Pentagram print, & failures

I did this last night, on some faux-parchment paper I had lying around. It's done with Japanese carving vinyl, and I'm quite pleased with the way most of it turned out - the four styles of interlocking lines distinguish themselves nicely, and I managed to get cutlines where I wanted them and not where I didn't. (Cutlines - the traces from clearing vinyl from the blank areas, rather than the relief outline forming the main design.)

However, I managed to do something bloody stupid, which is that I forgot completely that the design would be mirrored. Normally it doesn't matter with my work, but this particular one completely fails to work when the pattern goes anticlockwise instead of clockwise.



Here's a version flipped sideways in the Gimp, to show how it would have worked if it had, you know, worked at all.



I did half a dozen prints onto different papers, and learnt one other thing doing this - the flower petal inclusions in the nice handmade paper aren't very firmly included.

Two Birds

I did these with another vinyl block, and discovered a couple of interesting things. The first is that - since the vinyl blocks are only 3.2mm deep, it's almost impossible to avoid getting ink on the higher ridges outside the "official" design - it gives me interestingly unpredictable bits outside the edges. And if I try to eliminate them all, I end up going right through the block.

The second is the response of this particular paper - Atlantis heritage woodfree paper, 315 gsm, quite smooth and hard-surfaced - to soaking. The first image was done with dry paper, the second moderately-soaked - what I did was stack half a dozen pieces of paper up on a waterproof surface, giving each a thorough squirting with the plant mister before dropping the next on, and wiping off the surface water before dropping each one on the plate.

Vinyl print 1

This is a triple experiment, really. I used a sheet of Japanese carving vinyl rather than the wood or lino previous pieces were done on - it's extremely nice to work with, except that I occasionally find myself carving too deeply and going right through. Not by accident, it's a lot like the softwood panels I used for others, but without a grain.

Secondly, I used pre-moistened paper (not soggy, just moist - I used a plant mister) to see what effect that has. The answer is basically that it doesn't, apart from making the paper a bit more tractable and less inclined to curl.

The third experiment was in using a proper (if cheap) baren, rather than rubbing it with the back of a spoon as before. It's physically easier and less painful to use, and has a nicer tactile quality - though when the guides say to rub with the grain of the baren covering, not against it, they really mean that.