Here are a few of the additional prints I made this semester. Ive had a blast working with my new Cranfield Gold relief ink on black paper. It’s a fun design challenge to design a block almost in reverse since I’m not printing the black lines anymore but instead carving them away. It has also been fun just going back into blocks that were originally designed to be printed in black, like the Bonsai Prints I made last spring. ‘Golden Seal’ was made with the block I use to print the ‘Stonewall’ series, as was ‘Fade to Time’. That last print I experimented with adding trans base to the gold ink, it doesnt turn out too bad on the black paper but when printed onto white paper all it seems to do is dull and darken the gold. I like the bronzey look to the print. Lastly in terms of the additional prints was a last minute line etch/aquatint before leaving SUNY Oneonta. I wanted the refresher and to ensure i retained the processes. I’m happy with all that I remembered and while there were a few hiccups along the way (I may or may not have forgotten to test the acid before putting the plate in). I like how it turned out for a crash and burn print, particularly the relatively clean edges to the print. Ive been really interested in incorporating embossings into my work and while going through an exchange portfolio in class I fell in love with the etchings with a crisp border framing the print. I found it a lot easier to clean edges by doing the blank edges and if given the opportunity and facilities in the future I look forward to potentially translating my illustration work into intaglio plates. The future holds so many possibilities.
These additional side prints have been a true savior this semester, they’ve been small victories and additional puzzles all at once. Allowing me to take a small break from a larger piece to either test a carving method, or design idea, or even just go back to an old blocks that I know will give me a good print to be proud of when a main project just isn’t going my way. It’s a practice I definitely plan to continue to use moving forward.
