Woodblock Wednesday - the octopus

Two weeks ago I took home this jolly octopus drawn by a child who was soliciting donations for the NHS - you got to choose a picture when you donated - how could I resist! Suddenly it seemed a good idea to use it for a woodcut -

Having traced it down "wrong way round" I started again -

 and started cutting -

 Ready to print the first layer, but what colours to use? I tried out a few combinations, in watercolours -

This rubbing of the block, with paint added, made me wonder whether it shouldn't have been left "wrong way round" -

 A couple more attempts, with accoutrements -

an octopus's garden...

"must check my map, it should be here somewhere"

 First prints -

 More prints -

13 in all, most on paper from a hosho pad, with inevitably grainy results, whereas the other papers gave a good print.

This will be a reduction print of three or four layers. First, cut out the spots on the body.

 A couple more prints, with white spots -

 Adding a second layer, yellow over yellow and over blue -

 Still trying out colour combinations -

 Adding red, and a purplish blue -

The next layer(s) will make a difference. Of some sort!

Woodblock Wednesday - an outpouring of jugs

 There have been many "test proofs" - rubbings - and finally it's good enough to go. Checking various areas ... not perfect ... but good enough.

 Block 1 (background) and 2 (some jugs)

 Block 3 - more jugs, printed slightly darker, more indigo

 The final jugs are on the keyblock, printed in mostly black with some indigo -

 Colour mixtures noted -

Next I'll make a block with just the "white" jug, turn it into stripes.

Subsequently there are the flat areas - what colour? or leave them as is?

And with those issues sorted, various colours can be brought into play.

There's another block, two actually, not printed this time - the mouths of the jugs. I like them white, as is. Once that "ghost jug" has been accepted into the group.

Woodblock Wednesday - colourful!

The starting point for my colour swatches was a sunrise seen through the bathroom window. I'm looking for "something different"...

Mission Gold indigo plus Winsor & Newton permanent rose (left) and
Mission Gold vermillion (right)

Mission Gold cerulean plus permanent rose (left) and vermillion (right)

Mission Gold lemon yellow plus Rowney prussian blue (left) and Mission vermillion, with a bit of permanent rose in the darkest swatch

The colours in my photos have been distorted not just by the camera but also by being seen on screen -

... and some further variations ("no filter") ...

The combinations are starting points. After mixing the glorious bright colours, I used what was left on the palette - rather dull!

Tools, paper, paint  - it does tend to spread to all available space -

Veronica was very sensibly and methodically working on her xmas cards - this one is waiting for the green layer (holly leaf) and some dark red to sculpt the berries -

Woodblock Wednesday - printing water with water

First task was to finish the edit of the cutting on the second and third layers - I like the look of the block now, but with inking, all the white will disappear -

Out came the coloured pencils, to try rubbing different combinations for the different layers -

 First round - yellow, green, light blue. Surprises lay ahead...

In class, 3 hours dedicated to printing, results were disappointing at first -

needing much re-inking of faint areas (with paper in situ)

I'd been using yellow on the first layer but it got mixed with the blue from the previous prints still being "active". I wanted a more yellowy shade and tried to remove the colour not by washing/scrubbling, but by printing without colour or nori - through previous printing, the block was already soaked with both. The water-only prints are on the left, after which I printed with yellow, but a little blue/green was still left in the brush -

Lesson: When changing colours, wash everything!

With the second layer, the green mixed from lemon yellow and cerulean was contaminated by the blue already on the block -

One of those prints was printed with the third layer, cerulean on the dark blue block, but it's too much of a contrast.

On getting home I was able to print for another hour and concentrated on the second block. These used water to get out the excess pigment -

Fresh pigment on the block, over the first layer printed in the morning -

My registration system is a bit of plywood larger than the block, and masking tape. The block lines up with the right side of the plywood and fits between the "kento corners". The paper is lined up with the bottom edge of the ply, and with the masking tape to the right of the block. It's a bit tricky, but mostly works. I have to remember to check that the block is still in exactly the same place on the ply before laying down the paper, and that the paper hasn't shifted in those few moments before applying the baren. Attention to detail!

The colour is more even, but the registration of the second block was half a millimetre too high.

The ply needs to be U-shaped and to fit the block exactly, and to be removed for inking. And chiselled kento, perhaps? Using several layers of masking tape has been working quite well so far.

Woodblock Wednesday - printing problems continue...

Trying again, in class and with advice/guidance, to get even colour on the "water" piece. In the meantime I started a new project based on "ikat" but haven't printed yet - lots of rubbings though -

First step in figuring out what was going wrong was to get some colours that were distinguishable, so I tried out all the blues available and settled on cerulean (pale), prussian, and indigo

Again, it wasn't making an even print

The situation improved with re-inking and overprinting -

On thin paper, there was a little misalignment at one point but all colours got printed -

Thick (hosho) paper on the left, thin (chinese roll) on the right. OK it looks like water but not in the way I expected!

Next I'll try printing with very different colours (eg grey, blue, black or even a metallic gouache for the bottom layer) to be able to see where some cutting back of the middle block would help, ie show more of the first layer. Careful registration. Using a smaller baren. Washing boards and brushes between colours. The usual questions - too wet or too dry? Too much nori or not enough?

Maybe the paper is wrong. Time to buy some good stuff...

Something different - pasting the hanshita onto the block - using a print of the keyblock instead of tracing the image with carbon paper -