The Ox Arrive!

Whew! I finally got these ox postcards done. After being cursed with mysterious electrical problems, swarms of carpenter ants, and a three year old girl they are printed and drying. More about the girl: Audrey got in to the honeycomb and decided to roll out my ink aft er I had spent all night printing the blue plate and then preparing the black ink. Normally the kids are very well behaved in the honeycomb and know to stick to their art corner but curiosity got the better of little Audrey. Between scrubbing the ink off Audrey - half of which had to be done under cold water as the hot water ran out - and the scolding I don't think she'll forget to leave my stuff alone any time soon. I've got a lock on the door now just in case. I don't like having to lock the door though - I want them to have free access to art supplies - we just don't have enough space around here for them to have a space that is separate from mine.

This is actually a working proof and as such has some imperfections but it is close enough to the completed prints. The final cards are still drying - will scan one in when dry.

I didn't photograph the process and now regret it. Here is a bad, water stained print of the blue-grey plate. This is a 2 color reduction print. It was my first experience with a hardwood block. I used a maple block and found it a joy to work with. The hard wood is harder to literally carve but easier in so many other ways. Since it doesn't splinter as easily the impression is much cleaner and fine lines retain their integrity. I carved and printed a the blue-grey layer which was actually everything you see in the image that is blue-grey as well as black.

After printing the blue-grey plate I carved away the areas of the block that are blue, leaving everything that is now black. After a day a half of cleaning up the mess left in the wake of hurricane Audrey I then printed the black block. Here is the final block with the blue carved away, leaving the black layer.

I love doing reduction prints. They are so much fun - just wham bam thank you ma'am. No going back, no reworking, reprinting. It forces me to do what I should be doing anyway - just carving and printing and stop trying so hard to make it perfect. On baren forum recently someone posted an interesting study which I will try to paraphrase:

In a college ceramics course the class was divided in to two groups. One group was told they were going to be graded solely on quantity - at the end of the course all their pieces would be weighed and the one with the heaviest amount of work got an A. The other group was graded by quality - their pieces were reviewed in the traditional manner, by class and instructor critique. At the end of the course the students who were graded by quantity actually had the better work. The act of just doing, doing, doing is so crucial to the learning process! The 'quantity' students were able to practice and refine technique without having to give consideration to the results. I need to remember this and just work.

The registration is so much easier too - I used "pins" for this print. Really just nails in this case but they work just the same. Next time around I need to have a registrationn pin on the side and on the top instead of just two on top. These prints were long and the registration got difficult toward the bottom of the print.

Now on to the next print.....