Category Archives: printing

Order from Sulky and Another Linocut

Posted on by under printing, threads

I got my order from Sulky today. I needed to replace some of my 30 weight cotton threads as I had run out of several colors. And while I was there, I added some thread colors that I didn’t have. How could I resist?

Here’s the colors I got. I know there are a bunch of dark colors but those are the ones I seem to run out of easily. I always need those darker values and don’t seem to have enough. I also ordered some of their Sticky Fabri Solvy. I have used the plain Fabri Solvy quite a bit but I thought this one would be useful for it’s sticky quality. I am planning on trying out some new ideas with this soon.

I worked on this linocut today but didn’t get it finished. These detailed ones take a bit more time to carve. I also worked on some felting today but you will have to take a look at my next post on The Felting and Fiber Studio to see that.

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Buds Linocut

Posted on by under printing

I finally had a day off from working at the store today. Yay! So I got a little carving done on my linocut blocks which have been patiently waiting for me to get back to them.

This is the budding branch that I had started on. I decided to trim around the shape instead of leaving it a rectangle. I will have to print with this to see how it holds up before I carve the others. I just tried inking it up with a blue stamp pad to see how it worked. I didn’t have time to do a full printing session.

Here’s a very light print. I carved more out around the edges to have less of the extra lines. I like a bit of texture in the background but this seemed like too much. It is so nice to have a day to work on art again. I am looking forward to finishing two more of these blocks and then having a session of printing.

Thanks for stopping by and have a nice weekend.

Second Layer of Lino Block Printing

Posted on by under printing

I carved the rest of the four lino blocks I was working on. These are for the second layer of printing.

I started with printing this one. I should have printed each block with white and then moved on to other colors but I didn’t do that. I like the white over the darker ink colors.

Then I moved on to this block. Once I put in the red to make orange with the ink, that was about all I could do without cleaning everything off.

Here’s the third design, as you can see the orange was about it. I made it darker and lighter but it didn’t change the end result much.

This is the last design based on rings in tree stumps. The bottom left one is printed over a piece of watercolor paper that has a light wash. I wanted to see how that would look as a background. The rest of the paper I used is printmaking paper. It is much smoother than the watercolor paper and gives a better print.

Now I need to do some more carving for the next layer of printing. I will probably print these in black over top what is already printed.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend.

Lino Carving, Fireweed and Robin’s Nest

Posted on by under printing, sketch book

I am working on some new lino prints. I want to layer several designs on top of each other. I have printed a few plain backgrounds and I’m now working on the second layer lino blocks.

These are three of the designs for the second layer. I have several more designs. Then I have created the designs that will be printed on top of these prints. I still have a lot of carving to do before I can show you any prints.

Here’s a watercolor of a fireweed plant. I thought I would do something for the background but I think I will just do another one with a background. This is done in watercolor.

And we had these baby robins up under our gutter on the back of the house. They have flown away now. When I saw the size of the babies, I couldn’t believe they even fit in the nest.

Better Than Expected

Posted on by under Level 3 Art and Design, printing

After spending hours on this reduction linocut process, I was getting a bit discouraged because I didn’t feel the prints were going to turn out. But I pressed (ha ha) on and carved out the areas in the block today that were to stay light gray. My original plan was to print dark gray and then brown, but I decided I could do that fairly easily in one pass instead of two. There will be less detail on the branch but the important part is the bird and I want to complete this project soon.

I carved out all the parts that were to stay light gray. I left some feathery bits on the bird’s body to give him more texture. His upper body is darker gray than the bottom so I left more printable linoleum there.

And I printed all 16 of my prints. Quite a few of these, the registration is off but they still look pretty good. So much better than I expected.

Here’s one where you can even see the white bits fairly well. Now all I have left to print is the black layer. So I am letting these dry and I’ll carve out everything on the lino block except the black on the bird and some shadows on the branch. I am really looking forward to seeing the end result now as my little bird definitely looks like a bird now.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!