I finished cutting a little lino block and made a start on a second. The one that’s finished, I’ve stuck to a commercial handle to make it into a stamp. I got the handle when I visited Berlin a couple of years ago, from the Modulor store. They’re really neat, relatively cheap and available over the Internet here.
Here’s a better view of it…..
As one art project comes to an end, the next one gets started. I’m cutting a new little lino block – something for International Womens’ Day #IWD2020 . I’m using hard brown lino and I’ll fix the block to a stamp base that I bought in the Modular store in Berlin a while back.
And here’s a very short video of me finishing printing my last little lino block on my antique Sampson Mordan & Co press. It’s a gorgeous chunk of cast iron with lush Victorian styling and rather Steampunk.
This little block in the video is part of a print I am editioning, designed by Jamie Reid for GS Artists, who are showing an exhibition of his radical art in Swansea at the moment.
I used my sweet little antique press today to carry on printing a little lino block.
Here’s a closer view of the cast iron press, which is probably early Victorian and made in London, by Sampson Mordan & Co. These are often called bookbinding or nipping presses but it’s possibly one of the very first Fax (Facsimile) machines, advertised at the time as a “letter copying press”.
This little block is part of a print I am editioning, designed by Jamie Reid for GS Artists, who are showing an exhibition of his radical art in Swansea at the moment.
When I’m cutting blocks for printmaking, whether it’s lino, vinyl, wood or foamboard it’s vitally important to keep my tools sharp. Once a tool goes blunt it’s a dickens of a job to sharpen it again. Sharpening your tools as you work slows you down a bit but it is more efficient than sharpening tools from scratch. I use Flexcut tools and the Flexcut strop system to keep them sharp. Here’s a short video of my sharpening strop in action.
This little block is part of a print I am editioning, designed by Jamie Reid for GS Artists, who are showing an exhibition of his radical art in Swansea at the moment.
Finally caught up with the 21st century and got a tablet, a Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0. Oooh get Me! So now I’m trying to find my way round the drawing apps. This is my first attempt at a digital scribble. Long-suffering Husb manned up as usual. I love playing with new tools.
I’m carrying on with woodcuts for a while, hacking away at lumps of plywood all day at the studio. It’s important to keep my cutting tools sharp; if I keep hacking when they get blunt, it hurts my wrist. I use a leather slipstrop and a bar of waxy abrasive to keep them sharp. I rub the abrasive wax onto the surface of the strop and then stroke the tools across it a few times to keep them sharp. I generally do it after a dozen or so cuts on plywood, more often for PVC board and less for lino.
There’s a way of stroking the blade across the strop; the gouges have to be rotated across the surface of the strop to make sure that the sharpening is even. The V and flat blades are pulled straight across. It’s much easier to do this instead of having to re-sharpen blunt tools, which needs to be done with a sharpening wheel.
It’s quite a big piece so it’s taking me ages to hack it. I’ve got this far. I’m giving my wrist the weekend off.
Click on the image to see my series of silkscreen portraits celebrating great but often neglected women artists and to find out about their fascinating lives.
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