I've carved four plates for the colors, so I'm ready to start printing "American Bible Story" tomorrow. I've been alternating between Nishinouchi paper and Echizen Kozo for this series depending on what effect I'm looking for. I like the rich off-white tone of the Nishinouchi and it makes these Pilgrim prints look "old," but I don't think it holds up as well under many many impressions. I did the Dorothy May Bradford print on Echizen Kozo because I thought it would take the overprinting inks better, but I think I'll use Nishinouchi for this print.
I'm also thinking about printing the keyblock differently. When I printed the proofs I liked the effect made by printing with etching ink and I may try doing this keyblock with Akua etching ink on top of the moku hanga style color blocks. The advantage I see to this is that the keyblock would stay dry, so the thin lines wouldn't swell as they do with the hanga method.
My trip to Plymouth last weekend was pretty interesting. Lynn and I weren't too enamored of the town itself and our hotel was...hmmm, how shall I say this...not too pleasant, but we spent a lot of time at Plimoth Plantation and learned a lot. I've been imagining the "curtain" in my new print as a kind of cranberry red color so I was amused to see this interpretation of John Alden's bed at Plimoth Plantation:
And another view of the one-room dwelling:
Just to be clear, Plimoth Plantation is not on the site of the original plantation, and all of the structures are recreations based on the latest scholarship. This is NOT John Alden's actual house. Still, I felt a little chill as I imagined the two of them walking through the door and talking with us. Which they did not.
5 comments:
Be careful printing with the Akua inks: they dry by absorption into the paper, so if the paper is too sized or there are too many colors printed before using Akua, the Akua colors might have problems drying up (I've once had a print where the Akua colors were not dry even after 40 days). I don't know the paper that you're using, but I think it's probably OK to print over colors printed moku hanga style -- these colors don't have a lot binders and oily stuff that might prevent Akua from getting to the paper.
You should be okay with the Akua Intaglio ink. I'm not sure whether your paper will be wet or dry when you print with it, and shrinkage could pose a problem if you print the Akua on dry paper and the hanga on wet. I can't believe that John and Pris didn't come to meet you, though! Darn - maybe they were just out and will visit you at your studio as you work...
Ha, ha, I wasn't reading carefully and at first I thought this was your hotel room. Very cool synchronicity with the curtains......
Thanks for the tips on Akua inks, Tibi and Sharri. The drying issue is an important one as is shrinkage. Maybe I should stick with hanga for everything.
Sharri, Lynn & I went back 3 times to see if we could catch the John and Priscilla impersonators, but we missed them every time!
Diana, so funny that you thought this was our hotel room. Actually, we would have liked that. Our hotel was OK, just old (1960s), run down, and not enough opportunities for fresh air.
Annie, I would also question the use of Akua Intaglio. I recently finished a 4 color reduction using them and after much discussion with the very helpful Akua folks, we determined that the prints most likely will never dry. The paper was saturated and just couldn't absorb more ink so I think it would depend on the paper sizing and coverage under your key block. I like the inks very much but making them work for my heavy coverage prints has been a struggle. Leigh
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