Remember that one post where I said that I struggle with having too many ideas, and getting too excited about a little project that I won't be working on for long at all? It's happening again. Except now I'm trying to make a real go of it.
Yes, friends, that's right. You saw it here first. A big, giant mess.
Okay, so it's not that bad. It's a type of printmaking known as "block printing" or "linocut." The gist of the process is that you a thin block of a rubber or linoleum material and carve an image into it. Then you put ink on the block, press it onto paper, and ta daaa! You have yourself a print.
The first time I tried this, I was in elementary school, and I remember thinking it was such a cheater of a way to make art. I thought, "Well, gee, why would you want to make a bunch of things look the same??" I just thought it was dumb.
Recently, though, I had the idea to try to make Christmas Cards to sell at a craft show this coming November. (Is this actually happening? IS IT FOR REAL? No word on that yet. I'll have to update you later. But keep your hopes up, that's all I'm saying.) As I considered the logistics of doing this, I was debating what would be the best way to make this happen. I could print out a bunch of copies of a couple of watercolors or drawings, but I really wanted make each one as handmade as possible. However, if I tried to paint or draw each and every one by hand, it would take an eternity, and I'd have to charge like a million dollars per card to make up for the time. (I'm just kidding... it would take a ridiculous amount of time, though.) Then, as I was sitting there stewing (because that is of course the best way to come up with fabulous ideas, as well as wonderful soups), I remembered that project we did in my art class at CCAD in elementary school. Printmaking. So I started doing some research, and as I puttered around, I started finding some really cool images that were made with this technique. Suddenly I was all hyped up to give it a good ol' college try.
I shimmied over to the Dick Blick Art Materials website to order materials, and charged into trying to make a print with abandon.
The first thing I found was that the rubber material I order was WAY softer than I expected. That should be a good thing - I figure I'll find that out as I try to make more images, but I was still surprised. The little slicers and scoops that you use to carve it were interesting to try to manipulate, but I still ended up doing better than I expected (just a reminder, it's probably been close to 16 years since the last time I tried this, at which time I approached the project with the disdain of a snooty rich person who was ordered to eat a corndog). You can pretty much tell that it was supposed to be a pine cone. I also found that the inks I bought are a liiiittle more translucent than I expected, but that's no biggie.
Not all was rosy gloriousness, though. The biggest issue I came across was that I didn't buy a brayer.
The first time I tried this, I was in elementary school, and I remember thinking it was such a cheater of a way to make art. I thought, "Well, gee, why would you want to make a bunch of things look the same??" I just thought it was dumb.
Recently, though, I had the idea to try to make Christmas Cards to sell at a craft show this coming November. (Is this actually happening? IS IT FOR REAL? No word on that yet. I'll have to update you later. But keep your hopes up, that's all I'm saying.) As I considered the logistics of doing this, I was debating what would be the best way to make this happen. I could print out a bunch of copies of a couple of watercolors or drawings, but I really wanted make each one as handmade as possible. However, if I tried to paint or draw each and every one by hand, it would take an eternity, and I'd have to charge like a million dollars per card to make up for the time. (I'm just kidding... it would take a ridiculous amount of time, though.) Then, as I was sitting there stewing (because that is of course the best way to come up with fabulous ideas, as well as wonderful soups), I remembered that project we did in my art class at CCAD in elementary school. Printmaking. So I started doing some research, and as I puttered around, I started finding some really cool images that were made with this technique. Suddenly I was all hyped up to give it a good ol' college try.
I shimmied over to the Dick Blick Art Materials website to order materials, and charged into trying to make a print with abandon.
The first thing I found was that the rubber material I order was WAY softer than I expected. That should be a good thing - I figure I'll find that out as I try to make more images, but I was still surprised. The little slicers and scoops that you use to carve it were interesting to try to manipulate, but I still ended up doing better than I expected (just a reminder, it's probably been close to 16 years since the last time I tried this, at which time I approached the project with the disdain of a snooty rich person who was ordered to eat a corndog). You can pretty much tell that it was supposed to be a pine cone. I also found that the inks I bought are a liiiittle more translucent than I expected, but that's no biggie.
Not all was rosy gloriousness, though. The biggest issue I came across was that I didn't buy a brayer.
In case you weren't aware, art supplies are not exactly the cheapest things one could buy. When I was going through my shopping cart and getting ready to check out with all the supplies for this project, I looked at the brayer and thought, "Meh, that's eight bucks that could be spent elsewhere. I can just use a paintbrush and it'll be totally fine."
One of the biggest attributes you need to be an artist is patience and an ability to admit that your previous ideas were just atrociously wrong, folks.
I gave it a shot with the paintbrush, and right when I started spreading the ink on, I realized I had made a mistake. The ink was getting caught along the edges of the shapes in the block, so when I pressed it to paper, I ended up with an outline sort of thing around each shape... while this technique could be useful for some project somewhere down the line, it just is not what I'm needing right now. I need the shapes to be as crisp as possible, not as blobby as they turned out.
One of the biggest attributes you need to be an artist is patience and an ability to admit that your previous ideas were just atrociously wrong, folks.
I gave it a shot with the paintbrush, and right when I started spreading the ink on, I realized I had made a mistake. The ink was getting caught along the edges of the shapes in the block, so when I pressed it to paper, I ended up with an outline sort of thing around each shape... while this technique could be useful for some project somewhere down the line, it just is not what I'm needing right now. I need the shapes to be as crisp as possible, not as blobby as they turned out.
SO, I need to get off my butt and go buy a brayer. And I'll need to get a good bit more practice with this technique in before I'll be able to make anything even remotely resembling a Christmas card someone would want to send to someone as anything other than hate mail.
So here's to experimentation, practice, patience, pine cones, Christmas in July, and brayers.
Thanks,
Sarah
So here's to experimentation, practice, patience, pine cones, Christmas in July, and brayers.
Thanks,
Sarah