Print Making: Linoprint 02

I wasn't happy with the last Linoprint I did so I started on another one, I used an image from a painting I  started a few years ago to save a bit of time. I transferred the image to the plate by brushing Gesso on the Lino, I used Graphite paper to copy the image.


PLEASE DOUBLE CLICK IMAGES FOR THE LARGEST IMAGE

 

I have cut away the bits I wasn’t too keen about and I’m much happier with the plate now. The print was done at home with a baren for burnishing but hopefully I will get another chance to print it at college on the etching press which will produce a much better print.

Print Making: Linoprint 01

I have done a Lino print previously but it was a few years ago and it didn’t go completely to plan back then so I wasn’t too sure about doing another one. Out of all the print techniques I personally do prefer the look and style of the woodcut print above everything else, it has a certain appeal to me. I have always adored the work of German Expressionism which includes a lot of woodcuts. The other reason I like Linocuts is that you don’t have to rely on a printing press as it can be done at home with a baren, wooded spoon or even with a car with a sheet of wood to protect the paper. However the only thing I don’t like is that if I do too much of it my hands can be bad for a few days due to gout and arthritis. I looked at an old painting I did a years ago (Crown Inn, Stockport) and changed the angle slightly, I bought myself a new tablet for Christmas with a stylus pen so I decided to give it a try. I didn't have Photoshop Touch at the time and had to use a more simple program that was already on my Android tablet.


PLEASE DOUBLE CLICK IMAGES FOR THE LARGEST IMAGE

A couple of minutes quick digital scribble on a tablet using a stylus with Tegra Draw instead of Photoshop Touch.

 

The original pencil sketch for the first Lino print, the image is of the Crown Inn in Stockport.


I didn’t have any larger lino then A5 and it wouldn’t arrive here in time if I ordered on the web, there’s nowhere around here that stocks them. I don’t know if this will work but I’m going to try and put both plates together, it might not work but I have nothing to lose as I won’t get the detail I want in such a small lino. After nearly cutting my fingers off I had reach a point that I needed to print it just to see what mistakes I was making. My hands and fingers were really sore by now and I had to stop cutting the Lino anyway. I made a bit of space found a piece of glass and rolled out the ink, as my room is rather warm the ink started to dry out before I finished. A wooded spoon was used and on the image below you can see the first print.

 

Well what can I say a lot of time has been wasted with this Lino, I knew I shouldn’t have put both board together there’s a big line going all the way down and I don’t know if I can remove it for the next print. There are a lot of things I’m pleased with the viaduct has turned out well also the grass area with the fence. There are also a lot of things I got annoyed with I went wrong with the cut and started getting confused with the black and the light parts and reversed it half way through the plate. The main balls up which is a novice’s mistake is I didn’t reverse the image, I feel totally stupid about this error. Now can I change it, in fact is it really worth trying to fix it? I’m not sure, I need a brew…

Print Making: Dry Point Etching

As I didn’t want to start with a fresh drawing I used the last drawing I did on the painting brief. The image was first reversed on the photocopier as the print will be the reversed image. As I only have a small piece of Perspex I will crop the image to suit, as this is my first go at dry point I want to start small and work my way up to larger pieces if a wish to take the method further.


PLEASE DOUBLE CLICK IMAGES FOR THE LARGEST IMAGE

 

 

This is my first attempt of dry point etching on Perspex; it’s a very easy process. The Perspex is transparent so I copied one of my images, I engraved it into the Perspex with an etching tool, any other sharp object like a blade or needle would also do. Next the oil based printing ink was mixed with extender and spread on the plate with squeegee, the ink was then dabbed firmly into the grooves. Where no ink was required the ink was wiped gently from the plate with scrim or tarlatan cloth. Tissue paper, newspaper or pages from a telephone directory can be used to clean the plate leaving ink only in the incisions. Once the plate is clean including edges cartridge or w/c  paper is soaked (20 mins) and blotted leaving the paper damp. The paper is then placed on top of the plate and printed in a  press. 

 

 

To add colour to the print make cut two cards the same size of the etching plate, these will be used for two separate colours. Once the cards are ready you need to ink the original plate and print on paper as normal however you need to trap the paper. This method is known as Offset printing you then transfer the print to the card reversing the image for each colour. The registration is set by either taping the paper down with masking tape or by using metal blocks. Once printed to the card the card is varnished this protects it. Carborundum is mixed with PVA to give the card some grip, the ratio of the PVA to Carborundum will differ depending how much tooth you want on the card for the ink to grab on. Leave to dry for about 30 mins once it’s dry ink up and wipe away any ink not required then print using the blocks for registration. I use two colours on separate plates and then the etching for contours.

 

These are the plates with Carborundum this gives the card some tooth for the printing ink to grab on.

 

 

 

Below is the final print, this is the first time I have tried this type of printing. I can see where I went wrong the ink is too vivid I either need to wipe off more ink on the plate or add more PVA to cover the Carborundum where the yellow ink is. Also the registration did go out slightly as I forgot to put the blocks down in place I moved it before realising. Though I do think it’s a lot of hard work just to print a bit of colour to the image; at least I gave it a go. I personally enjoyed dry point etching and printing with one colour only which I have done in the print below however instead of using the offset method to add colour I simply decided just to add a bit off watercolour to the image. Whether people actually do this method or not I don’t know I just wanted to know what it looked like and it seemed a lot easier to add a bit of colour this way. I honestly don’t think I will be taking up Print Making it just too mucky…

 

Top image is the first print using the offset method with Carborundum, the bottom image is print with watercolour colour.

 

 

Project 2 Sampling - Collagraph, Print, Mixed Media.

Collagraph is a technique that involves the relief printing process, I cut up a piece of Daler Mount Board than stuck loads of different materials to the board including sandpaper, create paper, sand, sugar, pva glue, salt, rice, cardboard. I also bought a cheap battery operated engraver for a couple of quid from The Works and engraved onto the plate. Once I was happy with the plate I sealed the plate with Sadolin Floor Varnish which was a bugger to find, this is an oil based varnish which dries in a couple of hours. I did try other varnishes in fact the whole class tried different ones but they were taking weeks to dry and once you put the plate through the printing press the varnish was coming out on the paper. Once the varnish was dry I tried oil based and also waterbased ink, the waterbased ink I preferred I bought these myself and they weren’t provide by college.

Once you have put the ink on the plate with Dollies then using leafs from the Yellow Pages excess paint were removed with a turning motion with the palm of the hand. Watercolour paper (300gsm) was soaked for a couple of minutes. The paper was then blotted with blotting paper & a rolling pin, this removed access water making the paper just damp. The paper was carefully placed on top of the plate; blankets were re-laid then the paper & plate were rolled through the etching press with newsprint and newspaper to protect then blankets.

 The below samples are Ghost samples they are the second print from the plate as I didn’t remove enough ink, these are both done with waterbased inks. Oil based inks require an extender mixing in with the ink, they also take longer to dry and have a different feeling they also clean up a lot easier, the waterbased ink look more like watercolour paint once printing. If you don't have a printing press you can make one from an old washing mangle or drive over the plate and paper with the front wheel of a car, make sure you place some wood above and below your plate and paper, you can also use foam or a camping/yoga matt as blankets.

Please click the image a couple of times for a lager image…

Below are two prints of the plate in 2 different waterbased inks, I prefer the black one out of the two, these are both Ghost prints as there were too much ink on the first print.
 

 

Over all I’m very satisfied with the Collagraph plate as well as the print. The hardest thing about the plate was putting the layers down, the fatter the item was meant the further back in the distance it will look when printed. This is the first time I have made a Collagraph plate and I’ve enjoyed it immensely. The texture on the print added to the final image the items weren’t just used for the sake of it, I enjoyed finding out in the foundation stages how certain materials would print, this really surprised me on some materials. The sampling was crucial as it led towards the decision of which materials were appropriate to use in this landscape. I was frustrated with some of the materials that I used on the sample plates; I expected more of an indent in the printed version. This was defiantly a huge learning curve but it was required to understand which materials were more appropriate to use to produce certain effects on the print.

A couple of things I would like to change on the plate, the moon seems slightly too big for the scene I would like to reduce the size, this could be altered quite easily. I would also like to try using two or more colours on the plate and experiment if water based ink and oil based ink work together in the same piece of work. I don’t mean mix them together but print with oil let it dry then print water based ink on top in certain places like the sky or moon. Don’t get me wrong I like the look of the water based inks and I’m glad I used these instead of sticking to the oil based inks which everybody else used. I wanted to experiment and try something different to produce a different look, by using different inks I have managed to do this. Over all I think the print of the final plate came out exceptional for my first Collagraph Print and hopefully I will be using this process again.

Project 2 Sampling - Sgraffto Water Based Printers Ink, Cityscape.

The below has Acrylic Paint on the bottom layer but I have tried a water based ink for the top layer. A cut up credit card was use for the Sgraffito technique. I found the Ink took quite a while to dry, there's a possibility I've used too much of the ink I should have spread the ink a little more making it a thinner layer. The last time I used the ink I used it sparingly and it dried a hell of a lot quicker than it did this time. I found scraping the ink away was very messy to do and the stuff got everywhere. However as it dried slower I was able to play with it longer than I would if it was done with the Acrylic paint. I like the way it hasn't removed all the ink the lines aren't as sharp as the samples I've done previously. I might try and do another one very similar to this but instead of randomly putting the first layer on I will lay the colour on in vertical lines so the colour of the buildings will be the same in the reflections rather than random colour reflections as in this sample. I think what I've produced has a nice effect it just needs a bit of thinking about, building reflections, colours, composure instead of just getting on with it. I would like to attempt this type of thing in oil but it takes so long to dry it won't be feasible this time.

Please click the image a couple of times for a lager image…

As the sample is still wet I wanted to try and remove some of the ink to make it dry quicker so I could place it in this folder. I burnished the Sgraffito sample onto some cartridge paper, I know this has nothing to do with Sgraffito but I really liked the marks it left behind so I've decided to include it. After doing this process about 15 times or so the excess ink has nearly all been removed. I even tried a Fixative that is made for oil pastels, it works wonders with oil pastels but unfortunately it doesn't really work with the water based ink. Thinking about it may be using a clear varnish might work; I don't have any in so I can't experiment with this idea.
 

If I'm honest I think I prefer the print version then the original sample; this also gives me a opportunity to view a mono version as well as the original random coloured version.