Saturday, October 13, 2007

A New Journey Begins





I started carving in August for an exchange called Fine Art Valentines-- 2 by 2 inches to be printed on 4 by 4.

I drew several images and won an incredible auction on eBay that equipped me with a half dozen handles, a bunch of gouges, a block printing press, paper, ink and some wonderful mounted-on-wood lino blocks.

I didn't know they were wonderful at the tiime.






I went on to buy some 2" by 2 " mounted lino blocks from Nasco that left my fingers sore and bruised.




Last week I tried Art Gum erasers and some white stuff mounted on foam called Inovart from Dick Blick ( didn't like either of them).

I wish I knew the manufacturer of this old lino. The new 2 by 2's I bought are mounted on press-chips vs wood, like these lovely blocks. Since I've made about 16 carvings since starting, I think I'm hooked....

I need to find tools for registration and inexpensive drying racks.

I've yet to ink up the benchplate I bought--- I'm nervous about
making that kind of mess. I've only used Brilliance inkpads,

I look forward to tackling multicolor printing and trying " suicide" or reduction printmaking.

2 comments:

Quilt Architect said...

Well I just made it down to this post and see that you have done what I suggested already, which is to comment on what you like or don't like about a product. I have been using the Golden lino. It is kinda flaky and when warm (it wasn't really too warm) it seem to ball up easier. This got me to thinking that maybe my tools are not very sharp or very good. So then I was inspired by your tool set which took me a couple of days to find where I saw them. I have tried to carve the Golden lino wet and found that to be acceptable. I did it a while back so I am going to do it again and compare it to warming the lino and see which I like better. Just feeling that two heads are better than one and I should let you know what I have tried.

Akua Lezli Hope said...

Thanks so much for sharing this! I never thought about the wet dry or warm cold dynamics at all....
Flaky is not al all a characteristic i have had with the grey lino--- long smooth peels flake is more the charateristic of mastercarve and erasers.....