Disappearing soon…

left to right Just a Goose, Swaledale Sheep, Koi Pond, Passionflower

These 4 inkjet reproductions of my watercolour paintings will shortly be disappearing from my Folksy shop. Until then they will be available at the extremely reasonable price of £4.00 + p&p (original price £10.00 + p&p). They are printed on good quality Bockingford Inkjet Watercolour Paper but they are not archive-quality inks.

Hurry hurry hurry, there is only one of each and they will be delisted from my shop between the 13th and 23rd May.

Mountain

I had a quick play around with some of my wooden type the other night. I haven't managed to track down a chase yet  (that's the bit that keeps the whole arrangement together and stops the letter blocks moving during inking and pressing) so I improvised with an old flat-fronted picture frame. It did the job & was a good size for the plates on my press but I am not sure how long it will stay together under repeated use. Anyway here is the result. I love all the dings and scratches in the bottom capital M, and eagle-eyed experts can probably tell that the top M is in fact an inverted W, I did warn you it would be criminal.

PS if anyone knows what the middle type is please let me know, I am a few letters short and thinking of trying to cut them from lino or ply but need a reference, Ta.

declutter - reclutter

I am supposed to be having a clear out but I've hankered an embossing stamp for quite a while. I thought it would be a nice touch to emboss my lino prints with my name. So when I saw this for just £4.50 I couldn't resist, the fact that it was green didn't help ( I love green). I didn't realise it would cost me probably five times that to get it new plates cut (or a move to Aberdovey, as per the existing plate). So, as I said I've always had a hankering for a large green paperweight.      

Betty's Hen - ready to fly the coop

A limited edition of eight available in a lovely golden brown and delicate pale blue printed on Zerkal paper. Printed area measures approximately 23x30cm.

Available here

Betty's Hen - the film

P filmed the printing of Betty's Hen and put together a short film for me.



click here to shop for Betty's Hen

Sunflower progress...

I've balanced the seed tray on two narrow lathes in the middle of my cold frame in the hope of fooling the slugs. It's working so far, but probably only until the slugs bribe the spiders to spin them silk parachutes.

Betty’s Hen (work in progress part II)

I’ve now flipped the sketch, and traced it onto the lino. I find this stage quite satisfying as I get to see the pared down version of the design and this is usually a better reflection of the final print than my often overworked sketches. I also like the look of the white tracing on the pale grey lino.

The I can at last start cut and carving. I like this kind of design because it is still quiet creative at the cutting stage. Then because I had decided on a two colour print (and was too stingy to use to separate sheets of lino) I had to cut the hen out without spoiling the “background” lino so that I can ink and print from them one by one. This felt like bloomin’ hard work and I have big burst blisters on my fingers where the grip on my knife cut into my skin – I will not be skimping on lino again!  Off to recover with a glass of red.