Printing Xmas Block

I like the reddish brown color. I've been playing around with tapping on accent color, but I don't like how it's coming out. This may be a one-color block afterall.

I practically recarved the whole block. I have a tendency to "draw" too lightly on the board. Someday I'm going to design a block that calls for bold images. ;- j

Almost Ready to Print

Faux image -- mirror scan of the block, colorized in PaintShop. About to print and see what needs recarving. ;- j

Poking Along on the Block

Lost the weekend to holiday doings, but I'm back to work on the xmas card block today. Carve, carve, carve.

Christmas Block

Wassail!

Block in progress -- mirror image scan. This'll be the Schuyler House Christmas card. I put the castle on one of the mugs. And I put a sleeping cat on the hearth for the absent Kitty (who worked for Schuyler House).

Horsefly -- test prints

Did some test prints of my paleo-horsefly this afternoon, working out some colorways.





Yellow ochre or vanilla print. ;-j


More like what I'm aiming for: yellow ochre, red and thalo blue, with a touch of white to lighten up the colors.

Had to keep adding water as the ink was drying fast. Must be dry today. My hands feel like sandpaper, but that's par for printing. Used my baren and wooden spoon and some sketch paper.

I'm feeling smuggly productive today, after days of displacement. ;- j

Paleo-Horse Fly -- Possible Colorways

I can displace all day. ;-j Trying out a couple of colorways in colored pencil.


The blue-green is more eye-popping.


But I'm leaning toward this orangey-purple colorway.

Paleo-Horse Fly -- Faux Print

Faux print -- darkened mirror image scan of the block, to see how it's coming along. Not bad. A couple iritating chips that leap out at me. A little more work around the lower right wing.

Don't know if I'll carve out the black background or leave it as a frame.

Paleo-Horse Fly WIP

Started carving.

It's going pretty quickly. Not happy with a couple of choices I made. I'll see if I can carve my way out of a corner or have to start over. Maybe I'll try it both ways and see which one I prefer.

Paleo-Horse Fly -- a sketch

Getting back into carving. I want to have something new for the Loscon art show in a couple weeks. Something small.

Here's a computer-cobbled sketch for a new paleo-mythos critter, a paleo-horse fly. I sketched the horse from a Przewalski horse and added some dragonfly wings I found on google. Still working up the details. I'd like the wings to be lighter than the background, but that may not work.

The Battle is Lost

There will be no Pelican/Knight woodcut for Kitty.

This is so sad I can barely type it. Kitty has succumbed to the H1N1 virus -- swine flu. She was young and strong and so vibrant just a few short weeks ago, and now she is gone. It hit her fast and it hit her hard, going straight into pneumonia, and she never recovered. She passed away yesterday when they took her off of life support. She was only 27.

Folks, H1N1 is no joke. It is horrifyingly real. We all know young people and they are the most at risk (behind those with pre-existing conditions). Please see that your friends and loved ones get the vaccination when it comes out.

And if you disagree please don't post it here. I am grieving.

The Battle Continues

The knight's portion didn't seem to be holding its own, so I now have it capturing the pelican's foot in the belt (as the pelican is biting the belt). Now each has a hold on the other. Getting there.

And I'm thinking orange, because it is a favorite color of Kitty's.

Pelican/Chivalry Block

Baroness Kolfinna, already a Knight, is being elevated to the Pelicans. I've been working on a woodcut design all day to commemorate the occasion. I've only got a couple weeks, so I've got to get busy.

The belt is white, as is the bird. Only the blood drop adds color. Makes for a rather stark image. Perhaps I can give it a border or a background color. She likes bold colors. Her device is blue, black and white; her badge is orange.

I developed the image from an earlier one, the Laurel/Pelican block I did for Sven & Kolfinna to give as largesse at Lillies War in '06.



The theme for the war was Laurels vs Pelicans, so it seemed apropos. A laurel/pelican wanted one (which I need to rework slightly to remove the Lillies and Caid references). Now all I need to do is work up a Chivalry/Laurel block (but that's for another time).

Maybe a blue background, at least for Kolfinna. I'll carve the pel and belt and leave them white. I can roll it up in blue (or orange), with a spot of red for the drop.

I could carve a patterns background of some sort, just to give texture to the color.

Hmm. Kitty is using a round shield with her viking ladies...on orange. Maybe orange is the way to go afterall.

Horse Block Musings

Another possibility for the block: a Przewalski foal. They're so knobby-kneed and gangly. ;-]

Possible New Block

Well it's about time. I'm finally considering a new woodblock, a paleo-critter. This is the Przewalski's horse, or Takhi, the small Mongolian horse, the oldest horse in the world. Looks rather like something you might find painted on a cave wall.

This is one possible version, a kicking horse. Or it's mirror image:

I like the upright brush mane and the stripe down the back to the tail. Kinda like a zebra. Also short-legged with a large head.

Tiger & Sloth -- New Ink 8-]

Made In the Shade 4"x6"

Woo and hoo! 8-] Success finally. I ordered some new ink -- Akua intaglio (also good for woodcuts) -- and it just came this morning. I've been printing up a storm (hopefully not for real, as it's quite overcast out there today).
;- j

I love Akua ink! It stays wet forever (hopefully not on the print!). I was able to print close to 20 prints today and probably could have gone on longer but I got pooped.
I haven't taken any pics on my own press yet -- a Griffin -- so I took a couple today. Doesn't really show the press. Oh well, I'll get around to that. But I can't keep using the old printmaking class press shots when I put something up on Etsy.






And here's a shot of my drying rack. It's still on the floor, but I'll eventually have it up on my paper safe (currently "safely" stored under my work table and hence unaccessable).



I haven't gotten around to organizing my print studio after I moved my weaving studio out and into what used to be our son's bedroom. (He still hasn't moved all of his junque out of the house, but at least it's out of my weaving studio!)

My I'm chatty today. Must be all the happy I got from all that production.
8-]

Tiger & Sloth

Made In the Shade 4"x6"

First prints. Very uneven. Having trouble with either the ink or the pressure on the press. Probably both. Some days just don't go smoothly. But I've made a start. It'll get there.

~*~

I think the runners along the sides of the press bed (long thin pieces of plywood to lift the roller to the height of the block) are compressing. They make these occasional cracking noises (better them than the block!). I may need to replace them or augment them somehow.

Or maybe there's a difference in the height of the current block from previous ones. They don't look any different, but maybe it's slight. At any rate, I have to work on that some before I print again. The last block I printed wasn't so uneven.

Tiger & Sloth test print

Here's the test print. Not too bad. Maybe a couple lines need a little more definition.

I showed it to Kitty and Kurt. They liked it. Kitty wants 50 prints! Hoo-boy. I'd better get busy. (She actually needs 150, but she's going to print up some copies on Lulu to hand out to the rest of her court.) That's a big court!

Tiger & Sloth, continued

The block is pretty much done. I'll see what needs a little tweaking after I make a test print. In the meantime, I made a mirrored b&w scan of the block (what I call a faux print) to see what it might look like.





I haven't shown it to Kitty or Kurt yet. It's for a series of prints they can hand out to their court as favors when they step down from the Throne at Coronation in June. Or rather, when Sven and Kolfinna step down. ;-j

I still need a title for the piece. Something to reflect their taking a much-deserved rest after their second reign. Made in the Shade?

Tiger & Sloth

Still some detail work to do. But it's coming along nicely. Better stop now. I know how compulsive this can be and my shoulders won't thank me if I continue.

~*~


a bit of tiger striping

Nice to see I still know how to carve a block. ;-> I'm working in spurts so I don't wrack my shoulders.
~*~





computer cobbled image with Kitty's tiger and Kurt's sloth

Finally have my hands on a block again. Haven't been working on anything since Dec. That drat ulcer -- or rather the reglan I was taking for the ulcer. It messed with my other meds. But things seem to be back to normal -- or what passes for normal. ;-j And I'm back to working again.