Sharpening up…

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First, a drawing, which is traced then transferred (using a very hard pencil, draw over the lines to press carbon paper marks) in reverse onto a piece of lino.


Cut the lightest areas first…


Ink it up


Print, then hang up to dry



Cut away the areas to be mid-coloured…


Ink up the block, place the print in exactly the right position and press…


Wonder why you waste so much effort on this nonsense. Realise that print looked better before the second layer of ink was added. 


Some of them might be OK, with a bit of editing. 

Drawing

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In theory I draw every day. Sometimes only a doodle on the back of an envelope. On October 14th a crow perched on the roof of the house opposite my kitchen window. I drew the crow. Usually they fly away when I begin to draw, but this one stayed there in the same position for about half an hour.

A couple of days later, a whole row of crows perched on the roof in that same position. Crow

Mean spirited

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MeanSpiritCriticism from a friend, in response to my suggestion that his recent work was less joyful than he’d described. He has worked much harder than me, obviously. But I wondered how it feels to make Art from someone else’s words. I like the idea of forgery, which was the subject of my Art college dissertation. So I experimented for a few minutes. Wrong paper, wrong colours, but it was enjoyable making this.

And here is a totally unoriginal work in progress. There isn’t much point continuing with it.

RedDress

1000 Years of Traditional Crafts

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I returned to Lincoln at the end of September 2012, to take part in the Heritage Crafts weekend. The Museum of Lincolnshire Life has a Columbian press. Visitors were very interested by the over-decorated machine, and to see the press in action. My assistant was a Master printer, who used to bring bits of type home. Never let children play with little metal letters, they’ll be addicted forever.

Photographs here: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjCmQghr

 

Over the two days, it transpired that lots of people have done a little bit of printing at school. They have rarely had an opportunity to have another go.

The most frequently asked question was: “Why place the paper onto the inked block, when it looks easier to print the block face down onto flat paper?”.  Answer: Ink seeps down into the engraved lines. Turning the wet block over would result in a splashy inkiness around the edges of the print. Also, any white lines would be filled in – a few hours’ worth of cutting obliterated(!).

We could only think of rubber stamps and potato cuts being printed that way.

Columbian relief press
The Columbian printing press at The Museum of Lincolnshire Life