Printing workshop week two; lino printing using constructed designs.

 In the second week of printing workshop, we used the templates that were created in the first week, to create prints. Using printing ink and a palette knife (however in our case we used cardboard, as mentioned in the previous it is cheaper and easier to recycle), we began to spread (lightly may I add) the printing ink onto the lino cut. As the ink is quite viscose also, we only needed a small amount. after spreading, using newspaper we rubbed the ink back off of the cut, and pushed some of the ink into the grooves. We made sure to push it all out, so it gave a neater print.

 

Then, Using the barren wheel, we placed the print onto some paper, over the top of some more paper for protection, and then sealed with more paper after. (Note; make sure to dampen the paper first by placing it into a tub of water, then shake off grabbing the corners, as it is easier to print on and gives a better result.) We then covered with a mat and rolled the roller over the paper. The reason we do this rather that just pushing down is because the barren wheel is strong as applies a lot of pressure, making sure everywhere is squeezed evenly. Once our paper reached the end we pulled it out to reveal an exact print of the cut (Displayed below, right hand side.) I repeated this process three times to get an average of prints, this way I could show my progress throughout using the wheel.

 

To make the pictures more interesting, we repeated the same process, however before placing on the wheel we added tissue paper, which we traced and cut into shapes to fit our cuts. We then placed then onto the cut making sure to glue them with the glue ON TOP and not on the bottom so it didn't stick to the cut and stuck to the paper. We then carried on with the process and ended up with the two samples below. I used two shades of pink and two shades of blue to be contrasting. Personally I prefer the pink picture but the blue one gives a cooler tone.

 

 We then went back to our initial drawings, and chose a second one (I Chose the spider.) However this time, instead of spreading the stop out onto the zinc plate, we painted our image on with a brush, to create the opposite effect. We then covered in plastic and put into the Nitric acid again (3-4 minutes) and then took out to reveal another cut, but the opposite way round, more like a stamp.

We then used this cut to make prints, however this time we used coloured inks, in red and green.(results showed below.) I like the way they came out, the colour really catches your eye compared to the black, however the prints were not as pigmented as the first lot, because the lino cut wasn't as deep as the first cut.

To improve, I should have left the zinc plate in the nitric acid longer, to make the cut deeper, so it would print better.