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

Printmaking: week 3

Today I tried drypoint and lino printing.

Drypoint was interesting as the outcome had a very unusual effect. It's kind of blurry and smeary. I don't know if that's a word but it was smeary. Ok.

I liked the way it was difficult to predict how it would look. And the press is fun to use because it looks big and old and impressive. So is the albion press for lino cuts.

My lino prints were very bold and quite clumsy as I have not quite mastered the art of using the tools in a delicate or subtle way; all my lines have the same thickness.

I made one of a lizard and then experimented with mixing inks on the roller.

Then I did a gorilla one.

We also learnt about silk screen prints like those made by No Brow. I might get to try this next week.

Rose Power 11/10/10

How many prints did you make? 7

How many of these taught you something new? Nearly all of them because I experimented with different colours on each lino print and with the dry point I was able to reuse the etched card with different ink coverage.

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

Assess yourself this week for:

Competence in printmaking techniques : Not great – like last week I was trying these printing techniques for the first time.

Thoughtful and imaginative approach to printmaking: It was difficult at first to imagine what the print was going to look like, as I had no idea. With dry point, I tried to picture the image in reverse and the light parts and dark parts as lots of different shades of grey. I feel I was able to be more imaginative than with the lino prints because I was struggling to use the lino tools.

Visual Sensibility (understanding and expressing ideas in images): I wanted to stay loyal to my original drawings while making the most of the new print techniques and their unique effects. I feel I achieved this to a certain degree, but need to experiment much further to improve my visual sensibility. I want to practice using the lino tools, so I can vary my lines and marks in a more effective way.

Using research to expand knowledge, enrich thinking and affect your work: I looked briefly at the No Brow site and the history of the albion press, but need to look into these further.

Active participation in taught sessions: I think I participated well and learnt a lot today, but could look more closely at others’ work and take ideas from it.

I give myself a score of : 70