#intro to printmaking

[octopeyeart]

[imperativecraft]

Here are my frottage prints

[t-l-allen]

Woodblock print (concept/carved woodblock, test print, final print)

The Only Felling Left // Woodblock Print // January 2018

[marywoodartdept]

My Intro to Printmaking

Emily, our new Printmaking blogger, shows us her two favorite print projects from this past semester in "My Intro to Printmaking"

During this last Spring Semester at Marywood I got the opportunity to take a printmaking class! I was required to take Printmaking for my major, Illustration, and was excited to try something different.

Printmaking as a form of art has a lot to offer when it comes to variety and experimentation. I knew nothing about printmaking before taking this class, but was easily able to catch on to the…

[octopeyeart]

beginning of collograph print

[octopeyeart]

First try at printing the styrofoam! I got kind of frustrated because at first the ink wasn’t flowing well enough so I mixed in a little bit of linseed oil and I think I may have put a bit too much but at least the ink started covering the brayer. The next issue arose when I attempted to test print on a scrap of newsprint I had. I held the paper down and rubbed it with a spoon but somehow it must’ve shifted and the prints came out blurry and doubled. I decided to clean up and call it a night, but I’m gonna try again tomorrow!

[octopeyeart]

prints 1-6 / 12

[octopeyeart]

[octopeyeart]

my final collograph prints

[octopeyeart]

[imperativecraft]

Okay I completed the book. This was much less of a joy to do. I thought my boxcutter would be sharp enough but it wasn’t so cutting out the prints was a struggle. I also couldn’t find my glue-sticks anywhere so I end up having to use liquid glue which caused my prints to smudge on each other a bit. Also made the Bird Woman’s wing span too long so it caused difficulties in printing the arms. I also glued the last cover in the wrong orientation.  I tried my best to make sure it came out okay but I’m honestly not happy with it. I would redo it if I had the time.

[imperativecraft]

Okay so here all my test prints. Without the extender I definitely burned through a good amount of my water based inks but that's okay. Some of my prints were stamped directly on the gel plate but I had to stop doing that. The ink on the gel plate would dry faster than it took to charge each stamp of the bird woman. So I stamped them later with oil based inks. The gel prints that didn’t get stamped I thought would look awkward if I put the stamp on top.

Overall a very fun process. I did gasp when doing my first gel print and seeing the image perfectly mirrored on the paper. It almost felt like being a kid and opening a Christmas present to see the toy you’ve been begging for all year.

[octopeyeart]

first round of prints

[octopeyeart]

First round of prints! Mostly just done as a test so they’re all on printer paper, but I do like most of them! I’ll be doing a second round of more prints tomorrow morning!

[octopeyeart]

test paper and stamps so far! i tried to carve the hand stamps first, but i ended up slipping as i carved and messing up so i used the back of those pieces to makes the stars and eye. i’m hoping to do the hands next. now that i’m used to the carving tool more, maybe it will work out better for me. i’m also using a little stamp pad to test the stamps as i carve, it’s helpful because it’s quick and easy and allows you to see and fix mistakes you may not have noticed in your stamps :]

[octopeyeart]

some of the designs i have so far! more will be added later and these will probably be altered