6-1-09:

For the first time in 30 years, I attempted to make a relief-print design on a block of material and then make imprints from that design. Although the results were imperfect, I took comfort from the fact that 4 of the 12 results were qualified successes in terms of my baseline goals for this project: 1) create and transfer a simple pencil design onto the printing block, 2) carve out the design, using varying cut marks for contour and value and 3) try out acrylic colors instead of oils for the printing medium.

Today, I tried the first of three materials I will use in relief print-making. A product of the Speedball company, it’s called Speedy-Cut, and is similar in texture and consistency to the vinyl block erasers. It’s intended for beginners and stamp carvers, but certainly suitable enough for advanced print-making applications in my opinion. Some of the pros of the material are that it takes image transfer well (I used graphite on tracing paper, flipping it over for the negative image), and is easy to cut. Some of its cons are that it is a little too easy too cut (and therefore easy to make mistakes on), and because of its consistency not a good material on which to try fine details (too fine a cut, particularly if done in cross-hatch, and the cut areas will crumble off).

The process that resulted in the results I posted to Facebook at [link] are as follows.

1) Choosing a source image. I opted for a photo that I would trace over as opposed to one that was sketched or drawn. I considered a photo that would be compositionally simple and easy to reproduce. It turned out to be a picture of my beagle Baron sleeping in an easy chair. Since Baron is a tri-tone beagle and the chair he was on is a taupe-colored material, the value scheme would be fairly easy to break down into basic levels.

2) I cropped the original color photo using the aspect ratio for a 5.5 in. wide x 4 in. high format. Then in Photoshop, I converted the image to grayscale and tweaked the levels for a good balance between contrast and gray values. I then printed it out to 5.5 x 4 size with a 2 pixel stroke to indicate the block border.

3) From the ink-jet print-out, I then traced a simple contour-line drawing in 2B pencil, adding some indication of shading, fur-pattern and transitional areas between fur tones. Once completed, I simply flipped the tracing/drawing over and burnished the drawing onto the block with the other end of a paint brush. The graphite strokes took very well to the Speedy-Cut material. I suspect that it won’t transfer as nicely to linoleum.

4) In terms of of value, I planned out 4 levels of tone: darkest (meaning un-touched as those areas would receive the most ink), mid-tone dark, mid-tone light and lightest (meaning totally removed as these areas would theoretically make no contact with the inked roller). In addition to the pencil mark, I used a Sharpie black marker to indicate the darkest areas, an orange highlighter to indicate the mid-tone 1 areas, and pink highlighter to indicate the mid-tone 2 areas. The areas not marked by the above would be blank and therefore the first areas I would carve, as these would be the white areas of the design. The pencil marks would be both the darkest areas and also indicators of texture and fur-direction, as well as demarcation of tonal variation.

5) I began carving the design, taking my time to insure I kept to my value-scheme. Since the print-making technique wouldn’t allow a controllable means of simulating value in one pass, I used a hatched stroke type of cut in areas meant to represent tonal range between darkest and lightest. From the time I transferred the image to the time I finished carving, about 2 hours had elapsed. Figure another 15 minutes from the night before when I first traced the image.

6) I then prepared to make print proofs to see if there were any areas I might want to adjust in the cutting/carving of the design. Also I wanted to see what differences there would be between acrylic and oil printing medium. Last week, you may recall, I used oil colors and linseed oil for my monotype prints. This time around I used three acrylic colors: ultramarine, raw umber and burnt sienna. To further suggest tonal and value variation, I mixed the three colors together on the inking plate in horizontal stripes, creating a gradation between each hue. I then applied the gradated colors locally, so that the variation would be obvious. I used the same stock as last week, a heavy weight textured ivory stock with heavy tooth on one side, and less-pronounced texture on the other side. They were cut to roughly 7 x 5.5 in size, enough for an impression area of 5.5 x 4 in.

7) I then laid each sheet one after the other, applying a fresh coat of ink between each impression. I varied the amount of ink applied, the pressure used to apply the ink, and the pressure used to transfer the ink to the paper (a rolling pin and a spoon were the press that transferred the image). I also varied between one side of the stock versus the other.

8) The results were that I made 12 total impressions. Of the twelve, 4 were what I would consider good impressions. Three were two dark, three were too light and two were uneven in certain areas. I had no trouble with slop/slippage (the paper slipping thus causing a double impression).

Observations:

A) Drying time for acrylic inks/paints/colors are less than 30 minutes as compared to last week’s prints done with oil, which took a week to dry. Coupled with no fumes and very quick clean-up, I think I prefer acrylic medium to oil.

B) In general, designs will benefit from bolder lines, fewer detailed cuts.

C) Tonality in general is best achieved by color separation rather than with hatching (in my opinion).


Next projects coming up:

• Linoleum-block printing

• Wood-cut block printing (in two passes/three tones—2 ink, 1 paper tone)
— poplar
— plywood

• Images/designs:
— a tri-tone separated high-contrast of my Cheryl playing a character from a propaganda poster
— an design framed by two silhouetted trees
— a row of suburban houses
— a barn or similar agricultural scene
— a grain elevator



5-24-09:

Fresh from reading Jane Stobart’s Printmaking for Beginners (and other books on print-making, linoleum block printing, etc.), I set up shop this weekend to create prints using the monotype technique, a method of creating one unique print,which can be carried out in a single printing or over-layed onto the same image via several printings. The goal was to begin the process of learning (or rather re-learning) the print-making process. In high school, I learned a form of relief printing (linocut or linoleum-block printing) and silk-screen. In my first job out of high school, as a visual merchandiser, I learned a rudimentary form of letter-press called proof or show-card printing. Since then, I left print-making behind in favor of drawing, painting, illustrating and digital art making. In the last few months I saw an ad from a local bakery/coffee shop that was seeking art submissions from local artists. I set up an appointment to show my portfolio this coming June or July. In trying to figure out what I wanted to exhibit, I decided on prints and thereby rekindled my interest in this fascinating discipline.

Had I set out to create masterpieces the first time around (or even pieces that were appealing to myself), I would have set myself up for failure. Instead I set my sights a good deal lower: I wanted to find out how much of the process I could control versus how much of the process (or medium) would be beyond control and therefore spontaneous.

The following are my initial notes and observations of the monotype print-making process. (If you’re interested in seeing my attempts, here’s a photo album I created on FB: [link] )

1) I dampened three sheets of paper and left the other 7 dry. Before dampening the 3 sheets, I applied tape to mask off a three-quarter inch border around 6 of the 10 sheets. I alternated between masking tape and artist’s tape (which has less tack). The pre-moistening allowed easier removal of the tape (less of the paper coming off with the tape). The artist’s tape seemed to come off more cleanly than the masking tape and both did an excellent job of masking the border.

2) Using a brayer to roll ink onto the plate resulted in a more even application of ink/paint, but using a paint brush with a liberal application of linseed oil resulted in more texture and variegation.

3) To transfer the ink to the paper, I had two options at hand: using a rolling pin and using a spoon (as a kind of baren). The rolling pin gave more consistent pressure resulting in an even transfer of ink. The spoon resulted in greater ink absorption but loss of sgraffito that was scratched into the ink on the plate.

Conclusions:

1) I need to buy more artist’s tape, or make a masking frame that fits over the paper.

2) Pre-moistening paper is the preferred method to the dry option.

3) I need to deliberately plan out the mechanics and logistics of the process each step of the way (owing in large part to the very limited studio space) in order to achieve results that I can anticipate and therefore be happy with. Ironically this applies as much to the planned results as the painterly an spontaneous ones.

Summation:

Until I can gain better control over the process (factors such as ink viscosity, evenness of ink application and applied pressure in the image-transfer step, and color combinations), I am not going to derive immediate satisfaction from this technique. In contrast, I believe that I will derive that sense more readily from relief-printing techniques such as lino-cut and wood-block. Whereas I already enjoy spontaneity from drawing and painting because I can control most aspects of those techniques, the spontaneity I experienced in today’s session is less enjoyable to myself due to my lack of control over it. At this point, it’s all about gaining control over the medium that will push me further into this art/craft in order to succeed at it long term.