The End Of The Experiment

So here’s the last stage of my experimenting with home-made printing ink based on Nori (seaweed) paste. Above is a block cut into vinyl, inked with a roller (brayer) and the print taken with a traditional Japanese bamboo baren. I used a Daler Rowney cartridge / drawing paper, 95gsm and had better results with the paper used dry, rather than dampened on the back with a quick spritz of water from a spray bottle.

Then I tried printing with a stamp, inked with a roller but simply pressed onto the paper by hand. Again, it’s the Daler Rowney cartridge and gave a better result on dry rather than damp. I’ve used the ink with these two blocks onto a lightweight Hosho Japanese paper, a vintage J Green British paper and lastly, the Daler Rowney, which has given the best results. It’s an economy paper so that’s a good result.

And finally, cleaning up. In water. Easy peasy. All in all, a good experiment. I still prefer a top quality oil-based ink for archival gallery prints, but this is an excellent alternative for using outside the studio or where you want to use something that’s more environmentally friendly.

I have put my series of drawings en plein air of ancient Welsh monuments on Artfinder.  If you want to see more, please click on the image below or the Artfinder link at the top right of this page. This one is the legendary grave of Saint Elfys (Elvis) in Pembrokeshire, not for from the Presceli Mountains. Elfys? Presceli? Elvis Presley? Coincidence? hhhmmmm