Printmaking: week 4

Today I improved my lino printing technique vastly, by slowing down and paying more attention when cutting the lino, as you can see below

BEFORE

(last week)

AFTER

(today!)

I also incurred far fewer injuries this week, which is another good improvement.

I was able to experiment more closely with how much ink to use on the roller and how best to incorporate text into the design. It needs to be in reverse, but on the red piece I decided to do the words round the right way (so they would print backwards) as I thought this would be an interesting detail to decipher and would not detract from the image as much as immediately legible words.

I learnt that:

• Sometimes the 2nd or 3rd print comes out better as the lino has been coated in ink several times.
• If you warm the lino up before cutting into it, it's easier and more pliable.
• I should make sure my hands are clean before putting paper into the albion press; I got inky fingerprints everywhere.
• Aiming lino cutting tools AWAY from your fingers reduces the risk of slicing them to pieces.

Rose Power 18/10/10

How many prints did you make? 8

How many of these taught you something new? All, though I only cut two lino tiles this week, as I wanted to add much more detail and experiment with colours and perfect the thickness of the ink.

How many hours did you spend in the printmaking workshop? All day! (6 hours)

Competence in printmaking techniques : Much better this week but still a long way to go.

I give myself a score of : 85