Printing mojo still missing

Part of the workspace.

I didn’t pause to take many photos as I was printing this time.

It had taken me till lunchtime just to set up everything, decide which plates to print, tear the paper to size, decide on what colours to use, undo the caps on the ink tubes and try not to lose them whilst squeezing a little ink out, mixing the ink.

I had got my guidelines (drawn on newspaper) under the acetate on the press’s bed before I realised that I’d forgotten one important set of lines.

Finally, I tried printing.

Running dog (viscosity print).

Running dog (ghost viscosity print).

Running dog (ghost viscosity print).

This was not working as I had hoped. After lunch, I sought Helen’s advice. She suggested that the plate didn’t have enough depth, and tried thinner layers of ink, after checking that I had my inks in the right states of viscosity. She pointed out that the fact I was scarcely able to get any of the top (lilac) layer of ink on meant that I had proved that the inks were working as they should, with the yellow repelling and not blending with the lilac.

After that, I decided to have a quick go at printing on top of the previous week’s failed prints to see if i could improve them. The results are slightly better but still need more work.

I was frustrated and would have been a lot more despondent by the end of the day if the Northern Print staff hadn’t been sympathetic, reminded me that it’s all part of the learning process – and made me laugh. I do enjoy my days there.

Now if I could just get the prints right… I am thinking about how to make the next plate, and what subject to try.

First print off the plastic small carousel plate.

Printing a drypoint print with just yellow over the previously printed image.

Have I lost my printing mojo?

It was just one of those days. I had not found time to prepare for my day in the studio as I had intended, let alone to make a new plate specifically created with viscosity printing in mind. Finding I’d forgotten to take a couple of important things with me threw me a bit at the beginning of the day.

The choice of litho/relief inks.

The inked up plate on the press.

The first print from the plate.

The ‘ghost’ print – this is when the plate is put through the press a second time with a new piece of paper, without inking up again.

I found it hard to decide which plates to print, and even harder to decide which colour inks to use. Viscosity printing uses a combination of inks in different thicknesses, and I needed to think through what colours I could mix from the tubes, their tonal values, and how they would work in different layers.

I decided to try the teacups ride not using the full three layers of viscosity prints, and the small carousel plates using all three layers. I started with primrose yellow as the etching ink in the grooved parts of the plate. Ultramarine blue mixed with titanium white was the thinner, oilier layer and crimson mixed with a little yellow + magesium carbonate was the thicker layer on top. I was aware that this combination might not work, but needed to try it and did think it would work better than it did.

Plastic small carousel plate.

First print off the plastic small carousel plate.

Ghost print off the plastic small carousel plate.

Card small carousel plate.

First print from the card small carousel plate.

Ghost print from the card small carousel plate.

It did occur to me that I can print on top of these another day.

I put the plates through with just a layer of blue ink rolled on, to see how much they were functioning as relief plates because there probably isn’t that much depth to a drypoint plate.

Testing how much depth there was on the drypoint plate by using it as a relief plate.

At this point I was almost ready to give up. It was hot in the studio, I desperately needed a mug of tea, but didn’t want to stop but I did decide to give up on the viscosity printing and to try adding some colour to the drypoint by hand.

Small carousel.

Small carousel.

Small carousel.

Small carousel.

Teacups ride plate.

Teacups ride.

Small carousel.

Small carousel.

I was disappointed with my day’s prints because they hadn’t worked well, but it is part of the learning process, and I had to try doing things that I was unsure would work. I’m back in the studio after the long Easter weekend, and hope to get a new plate made before then.

Viscosity printing running dogs

Prints on the drying rack.

Black dog running 6 – viscosity ghost print.

I finally managed to spend a whole day in the Northern Print studio again. Helen told me it was time I started pressing my prints flat rather than just leave them to curl and cockle on the drying rack. There are now a number of fairground prints being pressed between boards with weights on top. The viscosity prints didn’t turn out as I had envisaged. The bottom layer of ink was black, the middle layer a mix of yellow ochre with opaque white and extender, the top a mix of a deep pink/pinky-red of which I can’t remember the name, ultramarine blue, opaque white and extender.

Black dog running 4 – viscosity print.

Black dog running 4 – viscosity ghost print.

Black dog running 2 – viscosity print.

Black dog running 2 – viscosity ghost print.

Since the dog plates were plastic, I thought I would try one of the card plates again so decided to print the other Maling jug and bowl. I did it in too much hurry since it was the end of the day. The first print went wrong because I rolled the ink too thickly – but it’s useful to learn what happens when I do that. I shall now think before having another day of trying viscosity printing.

Maling jug and bowl, viscosity print.

Maling jug and bowl, viscosity ghost print.

Maling jug and bowl, plate after viscosity printing.

Viscosity printing gallery

Having written a very brief post about the viscosity printing course I attended, I have taken some proper photos in daylight of the prints I tried.

I had taken along all my drypoint prints to pick some that might work after I’d seen the method demonstrated. I had always hoped that the method might work with the running dogs but I was also wondering if it could work for still life compositions and carousels. I did two prints from each inking up – and like the ghost images.

Maling jug and bowl 1-1

Maling jug and bowl 1-1 “ghost” print.

Maling jug and bowl 1-2

Maling jug and bowl 1-2 “ghost” print.

Carousel 1-1

Carousel 1-1 “ghost” print.

Carousel 1-2

Carousel 1-2 “ghost” print.

Running dog

Running dog ‘ghost’ print.

Now I need to think about making some plates that could print in an interesting way with this method.

The long and the short of it: viscosity printing

I had been looking forward to doing the viscosity printing half-day course at Northern Print, but was a bit apprehensive because I was unsure whether my plates would be suitable for the method. Helen Donley was our teacher. I was slightly disappointed that she lacked reason to give us one of her wonderful health and safety talks (go on a course taught by Helen, preferably one that involves sharp tools and/or potentially noxious substances) but that was my only (and totally spurious) disappointment.

Helen explained and demonstrated first. There’s the reductive way and the additive way. There’s long ink and there’s short ink, and one can make long ink short and short ink long. It also involves a hard roller and a soft roller. And frequent use of vegetable oil.

I tried it with 3 different drypoint plates. On each of them, I inked up with a dark blue first, wiping it off the upper surfaces of each print. Then I added a bright yellow, and finally a bright red. After I printed one, I printed a second “ghost print” from the same plate. I can’t remember which of the snaps are of the plates and which of the prints. (Will take some better pictures when I bring the prints home early next week).

Now my head is full of viscous possibilities. I’ll be booking a day in the studio very soon.