Yesterday in the studio

One way of moving the TravelWriting on is to use it to make printing blocks. I've been doing that by tracing through enlarged photocopies, and finding that the backs of the photocopies then have wonderful relief patterns (white on white - yum!).

I experimented with different tools for tracing through, and different backgrounds to give a variation in "bite".

To preserve and present the results, I mounted them (pva glue) on bits of cardboard, carefully turning the edges under. Top one has wax crayon catching the roughness, and a coating of white paint over that; centre has a bit of blue paint mixed in with the glue. The example at bottom is instructive: you have to have a soft surface when you're pressing down the glued paper, or else the relief disappears!
This example was traced with a biro, with a layer of tracing paper underneath and some wadding under that. I rubbed in some conte crayon onto the top (the photocopied side) and then brushed off as much as I could. The idea of getting it through to add just a little colour to the lines worked, but in an unexpected way -
The top example is glued to mountboard; the bottom one is the tracing paper glued to foamcore.
Wetting the tracing paper (with glue) immediately makes it wrinkle. I'll have to try this with the grain and against the grain, to see if the effect is different. Using spray fixative with the tracing paper is another possibility.