spots and dips and icky stuff.  I tried a few things then decided I better sand the white paint off the block.  I went downstairs into Darrell's woodshop and sanded it there so I would minimize the sawdust in my ink!

Here is the bunch of prints I did, trying different things and different colors.  I can't tell which prints I did before I sanded and which were after.  I don't think it made a big difference, other than getting rid of the few bumps that were on there.  

I know what I did wrong though...I tried really hard to keep my sanding block even across the face, but I still managed to get the corners a little lower than the rest of the block.  So, when I print I have to give extra attention to the edges and corners.

I only printed about 16 on the good paper, and of those I painted the eyes gold and put some red in the nostril and the mouth, which will be covered by the black, but I think a little of the red will show through.

I didn't want to get too far ahead  - I still need to make sure I'm on the right track before I print them all.  Next time I will print the key block over what I've done so far to make sure everything is turning out like I want.

Besides, I ran out of gas.

STARTED ON YOT DRAGON PRINT

I struggled with the drawing for my Year of the Dragon print.  I had a clear concept, The Dragon With the Girl Tattoo, but I couldn't get the image in my head to materialize on paper.


But I had an epiphany while on our walk in Lincoln Park.


It finally came together, and I decided not to fuss with it any more.  


I like it.

I sanded up some 4" by 6" blocks of Basswood that I had laying about and started carving the 'key block'.

I inked up the block to in order to transfer the image unto the second block and also printed one copy, thinking I would use some colored pencils to experiment with color.  I should have printed more, duh.  I also see some boo-boos that need to be fixed (particularly the girl's knee where the knife slipped).  We got busy after dinner and I never did color it in.  I'm thinking about trying a 'rainbow roll'.  We'll see.  I'll be carving the easier color block tomorrow.

YEAR OF THE TIGER PRINTED

Yahoo!  I persevered and got the printing done in one session on my Year of the Tiger print for BarenForum's annual Exchange.  It was originally going to have two colors on it, but I didn't like the way it looked, so went with just black.  I'll probably try hand coloring a few to see how they look.

I had the papers already cut and ready to go, there is quite a stack.  I can't remember how many exactly, probably about 60.  
It's Akua ink on a printmaking paper I picked up on Daniel Smith's Sale table - No Name.  The paper is cut 5" by 6".  I carved the image on a piece of Poplar and printed them using my Ettan Etching press.  Just the printing part took about two to two-and-a-half hours, with probably another hour testing and rejecting and setting things up.

Pretty good for one day....but I wanted to see how it would work to print on fabric.  So.... I cut some thin white cotton and printed on that.  It turned out really great!  Just like the paper, it was pretty clean and crisp. That encouraged me to try it on canvas.  I cut and ironed some raw canvas I had on hand  and printed nine lucky tigers.  Kind of Andy Warhol-ish.  Pretty cool!

This has given me some ideas for a project tomorrow!

YEAR OF THE TIGER STARTED

I flipped over the plank of Poplar I used on the last print I carved and started afresh on the back of it.  There is room for all three of the blocks I need for this print.

I had tried to transfer the drawings before using photocopies.  It didn't work, the image didn't transfer.

This time I used print outs from my HP copier at home and it transferred just as it's supposed to.  Yeah!

I used diluted rice paste to glue the papers face down to the plank.  When it was good and dry, several days later, in fact, I moistened the paper and it just rolled right off leaving behind a beautiful reversed image.  Yeah!

 It left a very crisp and usable image.  Now I just have to start carving.

Hmmm...I can't remember if I sharpened my tools after I used them last time.  I sure hope so!

STAMPEDE of the OX

They are on their way....finally!

I took a big pile of envelopes to the Post Office today (54 I think), I had to go to the counter to get overseas stamps. Luckily, I went early and beat the crowd.

Here is this year's Year of the Ox postcard exchange for Barenforum. It's from a doodle-type drawing I did while thinking about this year's exchange and decided what the heck, why not?

It's an etching I did on copperplates. The first time I've used copper. I made three plates, but ended up using only two, I didn't like the one that was for the background. So instead, I went with heavy plate tone. I've always liked a good plate tone!

I tried coloring the horns a la poupee', with varying bad results, so I switched to chine colle.

I used some colored papers I already had for the horns on the rest of them. I also tried several different color combinations.

I'm not a very good printer - I'm always experimenting and have a hard time making an 'edition'.

I hope you enjoy them, and Happy New Year!

Year of the Ox, a year of Prosperity through Fortitude and Hard Work.