REDUCTION CUT

On Watch.Learn.Play. we talked about printmaking and the different ways to do it.  I got excited about doing a lino reduction cut and was off and running.  

I still had some leftover linoneum from days gone along with other supplies I'd need.

I made a drawing of my favorite teacup:

The next day I transferred the drawing to the linoleum and got to work.  I had to get out some inks.  I still had some Akua Inks from years ago.  They needed stirring up, but seemed to be okay.  They all went on okay except the Hansa Yellow, which was still a bit lumpy, but I was able to break that up when I mixed it on the palette (glass). 

So, first I cut away the background and rolled on some off-white ink I mixed.

Then  cut away the white 

and rolled on some yellow

Here's one of the prints with the white and the yellow.

Then I cut away the yellow parts and printed some orange.

I didn't get pictures of the rest of the process.  Next would be cutting away the parts I wanted to stay orange and inking on some green and printing that.  Then cutting away the parts to stay green, roll on some blue, printing that, and the last color was a brown in the cup for the tea (or coffee).

And they were done!

That was fun, but I don't think I'll be doing it again soon.

The poor linoleum looks pretty bad when this process is done, and is spent. 

 

MAILING PRINT

 I finished off the print for Maria's Monumental Puzzle Print, 100 Acts of Kindness.

I wanted to include some goodies for Maria for doing such noble work, too.

So, off it all goes to the Post Office.

STARTED ON PRINT

I sewed a few rows on the Bars Quilt.  Still have a few more to go.

I made a backing for the fish tank, sides too.

Then, I took my carving tools: chisels and an exacto knife out to the picnic table and spent a pleasant few hours working on the print for Maria's monumental collaborative puzzle on Kindness.  I didn't quite get done.  But I did better than I thought I would, considering I haven't done anything like this in years.

FINISHED YOT GOAT 2015

Almost a year late, but they're done.  

I had to make the same image onto a different plate...it is very similar, but not exact.  So, I have two editions; the first one of 15 prints, the second of 21 prints. 

I'll be holding on to them and will send them out with this year's Monkey.

DIFFERENT ACRYLIC PLATE

I finally started printing my Year of the Goat (Sheep) print from last year, well this year - 2015.  It's time to start thinking about next year's Year of the Monkey print, so I thought I'd better do this year's first.

I had already had the image scratched onto an acrylic plate.  I'd used some thinner acrylic then I'd ever used before.  If I remember right, it was all they had at the hardware store at the time.

Before I wiped the ink off - don't want to spoil the surprise!

It seemed to be okay, until I started running it through the press.

Sorry for the blurry image.

Sorry this one is blurry too.

As you can see in the pictures, after about only 25 prints, the edges are starting to deteriorate and break up.

I stopped for the day.  I hope it still prints next time I start up again.

CARVING FOR PEACE

I finally got around to carving an image into my piece of the Peace Puzzle Project.

I sat on the patio, under the umbrella, with the sound of the waterfall nearby.  It was very pleasant.

Now I just need to get it into the mail to Maria in Las Vegas.

PRINTED THE FRONT OF CARDS

Went straight up to the studio this morning after I braved the snow to go get a Starbucks jolt.

Nothing better than being in a warm studio when it's snowing outside!

First I had to dust off Harley, my Ettan Press...

Then get it all set up with papers under the jig and a pressing mat board.

Then stir up the ink...

Roll the ink onto the plate...

And pull the first print and make adjustments if needed...

And just keep repeating until the pile of paper is gone...

I was done before 10am - time for a walk.  The snow has stopped, the sun is shining, but the temperature has dropped, better bundle up.

Still lots to do before these cards are ready to mail.

Stay tuned.

CARDINAL PRINT FOR CHRISTMAS CARDS

It's that time of the year again, time to make a Christmas card.

In the past, it's always a problem trying to get a good print on heavy card stock, for several reasons. So, this year I'm making a print separate from the Christmas card, and then I'll attach it to the card in someway that it will be easy to remove.  That way, if people want to keep just the print, maybe even frame it, they can.

Its going to be a bird print, in honor of seeing my first Cardinal while we were in Kentucky this year.  Beautiful birds, and it should be easy to make a distinctive print.

Drawing is done (that was the hardest part) and transferred to lino-block.

Carving of the drawing is done.

Time to print.

I printed a few of the drawing block, cleaned it up a bit, then transferred it to another lino-block and carved out the 'color' block.

This will be the 'color' block.

Then I got out the inks and stuff.  I'm using Akua Intaglio inks.  I decided on the paper and cut out more than enough, I'm using a nice Japanese paper, Kozo.  I need to make enough prints so that after I winnow out the bad ones I still have enough for my cards.

After I got both blocks cut out and the registration more or less good, I started printing the first run, the color block.

I cheated a little by putting the red and the green on the same block, using a little shield over the green part while rolling on the red.  Then carefully putting on the green - it worked great, one less block to deal with (and all the registration issues that go with that).

A stack of about 66 prints,

End of day one, I've got all the first pass done, yesterday.

Got an early start today, but I had to stop after about 20 prints and go get some pain-reliever before I could continue.  My shoulders and neck are really sore from yesterday, and it was giving me a headache.  But, when the Aleve kicked in, I was feeling great.

I started out using the baren, but it was tearing up the back of the paper and when using a sheet to protect the back I had to press too hard (and my neck did not like that).  So I switched to a wooden spoon.  

This is many as I got done before I had to go get some pain-reliever.

A couple of hours later - I had the 66 prints all done. And I got them done in plenty of time to still be able to take a walk before lunch (in the rain).

Here they are - all done!

COLLABORATION

I spent a few days helping some friends with a big print project.  See all about it at MCPP Puzzle Prints

A great time was had by all.  It's always fun to meet up with people you usually only connect with via the soulless internet. 

I want to thank Maria for coming up with the hare-brained idea, executing it so beautifully (and blogging about it, see above), and being such a kindhearted person.  And I want to thank Doug, who came all the way from Colorado Springs to help out, he was a tireless workhorse.  And I want to thank Sherri, from Vancouver, WA and Barbara from Aloha, OR, our most magnanimous hosts.  Offering up your wonderful studio, Atelier Meridian, for our use was very generous (thank you for the meals you bought also).  I love that Takach Press! 

You made us all feel at home and I still can't believe how much fun was had while we toiled so tirelessly.

Count me in next time!

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.

100 TINY LITTLE PRINTS

"Lucy's Morning"

I've mentioned before I follow an online group about Japanese Woodblock Printing, Barenforum.org and that they have organized exchanges.  Well, in honor of the 50th Exchange they decided to do a very small format.  And it was finally decided to do them  in the size of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) 2.5" x 3.5".  There was a lot of excitement about the project and we got settled on 100 participants.  The usual has been around 35.  

It has turned out to be a lot of fun.  The hardest for me is picking an image.  I settled on an image of Lucy sitting in the sun.  It's from a photo I snapped one early morning, and I've always liked it.  It has the advantage of having a lot of contrast, which makes it easier to convert into a black and white image.

I wanted to do more than one block, though, more than just black and white.  So, I went with grey, black and white, two blocks.  Almost as simple as you can get.  Registration has always been my nemesis, but it turned out to be a non-issue with such a small print.  

Carving the blocks

I carved the blocks from boards of Basswood that Darrell made ready for me.  

A pencil rubbing of the first block

I used Nori paste and  Daniel Smith Watercolors, Lamp Black and Iridescent Blue Silver (which is Mica and Titanium White), it has little flecks of mica in it and is very interesting.  

Daniel Smith Watercolor 'Iridescent Blue Silver'

Adding the pigment to the first block

Paper and baren on the first block

The first block printed.

Beginning the second block with black

Printing the second block with black

I cut out 160 little 2-1/2" by 3-1/2" pieces of paper, 20 of which were Japanese type paper, and the rest were thicker white American style paper (I never write the names down, so I never know what it is).  I rejected 50 of them, and am keeping 110.  So, I'm calling it an edition of 110.  I'll be sending 101 to the Exchange Coordinator.  I might send one to my sister Sue, she loves animals.

All printed!

Back of cards

All of them, the pile on the left are going to the Exchange, the smaller pile on the right  are the Rejects, those in the back  are some of the test prints and the ones I'm keeping.

Ready to go!