Trying (and seeing) New Things

It seems like forever since I've pulled a print, so even though I still have other work to do, I was glad to jump back to my paper and ink this week, and make a little forward progress in the printmaking side of life. In a previous post, I showed my progress on an as of yet untitled print of my old cat/sidekick. I was pretty pleased with the design, but I felt that I had been perhaps a bit overzealous in my carving away the background. Though I don't fear white space, I felt that there was too much. I experimented with a few ideas, and finally landed on a suitable approach.

I outlined the design on cardboard, cut out the empty space, inked it up with that brown you see, and used my new registration jig to line up the cardboard printed paper with the inked up cat block. I'm happy with the result, and it was a good experience to start experimenting with multi-color prints. The cardboard gave a nice texture, almost like an abstract blankie. Although, it didn't go perfectly smooth...

I pulled this one before the above (successful) print. I failed to line the block up the exact same way I did the cardboard, and you can see the result. Lesson learned, and the experiment is a good first step to working on some reduction prints.

I've also been contemplating trying my hand at woodcut to see how it differs from lino. I ordered a sample piece of Shina Plywood from McClain's Printmaking Supplies (if you're wanting to experiment, they'll send you a small 4" by 4" piece to try out, which is awesome).

Carving the wood was... different. It holds fine lines better, but even though this kind of wood has really light grain I found it difficult to get used to after learning with lino, which has zero grain. I've read that wood won't dull tools as quickly as lino will, but I felt that the opposite was true; I felt like I was doing an awful lot of sharpening during the carve. Still, it was nice to play around with a slightly different medium. I decided to do another little daffodil print with it, and though it still needs some work, it didn't turn out half bad.

I'll do a little refining and then I'm going to do a little more experimenting; I can carve on the reverse side of my test block, so I'm going to work on a design to pull. I'm thinking maybe a baby Hellboy; he's been on my mind.

In other news, I went to St. Ambrose University in Davenport today. I found out via Twitter that they were having their second annual "Make It Big" event. So I got to see some cool designs, made with a steamroller.

And that's pretty cool. Additionally, I got to see a couple letterpress demonstrations, which was new to me. I've read about letterpress, and I've seen some really awesome results before, but it was interesting to see how it actually works. I also watched a couple ladies printing some lino on this-

-which I believe is an etching press (though I'm not certain, and I didn't get a chance to ask about it in detail, so if you know, please educate me). So, I've decided that I'm going to need one of these. Maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow. But someday. Sorry Clarissa.

It was really pretty awesome to see some prints being made live and in person, and I was really humbled by the work. It made me realize that I still have a lot to learn and that while I'm pleased with my progress, I have a long way to go and a lot of practicing to do. Like I said, it's humbling, but it's also motivating and a little inspiring to me. I've caught a glimpse of what I might be able to do if I keep working at it. That alone was worth the drive.

I'm off for now friends, but as usual, if you want to hear more from me, I'm on Twitter (@CaptGam) and Instagram (wdtellett), and of course I welcome any and all comments. So don't be a stranger, and I'll see you around the bend.

Unless otherwise noted, all work by Wade Ellett is licensed under a   Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://themisadventuresofwade.blogspot.com.