Thursday, January 27, 2011

3'X5' Bamboo Forest print progress





as you can see in my last pic my paper flipping method is very low tech a long stick. it works okay but it has caused a few crinkles here and there but i have decided not to let it bother me and to try and think of them as part of the "charm". It has taken me six days to get this far. Two days transferring the image and redrawing/making corrections on the block, one long day carving and this will be my third day printing. I expect to be at least halfway through the printing by the end of today.
The paper is a mulberry and i am glad i had it laying around because i probably would have went with a roll of Rives BFK and printing is already hard enough i didn't need the extra thickness. Sometimes i wonder why bother with all this why not just make a painting? I do like they way they look and i don't think i could duplicate it in a painting so i guess that is reason enough.
i also don't have representation so i don't really think i will be selling many if any of these so why go through the bother of multiple blocks to make an edition if they will just be rolled up in my closet. well these are my excuses for using such an inefficient form of printmaking anyway. I am using oil based relief inks with a drop or two of burnt plate oil. i have used a small roller a little but most has been done with stiff hog bristle bushes. i use them more like dobbers then brushes most of the time. i do like the richness of the oil inks and they blend nice but i really need to look into getting some Akua Kolor because clean up sucks. Also i am short so when i get more towards the middle of the block things will even be harder. I think i will be done in three days if all goes well.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like it very much so far.
A couple of questions: what are you using for clean-up? And have you thought of a mahl stick for hard-to-reach areas?

Andrew Stone said...

Well, I'm watching with much interest.
I loved the little version and was quite intrigued by how you'd manage such a big sheet.
The dry/wet paper thing has me cowed and I'd worry with moku hanga about the gradual stretch from side to side of the paper from burnishing.
So, I'm curious how this turns out, even if you're using oil.
Good Luck.
Thanks for boldly plowing ahead and showing the results.

Bette Norcross Wappner -- said...

This is very nice. Great work!

Vizart said...

Well i didn't make it to the half way point last night but i got pretty close. i did have to crawl up onto the table/block to get to a couple of spots. as to the question about what i am using for clean up i use soysolve along with mineral spirits. Andrew, i think that akua kolor will work and you can print it onto dry paper. i really want to try it sometime but i had to get one of these printed because it will be hanging up at the college soon. Plus I had all this oily ink on hand and after i did the poppies i knew it would work.