A busy week in Artlandia. I finished the 24 x 30" block of the unicorn body [thumbs up]!
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| new block with can for scale |
This block is too big for Lovely Lucille (press)...so I tried to print it by hand. And it went very, very badly. Now, on the one hand, printing something this large by hand is difficult, but on the other, I've printed other blocks of the same material this size recently, and it went fine, so I'm starting to think it may not entirely be me. The thing I printed by hand last month, (part of the Gothic Tree for Greed) was gold, not black. I've also had much more success with the gold than black for polyester plates, so I think it might be the ink (which I have tried with a variety of mediums). If that's the case, it's good timing in a sense because I've almost used up all of it I have and was looking to switch from the process black, which is cool, to a warmer black anyway. It will take a little bit to track down a new ink and get it shipped, but that's ok, since I'm also out of paper (again - doh.)
Running out of paper also presents an opportunity, picking up on what I was saying last week about wanting to work with larger paper, I researched and found a similar paper to what I use now on a roll. It's much bigger and cheaper per square inch and would give me more control over the sizes, so I think that's the direction I want to go in (hmmmmmm). It's a slightly different color though (and backordered anyway) so I may order a few sheets in the meantime just to be totally, absolutely sure about the color and texture before committing to a roll. By then, hopefully I'll have solved the ink question...
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| shamefully bad proof :( (sadness) - the good news is that the detail in the fur printed and it is the right size for the head. |
Since that didn't go splendiferously, I changed gears and re-printed one of my favorite tiny blocks - this 3 x 2.25" linocut of Justice.
In addition to making paper and ink decisions, I've also been looking at some block decisions. Since my small default blocks were discontinued last year, I've been searching for and testing possible replacements. McClain's printmaking graciously sent samples of some of their relief blocks, and I'm looking forward to re-carving this same composition for comparison.
On the topic of supplies and blocks, this week I assembled a new tray rack for the studio. I thought this would be a good way to store the blocks.. the up side is it looks like it's going to work great, on the down side, I may have needed a bigger rack (doh! haha).
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| Loading the new rack with help from both feline assistants |
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| I love how it looks like it's always been there. |
In para-art news, I saw this lovely drawing of a wing.I also spent some time working my magic to try to reverse some of the puppy wear 'n tear.
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| Pup is testing my restoration skills (still need to repaint the darker color and possibly another layer of wood filler and sanding on the outer door jamb, but still, a big improvement - now let's just hope it stays that way - eep!) |
