15 August 2011

Recent Printing

ColorLayers1
©2011 Annie Bissett

I started working on a new print last week. It's another full-sheet print, so the paper is about 25 x 38 inches (63.5 x 96.5 cm). I'm trying another new-to-me type of paper, this time a machine-made paper I bought from Hiromi Paper called Shikoku White. So far I've applied 5 separate all-over overprints of color, so the paper is taking quite a beating but it's holding up under the baren as long as I use an ategami (a protective backing paper used under the baren to keep the print paper from abrading). It's a thin paper, but not as thin as the Kizuki Kozo from Japanese Paper Place that I used for the Great Wave print.

The photo at the top is how the print looks after 5 applications of color. I shot the photo while the paper was still wet, which is why it looks wrinkled. I've done all of this with a block that's basically uncarved. The only carvings are the little "stars" which I carved out just so I could know where they're located. I've used yellow, red and blue on top of each other to allow a complex color to emerge. I've been surprised to see that the grain reacts differently to each pigment. Below is a closeup of the grain beginning to show through. I expect that there will be at least 10 more color layers, and soon I'll begin doing some carving.

Grain
©2011 Annie Bissett

3 comments:

Rick Finn said...

That's looking really good, I love the subtlety of the colors so far!
When I first looked at the top print, I thought it was the Aurora Borealis!

Deb Strong Napple said...

What wood did you use? The grain is just beautiful!

Annie B said...

Hi Deb,
It's shina plywood. Shina actually doesn't have a very strong grain. There are other woods, like pine, that work better for printing grain patterns. But this is a large sheet of shina (24 x 36 in) so the grain is more evident.