This is a working artists proof of the first single colour lino cut I completed for Assigment 2. These are extracts from my note book made at the time of printing the series that led up to this one. 14.10.10 Print 1 - Gravestones Brompton cemetary, came out ok, colour not flat, some of the textutral mark makings between the gravestones is only partially successful, used 2 drops of linseed oil with ink. Using oild based inks exclusively now. Print 2 - Added more ink and some more linseed oil, if anything this makes it less flat. I placed a large sheet of cartridge paper on the print immediately after printing and gently rubbed it to remove surplus ink whic helped flatten it a bit. Print 3 - Mixed a lot of CALIGO process yellow aand rolled it out until it almost stopped sticking to the roller, no linseed oil, this gave it a much flatter colour. CONCLUSION, to get a flat prnted area don't use linseed oil, even if the ink seems 'stiff' work it until it's useable. NOTE ON INKS - The Caligo Inks I bought all come in tins that have a loosely fitting lid unlike traditional paint tins. This has caused the ink to dry out. Whilst a few drops of linseed oil make them workable again there are small bits of dryer ink in the mix which spoil the quality of the print. Next time buy inks in proper tins or tubes. OTHER LEARNINGS - Some talc powder got on one of the previous prints by mistake and gave it a pleasing misty effect. Print 4 - Second generation ghost print from the same inked up block, very pleasing textures, it seems to glow.
This diptych was done from the design I evolved from the Sarah Wrench grave and the Henry Moore tube shelter studies. I was struck by the way moore used cage like lines to define the form of the bodies and I made a cage mask in 3D which i photographed and used as my block design. I printed on Sanders Hot Pressed watercolour paper 140 lbs having done a preliminary wsh in transparent water colour. The quality of the print in terms of flatness of colour is poor but I like the overal design which has impact. There were cut marks printed which was an effect I didn't want, unlike the Brompton Cemetary print, so i will need to do some more cutting to the block and produce a final good quality print.
This sheet shows the preparation I did for what was supposed to be a very spontaneous print of a cherub I found carved into the side of a church font, it's nose had been broken off so it was disfigured. I did a lively drawing of it which looked as if it would be promising as a lino cut. All I had to do was imitate the drawing! this wasn't so simple. First I printed up a copy in reverse using Photoshop and then I turned it over and with a felt pen hatched in the black areas i the same way as I had done the original drawing.However when I came to cut the block it didn't have the same spontanaety and vigour of the drawing. It looks like a small monkey and I nearly converted it into one but that would have defeated the object of the exercise. So it remains a failure although I may find another way of using the image later.Notes from Notebook 30.10.10
A Three colour lino print
I printed up an A5 copy of my original drawing from a photograph of the Rotunda at Brompton Cemetary because the composition was interesting and I liked the expressiveness of my drawing. I transferred it by using carbon paper and drawing through the printed copy having worked out a 3 block system for light, medium and dark tones. I didn't flip the image so that it would come out the other way round to the drawing, this was because it read better as a composition from left to right.
When I cut the blocks I rubbed out the carbon paper lines with my hand by mistake and had to re draw them so the registration wasn't as perfect as I had hoped in the final prints. I had experimented using a stencil that I made but it was very time consuming and not accurate although it was consistent.
When cuting the windows in the dark and mid toned blocks I deliberately didn't register them perfectly and this came out well as a sort of abstract impression of windows which I liked.
I printed a test print in process yellow and a dark sepia with sepia and white as a fleshy mid tone. This worked well, in fact better than my colour notes.
There were some errors where I had cut away lino that I shouldn't have and the bottom right corner where there are some gravestones was confused. I did some more work on the blocks and printed two more prints which I touched up to a certain extent without over doing it.
I made a template to register the blocks but there was the slightest bit of movement and therefore registration errors crept in unless I was meticulous. One of the prints I did on Saunders Hot pressed Watercolour paper which had a slightly warm tone to it and gave the colour a not unpleasant 'plastic' feel which I liked. I feel I should try printing this image on some buff Ingres pastel paper that I have. The other print I did on some very white cartridge paper and this didn't work as well.
I have ordered some hot pressed Fabriano sheets that I will print on and will scout around for other types of paper. I haven't tried printing on rough yet.
One problem I encountered is that rubbing the back of the paper onto the blocks is a bit hit and miss because you don't know where the bits you want to rub are. I'm going to do a tracing of each block on a separate sheet of paper and lay it on my template over the back of the paper I am printing on so that I can rub on precisely the right places otherwise the ink isn't transferred in a consistently flat area.
I bought some very soft easy to cut lino as an experiment but it had little rigidity which made removing large areas very difficult. I will stick with traditional lino.
Notes from 3.11.10
I've been reflecting on the prints I did at the weekend and have decided to re do the jumble of gravestones in the bottom right corner as that is the only bit that spoils what would otherwise be a good print.
I designed a new segment from some photographs of old gravestones and then cut an appropriately sized section out of the dark toned and light toned blocks. I then recut a new section for each bit I had removed and stuck it to the original block by using gaffa tape on the reverse, these photos give you an idea.
11.11.10
At the weekend and into Monday I tried to get a decent print of my 3 colour lino cut but it was difficult. I probably did 20 prints in total, most of which went in the bin. The problem appears to be that when I cut the bit out of the original block and replaced it with a new bit it wasn't a perfect fit on both blocks and so the registration was very slightly out. The template I had made was also fractionally, and I mean the width of a pencil lead, too large so there was a hint of movement with each block. This meant that there was some misregistration. Also I'd get the quality of print right with two blocks and then the third would come out patchy or mis registered or both.
Plus, I'd mix up all three colours separately on my plate and use one roller for each but by the time I'd got to failed print number three or so the ink would be drying and would change in consistency. All very frustrating.
I tried slightly different colours for the mid tone block and I tried Fabriano, Saunders waterford and plain cartridge paper. There was a slight texture to the Saunders even though it was Hot Pressed which gave a misty quality to the print which I liked.
In the end I settled on my best print to complete the project and stuck four others on a mount board to send off.
I think my learning from this would be to avoid three colour lino prints! No actually I could make the whole thing work better by keeping my design for each block more in tune with the process. By this I mean avoid a design that relies on precision registration except where absolutely necessary. With some designs a slight mis registration could enhance the print but with mine, which was essentially a complexed series of arches with a cloister, a distant building with a dome and a clutter of gravestones in the foreground, mis registration prevented the light and dark areas from working as a composition. In some of the examples given with the course there is obvious scope in the design for coping with slight inaccuaracy.
I must also make a more precise template and make sure the elements of my design are thoroughly worked out and cut properly so that I don't need to repair the blocks to get to a final print.
I have learned a lot.
Finally I did one last print of my two single colour prints which I mounted on A3 bits of mount board. As a body of work it all looked ok and there were some good bits of work where I developed ideas. I don't know if it's any good though, it will be interesting to see what my tutor thinks.
