I have about 200 different artistic interests, so sometimes I abandon one and focus on something else for awhile. But eventually my need for variety kicks in and I go back with fresh eyes to a previous craft. I hadn't done any block printing in awhile so I dug out some old lino blocks I had carved a long time ago, a snail and bee, but then I bought some more EZ Carve blocks (I call them lino blocks but they are much softer so the carving process can be done in about a quarter of the time with less likelihood of slicing a section of my thumb off) and carved some new images, two foxes, and a leaping hare. So for the past two weeks I have been enjoying the process of printing wild creatures on some nice card stock I ordered from Paper Presentation.com., and also on small scraps of watercolour paper. Most satisfying. Except for the prints that got smudged. It happens a lot. They end up in the trash can.
Here are my carved blocks:
And here are the prints from those carved blocks, in reverse, of course. I have added details in ink and glitter to make each print a one of a kind even as they are part of a series:
I did a double print on the snail to get two layers of colour. Often referred to as off set printing.
The fun part about printing is the variety of colours and details that make each print unique. I have done the hare in silvery white on indigo paper, and the bee in coppery brown on purple paper. And I always add a dash of metallic paint to each colour run so that when the light hits the shell of the snail or the fur of the hare there is a soft, subtle gleam that cannot always be seen in a photograph.
