Baa Baa Test Print I Like

Ok, I've got a test print I like. The purple can be a tad lighter and the yellow can be cleaner, but I like the balance with the green in the corners.

Baa-Baa Test Print

It reads purple and yellow, and it should read purple and green. I'm going to try and tone down the yellow by cutting stripes. If that doesn't work, I may cut it out entirely.

It's only a test print, and an actual print will sharper detail, but the lavender at the bottom comes off weak.



Ok, I've added stripes. I'll see if they're wide enough when I print it next.

Haven't printed it yet, but I have an idea. I'll roll up the middle in purple, top to bottom. Then I'll wipe it off the lavender leaves and the sheep. And I can roll up the sides with yellow and wipe it off the laurel leaves. Then add the greens and blacks where necessary, and add it to the corners. That way I can get a bit of background.

Alternately I can roll up @ section in its color -- black for the sheep, green for the bottom (then wipe it off the flowers and add purple). And black can be more of a charcoal.

Anyway it's something to experiment with tomorrow.

Carving Baa-Baa Block

4"x6" shina

Carving.

greyscale w/ high contrast

Baa-Baa Block

the way I'll carve it:

A couple of sketches for my baa-baa device block. I'm thinking of a 4"sq. block, but I could go larger.


A color sketch.


another permutation: this one is in 4"x6" format. Also gets my scallops in, and incorporates my initials into the wool.


a little more tweaking, and in color

Dang. I keep harking back to an older version of my arms -- currently and officially, the "sky" is purpur.

baa-baa 4"x6" carving direction

Watercolor Sky 2

Not so much a sky, but pretty.

Blue Sky Experiments

Less than stellar first experiment with watercoloring a sky background for an airship print. When it dries I may tackle it again. Layers, right?

Take 2. So unimpressed.

Take 3. Getting darker, but better...?

Windsor Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oils

I picked up some Windsor Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oils to play with. Thalo Green (blue shade). They were talking about it on BarenForum and I thought I'd give it a try. Experiments to follow. 8-]

Seasons

Seasons in teal

Teal (thalo blue, hansa yellow and white) blue -- it's a little more to the green than this scan shows.

Half done, rest get printed tomorrow. 8-]

From a discussion on BarenForum I made a few adjustments to my process. I always print block down, but I have a tendency to raise the block with newsprint. I took that out and switched to a plexi plate instead, and the print is crisper. Also I tried adding water to the ink again. I didn't have much success with that when I first got the inks, but this seemed to work out better. Thanx.

a lighter teal variation (actually greener than the scan)

Canterbury Tails, The Knight's Tale

We strive but as those dogs did for the bone;
They fought all day, and yet their gain was none.
Till came a kite while they were still so wroth
And bore the bone away between them both.
I'm half way thru the printing. I had to stop and clean the block. I find the water-based inks (Daniel Smith anyway) get a little gunky build-up. I'll print the rest this evening or tomorrow and get them off to the mails on Mon.

I'm particularly pleased with the way this block came together. It's a perfect likeness of Loki and Freya, who were actually fighting over a dead football at the time I took the picture. I think Freya, on the right, won. She usually does. ;-j

More Tails

The block so far, greyscaled and mirrored. Coming along. Be there soon. I'm liking the different textures I'm getting.





A little more work. 8-]





Testprint. Still tweaking a line or two, but otherwise ready to print.

Tails in Progress

Hard to make out, but it's a greyscale scan of a sketch on the block. Working out some ideas. Only the dogs are carved in outline.



Carving now.

Steampunk Airship

Another colorway. Closer to what I have in mind. Now I'm printing them on white sketch paper, as I'm running thru my newsprint!

I'll try a couple more things again today, then I'll have to move on to carving the next block. It's production city around here this month!



Ok, that looks like what I want. Blue with a dab of green; red with a dab of yellow. Red on the balloon and the gondola, with a bit of a halo around the ship, especially under the balloon. Then blue over the background and the ship. Works for me.

Need to work on the colophon now. Let's see, it's an airship. The theme is Voyages/Journeys, and an airship clearly applies. I wanted something airy, because there was so much talk about Wanda liking kites and kite-flying. I thought a balloon might apply as well. And then I wanted to do something in the steampunk fashion.

I'm considering Straight On 'Til Morning.



Here we go. Printed up half the run today. Ink gets dry, so after awhile I decided to pack it in for the day. Back to it tomorrow.

All done and off to Maria for Exchange #37. 8-] W00t!

Airship - test print

Not in love with the colors, but I was playing with dabbing on a second color.

Worked on some more colorways, but still unsatisfied with the way I'm inking it up. Going to try a couple new things later today. Going to add a little transparent medium to the color as well, to get a little woodgrain into the image. Or anyway, I'll see what I get.

Not there yet. Too much bleed-thru, muddying up the color.

Canterbury Tails

Working on the composition for my Knight's Tale-themed block. I knew I'd finally get to use that pic of Loki and Freya playing tug (a favorite game).


The passage I'm working with:


We strive but as those dogs did for the bone;
They fought all day, and yet their gain was none.
Till came a kite while they were still so wroth
And bore the bone away between them both.

Airship -- Coming Along

another faux print -- getting there

Oops, forgot to turn it around. ;-y Oh well, you get the idea.

Airship -- Up and Away

Up and away. Looking more like an airship.

scan of the block in progress

faux print -- what the block will look like

Airship -- Just Getting Off the Ground ;-j

Pretty hard to see yet, but it's started. I stained the block again, but this time I sealed it with a mixture of acrylic and white gesso, which gives it a kind of white-washed look. Lightly sanded, and it's nice and smooth.

Some carving, some sketching.

Seasons -- color test print

Color test print on newsprint. I ordered new inks and mixed thalo green and hansa yellow for the greens, perm. red and hansa yellow for the orange. I want to add a little more red.

Seasons Block -- Recarve

Recarving some of the lines. Block powdered to show them better.

~*~

Experimenting with Akua. Too wet to roll, so I tried brushing it on with a sponge brush. Left brush marks on the print. Next may try a bristle brush, or try adding rice paste (or go back to Daniel Smith, which I know how to use). ;-j

One interesting effect of using the sponge brush is getting ink in the grooves. Makes an interesting look against the wood.

Seasons Test Prints

black on kozo


black on kozo w/ tapped in color


medium brown (yellow ochre/burnt siena) on newsprint w/ tapped in color

I like the medium brown, maybe a little lighter. Greens have to be clearer. Ok to tap over the lines and into the background. Better than blobby color (technical term). ;-]

I can't help it -- I really like crisp, black prints best. Next I do like natural colors tho, so I'll see what I can do with the browns.