Making progress
This one is entirely about printmaking
Hello
I’ve got a few layers down on the two prints I’m currently working on so I thought I’d just show you where I’ve got to and explain a bit about what happens next. If you follow me on Instagram you will already have seen the horrible mess that is one of the prints at the moment, and the other one isn’t much better, but KEEP THE FAITH. It will all make sense in the end (I hope).
For now I’m going to call them print A and print B. Here they both are with the blocks in their current state on the left and the prints in progress on the right.
The light parts of the blocks are the bits I’ve just carved. Once I ink them for the next layers these cut bits will get grubby and won’t stand out so much. (On print A for instance the yellow looking bits are the carvings for previous layers which have since been stained by the yellow green ink). So, on print A the freshly carved parts are what I want to stay the bright green I’ve just printed. On print B the light area is the sky which I don’t want to get any more ink on.
As it happens, the next layer for both these prints will be a semi-transparent light brown, in both cases being for paths in the foreground. I could try and pretend this was deliberate planning but I wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face and you would soon spot this was in fact a happy accident. It does mean I’ll be able to work on both prints one after the other without so much as cleaning my inking slab or roller in between. On print B the path is a landscaped hard path and the ink here will be printing on bare paper so the layer will be the light brown of the ink; I will print this one first. On print A the ink will be going over the light green layer already present and will merely modify the existing colour, which reflects the fact that this is a natural path caused by feet suppressing the undergrowth. Before I print this one I will add a little opaque white to the ink mix to reduce the transparency, and will also add a drop of driers because it will be being laid over two previous layers of ink so drying will no longer be aided by the absorbency of the paper.
The next time I write these should both be looking a bit more coherent.
Materials tip
My printmaking pal Laura Boswell recommended these Staedtler Lumocolor Permanent Pencils as a way of marking up lino blocks, so I bought a couple. They do mark beautifully and don’t smudge or wipe off, so are great for indicating where you want to carve next. While I do a lot of my carving ‘free hand’, working directly from my source image rather than from lines drawn on the block, it can be helpful sometimes to keep track of dark and light areas so I don’t get confused and lose my place.
One word of caution - Laura finds these pencil marks don’t transfer when she prints, but I use a different brand of ink and they DO come off with my ink, so I need to wipe off any remaining pencil with a spot of white spirit before printing. This is less of an issue if I’ve marked the bits I want to carve (because they’ve already mostly gone) but is something to be wary of if I’ve drawn on areas I am leaving behind. Have a try and let me know how you get on. By the way, I am not providing a link to buy them because the supplier I ordered from took 16 days to dispatch my order instead of the promised 48 hours, and that was only after I had chased them up by email (ignored) and finally WhatsApp. It was the first time I had used them and had I thought to check Trustpilot first I would have found a string of poor reviews describing similar experiences. Caveat emptor!
Price review
The cost of my materials has rocketed by an eye-watering amount over the last couple of years, and of course other overheads like postage, fuel and simply keeping body and soul together have risen for all of us. I have reluctantly decided I must review how I price my work, and I will start revising the listings on my site at the end of this month. It won’t be a huge difference and I wasn’t sure if I should mention it at all as it might sound like an attempt at pressure sales, but I thought it only fair to let you know as art purchases are often thought about for a long time and there might be something you were considering buying at some indeterminate date in the future.
I’ll be back soon with more progress on these prints, news of September exhibitions and probably some other stuff too - not necessarily all print-related next time.
All the best
Jane