Giant Pumpkin Print

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Mike

I think I may have thrown my back out over the weekend printing the giant pear print. My back was so sore on Monday that I didn’t go in to the atelier. Today after some physical therapy I was feeling better, so I printed the giant pumpkin for the first time. The print looks great from a distance, but has a few soft edges because the paper was too damp. I think it is probably still a keeper. Hope my back is ok tomorrow.

I’m printing in the garage because there is not enough room in my studio.

The giant pumpkin print is 24″ x 30″.

Giant Pears Production Print

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Mike

Today I made my first production print from the giant pear plate! It took me about an hour to create one print, but it is beautiful.

The print used Akua Intaglio carbon black ink on damp Rising Stonehenge paper. Since the plate vastly exceeds the dimensions of my humble etching press, I went old school, resorting to the Akua pin press and a baren. I had to peel pack the paper many times in order to reapply ink in areas with pinholes. Given the amount of work involved, I am expecting this to be a very limited edition.

The production print dries underneath the first proof.

I’m trying a new method of drying that flattens the print without disturbing the ink and the embossing. The wet print is pinned to a piece of sheetrock using push pins spaced every three inches.

Giant pumpkin plate finished

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Mike

After another cutting session, the 24″ x 30″ pumpkin plate is ready to print. I probably spent about 4 hours cutting and sanding and filing and then another hour on the plate assembly. Can’t wait to print this one!

Adding fine edge detail by hand with a file.

The pumpkin plate has a lot of free floating pieces. I’m using double-sided tape to hold the pieces in place so that I can remove them if I need to make adjustments to the edge contours. In this picture I am trimming the tape so that it doesn’t extend into the non-printing area and possibly stick to the paper.

This is the biggest piece, covered with double-sided tape and ready to be placed on the backing plate.

These FPVC plates are quite striking before they are inked.

I love the shadows on the new white plate. Seems a shame to cover it with ink.

Ski Lift

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Mike

Feeling inspired after a recent trip to Snoqualmie Pass. Thought I’d try a two-plate linocut – something simple, but compelling to practice multi-plate registration and the interactions between ink colors. Here’s an initial design done in Adobe Illustrator.

Keechelus Print Update

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Mike

Here’s an update on the Keechelus print design. I’ve added more detail in the foreground and clarified the left riverbank. The silhouetted mountain ridges work well, but I’m struggling to get a more three-dimensional form along the riverbank and in the landmass on the left. I also need to make some decisions about whether to simplify or go for detail in the mass of sticks and branches in the lower right – not sure whether the details add or detract and I probably won’t know until I get some more detail in the lower left corner for balance. I’ve also experimented with cropping – using a panoramic format allows me to zoom in quite a bit without exceeding the width of my etching press. Can’t wait to start carving!

Giant Pumpkin Plate

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Mike

Bouyed by the success of the giant pear print, I began cutting the 24″ x 30″ pumpkin plate. Before starting I headed out to Lowes to pick up some safety gear, including an N95 dust respirator and face mask. I already had good ear protection.

As with the pear plate, my pattern is made up of six pieces of 11″ x 17″ paper.

Tracing over the pattern which lies on top of a sheet of Richeson graphite paper.

I’m guessing that the cutting is about halfway through. It is going well as I apply learnings from the pear print. First is to use hearing protection, a face mask, and respirator. Second is to leave the edges of the plate intact until all of the fine cutting is done. This reduces the chance of breaking the plate while cutting. Third is that the jigsaw can actually be used like a router or grinder, by gently sweeping the blade side to side. This works better than the end mill in the rotary tool because the end mill sometimes catches on the plastic and jerks past the cut line. The fourth learning is that ball mills and sand paper grinding wheels work better for FPVC than end mills.

First print from giant relief plate

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Mike

I finally got some time to finish up and proof my 24″ x 30″ plate of the three pears. FPVC seems to work pretty well for plates, although I was surprised to find that the plates absorb a bit of ink. The material does give very crisp edges. The main problem with FPVC is that the cutting process produces a huge amount of plastic dust. I will have to decide whether to cut the large pumpkin out of FPVC or try another material like masonite or MDF. First I will try a print on a real printmaking paper to be sure the FPVC really works well enough.

I’ve finished cutting and sanding the printing surfaces and tacked them in place with double sided tape.

Plate is inked with Akui Intaglio Carbon Black. I needed a ton of ink to cover the plate. Note the 6″ brayer in the background for scale.

Here’s the first proof on newsprint. It turns out that my biggie newsprint pad just barely covered the gigantic plate – there was no paper left over for margins on the left and right. This won’t be a problem with real printmaking paper which comes in larger sizes.

Starting a new print

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Mike

I’ve started working on the design for a multi-block linocut print of Lake Keechelus. For now, I am mocking it up in Adobe Illustrator so that I can get an understanding of interactions between the shapes and colors and layers. The image below shows one idea for a sunrise color scheme. This is a work in progress, and the bottom half is still at the block-in stage.

A better way to transfer drawings to linoleum

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Mike

One challenge I’ve encountered with linocut prints is transferring my design to the block of linoleum. In the past I’ve used Saral and Richeson transfer papers, but I was never happy with the amount of detail that would be lost as I traced my design with a ball point pen. I’d read about ways to transfer a laser print or photocopy directly using nail polish remover or ChartPak blending markers as a solvent, but I never managed to get these methods to work, probably because the toner or the solvents have been reformulated.

Today I stumbled upon another technique which is simple, seems foolproof, and really works. The idea is to use an inkjet printer on a piece of slippery, non-absorbant paper. Since the ink doesn’t soak into the paper, it can be easily transferred onto another surface. McClain’s actually sells special paper that works this way, but it turns out you can get the same effect with freezer paper from your local supermarket. Here’s an outline of the process:

Before printing, I used spray adhesive to glue the freezer paper to a piece of regular printer paper. This adds a bit of stiffness to prevent curling and it gives the printer a bit more traction.

This is the freezer paper right after it came out of the printer. The lines are crisp and I had no problems with smearing or jamming.

I used my inexpensive Speedball baren to transfer the wet ink from the freezer paper to the linoleum.

The fine lines transferred perfectly and they seem fairly robust. I attempted to wipe away a line on the left side of the block immediately after the transfer and it only smudged a bit.

Cutting Plastic

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Mike

I’m back at work at the 24″ x 30″ plate for the three pears. Today I transferred the design to a sheet of FPVC and started cutting, first with the jig saw, and then with the Proxxon rotary tool. The FPVC cuts like butter and the edges come out clean, but the material is a bit brittle, so I am being careful with the finer cuts around the stems. The Proxxon kicks up a ton of plastic dust that gets on everything, but it doesn’t seem to be small enough to require a respirator. Once I finish cutting, I will probably use a file or an emory board to clean up the edges an then I will glue the pieces to another sheet of FPVC to complete the plate. I can’t wait to see how it prints!

I’ve used Richeson graphite transfer paper to copy the pattern to the FPVC. I thought I would have to reenforce the lines with a Sharpie, but it turns out the FPVC takes the graphite very well.

I roughed in the larger shapes with the jigsaw using a 20 TPI blade. Then I switched to the Proxxon rotary tool with a milling bit for precision edgework.

The Proxxon rotary tool makes a lot of plastic dust.

Michael J Hopcroft

Learning Art and the Art of Software

Tag Archives: printmaking