Print making- "Til Death Do We Part"

There are four different types of ways to print:

1. Intaglio- The design is carved into the plate using little lines. The ink is rubbed into the lines so they have to be deep enough. The extra ink is rubbed off and then the ink that stick in the lines is printed. 
2. Relief- This is the opposite of intaglio. The design you chose to make is the part that you don't etch or carve out. You carve out the negative space out and the ink stays in these low spots. When the design is printed it will be white with the background being black.
3. Lithography- I'm not sure much about this technique you should look up more if you are interested. 
4. Serigraph- This is more like using stencils. Also you should look up more, as I don't know as much.

We did a project where we etched a design into a plastic plate and printed it. It's pretty much the ancient form of a copier but very fun and interesting to try. For mine I used the Intaglio technique. You rub the ink into the scratches and when it gets pressed to the paper it comes off on it. I used a little plastic square plate to make my design in. Most people seem to think that it is easier to do in metal, but I liked the plastic because I could draw my design out before engraving. I taped the plate down to the drawing and traced over it with the stylus. It took awhile and I got frustrated while working around the edges of it. One thing that's very important to keep in mind is that what ever you print is going to be mirrored on the paper. The ink that we used was water soluble block printing ink. Most people also say that they prefer using oil because it doesn't bleed as easy. The paper that you are going the print you're design on must be damp but not too wet or you design will bleed. Pressure transfers the ink from the plastic to the paper. I used an actual press and rolled it through. There are probably more ways for people who can't use a press.

I wanted to make a card like thing for my project. My plate is actually half of what you see on the paper. I printed it one way and then I flipped it and printed it upside down also so it gave the playing card effect.
I drew the two thorny vines on both sides and a black heart with 18 in it. On each side there are 9 petals, 9 thorns, and 9 drips, which was completely unintentional. Add both sides together and that's how I got the 18.

Originally I drew this wolf skeleton in my art journal while I was at Starbucks. A lot of people liked it so I decided to turn it into one of my projects. I traced over the lines with ink and then used two tones of ink wash for the rest of it. The first was used for all of the skeleton and the second was used for the shadows.

For the paper I used plain white paper and then I stained it with coffee and let it soak in to get that old paper effect. Tea is also apparently good for this. I sprinkled salt in some places also for the watermarks. The salt soaks up the water and leaves "normal" paper spots. I set it out and let it air dry for awhile; I haven't tried it with a hair drier yet so I don't know how that does. The paper got pretty stiff and didn't smell very good after it dried. 

After I cut it down to a more reasonable size for the drawing I burnt the edges around the picture with a lighter and one hole in the middle that really wasn't supposed to be that big. I just couldn't get it to go out all the way, but it stopped before the foot was burned. You should probably test the burning on another piece of paper to get the hang of it. Also it smells absolutely horrible so you may want to do this outside and keep in mind the ashes that come from burning it.

After I was done I just glued it to black paper for a background and also to give it more support. Everything I did to the paper ended up making it seem weaker.

Coloring Outside the Lines

This was my second still life for the second nine weeks. It's of a calligraphy pen and ink well sitting on a piece of paper that has writing on it. The writing is a part of "A Dream Within a Dream" by Edgar Allen Poe. I drew every thing on a larger piece of paper first and then after wards i cut a straight line across the side and the top avoiding the items that stuck outside of the boundaries. Then, I went back and cut the shape of the items out so it looks like its coming of the paper. I got the idea to do this from something I did to my last still life.

The two pictures below are of the first still life I did. I decided to cut out the collar then cut the straight line across and the insides of the collar. After I was done I thought it looked so cool so I put a note in my book to try it later on purpose this time.

I used normal scissors but an Exact o blade would be great for this. The most important thing is to get as close as possible with out cutting off parts of your art. If you like this idea you may want to look up the art of Ramon Bruin.