Proofing A Portrait Print

I transferred my portrait drawing to a block of traditional grey lino this week, carved it and took the first proof print from it. I’m quite pleased with the resule. I’m being very strict with time and I did this process from the first pencil mark on paper, through 9 drawings, carving the block andContinue reading “Proofing A Portrait Print”

A Silver Anniversary

This year is the 25th anniversary of the opening of Swansea Print Workshop, where I spend many happy hours drawing and making prints, usually linocuts or woodcuts but also sometimes etchings and screenprints. It’s a great facility for artists across South Wales and it’s entirely run by the members who are the artists who useContinue reading “A Silver Anniversary”

WTAF? Revisited.

A couple of weeks ago I had a session on the Columbian Press at Swansea Print Workshop, using some antique and vintage wooden Letterpress. It didn’t work out too well, the letters were very dirty with a build up of ink and gunge over many years. I cleaned them up with vegetable oil and fineContinue reading “WTAF? Revisited.”

Double Vision.

I tried this neat trick with the two letterpress pieces I did recently at Swansea Print Workshop. After the first print, I moved the paper slightly and put it back through the press and it picked up the ghost from the remaining ink on the wooden blocks.

Grrrr!!

I played around with Letterpress again at Swansea Print Workshop this week. Last week I did a piece using Intaglio Printmaker’s relief inks and this week tried out Cranfield Caligo Safewash, both times using a rainbow roll. I found little to choose between them, to be honest. The Safewash is slightly runnier and less stickyContinue reading “Grrrr!!”

Rainbow Type.

I printed the type form I put together at the weekend, using a rainbow roll of Pthalo Green and Rhodamine Red oil-based relief inks. I printed with Swansea Print Workshop‘s Columbian Press onto Kent paper. I love the way the well-worn vintage letters have dints and dimples and rough areas that add to the characterContinue reading “Rainbow Type.”

If You Knows, You Knows.

A print from antique wooden typeface reading FAFO in a horizontal line with a question mark and exclamation mark lying horizontally beneath.

The Columbian

I had a quick scribble this afternoon, trying out a mixture of white conté crayon (used dry) and black Derwent Inktense (used wet) into a black paper sketchbook. The white worked well, but the black Inktense was lost and it made a bit of a mess with the white conté. So I went back inContinue reading “The Columbian”

Printing Press Porn! A Short Video.

Here’s a short film of a stunner! The lovely Columbian printing press at Swansea Print Workshop. Easily my most favourite press in the world. I drool over it. Well, not literally. That would make it icky.   Invented by American George Clymer around 1813, it took over from the Stanhope Press and allowed a wholeContinue reading “Printing Press Porn! A Short Video.”

Not Just Faking And Baking

I’ve been looking at my blog posts over the past few months and it looks as if I spend most of my time baking or faking (with the Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Fridays) or drawing trees. But behind the scenes I’ve been carrying on with my pandemic-inspired project which involves, in the firstContinue reading “Not Just Faking And Baking”