Print #11 - Carved

This is for my little nephew whose name sort of rhymes with coriander. He's turning one. I drew this when I got up this morning, but it's been in my head for a few days. I spent five hours carving. I did a test print, but you all will have to wait until I pull my first print to see the result. The critter depicted is supposed to be a tiger, but it's considerably more like a cat. Also, he came out quite French-looking. Like he might want to take your order. Overall, I think it will be a fun little print.

Print #10 - Third Color - RED!

This is where reduction prints are very difficult. I think it will take a lot of learning to understand how the colors will look when overlaid. The red is struggling with an orange tint, which is not what I intended. Too much bright yellow lies beneath it.

The other brain bender with reduction prints is to remember to carve all the areas that need to be carved. Here I am on the third color, and only just noticed that I had forgotten to carve her hands to leave them white. Drat. My work around is only okay, and I printed several of the red run before I noticed. So, that's disappointing, especially on that expensive paper! I hope the final color, black, will just make this pop, and redeem it.

Print #10 - Second Color Drying

Hellooooo... My pretties!

Print #10 - Second Color

Peek-a-boo!

Well, I can see that the more expensive paper is worth the extra money. The ink just lays down on it better. I hope I can find a source for it that is more affordable.

I like how this print is turning out so far. The ink looks like suede. I have been using a sheet of scratch paper to flatten the ink on the print, and take off any extra ink. It has really made an enormous difference in the quality of the final product. The colors lay over each other evenly rather than building up into pebbly messes of sandpaper.

Print #10 - Drying

The ladies are drying.

Print #10 - First Color

Here is the first color of print #10. She's a Queen of Hearts for a friend of ours who is having a birthday on Friday. I thought this would be a good subject that would fit well in a man's home.

I'm trying Hosho paper for the first time. I'm also making some prints on Masa paper. Hosho is handmade rice paper, and Masa is machine made. Hosho costs about four times as much money. Honestly, I can hardly tell the difference between the two. Only my wallet knows for sure.

The challenge with the print is going to be making sure that the correct side is up since the bottom and top are nearly identical.