|
|
As long as the last few days of posts have been regarding a series of working on, I thought I’d keep that up. This is the first painting in what should be a series of 10 small paintings of robots, painted on sheets of mica. I’ve got two painted so far. Number 2 will be up tomorrow.
OK, here’s a better scan of the final “Robo2″ print. Tomorrow I’ll be getting back into the regualar thing of a different robot every day.
Everything set up and ready to print, including the most important item, a “refreshing” beverage. Ink is spread out onto the mirror to get a thin coating on the brayer.
Ink is then rolled onto the linoleum block. Align the paper against the wooden corner and lay the paper on top of the block. Then give it a good rubdown with a wooden spoon.
The first print!
Finished! I’ll pick the best 20 out of these 27, number, and sign them, and rip up the rest.
OK, that beautiful mess is my “portable” illustration board/printing rig and all supplies needed for printing. The second picture is the lino block comfortably wedged into place by means of and old FedEx box. If I were doing a multi-color print, I just need to pull out the original block and pop in the next color’s block and will be confident that everything will register pretty well. (Or at least good enough for me. I like things a little messy.)
Tomorrow: Printing and the final product!
On to step two; cutting the linoleum block. The first picture is after all the robot’s “innards” had been cut out, and the second is the final, cut block. After this step, I usually glue the lino to a piece of cardboard backing, which gives it a little more stability during printing.
This is the first step in creating a lino print; transferring the image you want onto a piece of linoleum. In this case, it required drawing the image directly on the block with a pencil. This bot is nice and symmetrical, so no worries about needing to draw anything in reverse. Hooray for that!
For the next few days, I’m going to be posting the various other steps of how I create a print. I’ve been printing for years, but I’m completely self-taught, so if anyone who has been properly educated in relief printing wants to tell me I’m doing something wrong, feel free too. I won’t turn down advice. The rest of you, well maybe you’ll learn something.
This is the first in a series of three primative “punctuation bots” that I’m working on right now. For the next few days, I’m going to be posting my process shots of the second print: putting an image onto the lino, cutting it, all the way through to the final printed product. Hopefully, someone will find that interesting.
Going old school for this one. Elektro was created in the late 1930s by Westinghouse. He could walk, talk, smoke, and had a pet dog later in his career. He appeared at the 1939 World’s Fair and was even in a movie. Thanks Elektro, someday you will rule us all.
