22 March 2007

Another Iceberg Layer

My work for pay is definitely getting in the way of my woodblock hobby! One of the most difficult things for me in my pursuit of printmaking is that my illustration work makes it so hard for me to plan my prints. Because I mostly work for magazines, when I get an illustration job I pretty much have to drop everything in order to accommodate the tight schedules involved. This week I dropped everything for a couple of clients, but today while I was waiting for some sketches to be approved I sneaked in some time to do the next impression.

I'm working on the "sky" area and I want the color to fade off into nothing at the top. In moku hanga this fade is called a bokashi and here you'll see my inelegant method of making a bokashi.

Water&Paste

First I apply a liberal amount of water and paste to the entire printing surface of the block.

AddPigment

Then I apply some pigment at the bottom of the bokashi. This is a pretty wide area that I'm trying to cover and there are moku hanga artists who would advise against doing a wide fade like this in one pass (better to build it up in several passes), but I've found that I don't like to do multiple overprints unless it's absolutely necessary. The fewer opportunities I have to misregister my prints the better!

BrushOut

Now I begin to blend the pigment into the water/paste mix by dragging the brush horizontally. Notice that my brush has an eye hook at one end that I use to hang it. This hook becomes a marker when I'm making a bokashi. I can always remember that the pigment end of the brush is the end with the hook. Right after I took this picture I realized that I needed to use a longer brush, so I switched.

Bokashi

Above is how it looked printed. And below shows how I stack the prints as they come off the block. Amazingly, even though the paper is damp and the prints are fresh off the block, the ink doesn't transfer from one print to the next so you can stack them on top of one another. I alternate them to help keep the moisture content even through the stack.

Stacking

Hopefully I'll get to the last block soon.

8 comments:

Cin said...

wonderful Annie, I really feel the intensity of that bright yellow, it tells the story so well against the delicate pale blue.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely super photos of the process, Annie! you are so well organized! Incidentally what size are the blocks for the iceberg print?
Louise C.

Annie B said...

Thanks, Cin. I'm already doubting the wisdom of a yellow sky; already not sure if I like it. Ah well, onward!
Louise, the blocks are 9" x 12" (~23 x 30 cm).

Anonymous said...

Hi Annie,
This is fascinating! Thanks so much for showing the whole process. It is really giving me itchy fingers... I may have to have a go at this:)

Peggy said...

Another wonderful print in the process. Thanks again Annie for sharing your journey. I'm curious about the Guerra pigments you use. What are the pros and cons over Akua brand or other pigments?

Amanda said...

I think the yellow is gorgeous!

Annie B said...

Thanks everyone. Peggy, I don't really know much about the Akua Kolor inks. Guerra is what I first used with my teacher, Matt Brown, and since I like their pigments a lot I've never tried anything else. I've heard good things about Akua Kolor, but I can't speak from experience. One difference I see is that Guerra stocks a really wide range of colors.

Jade said...

looks beautiful Annie! I really admire your work, i'm a shocking printmaker.