I've made decent progress on my Jajim/Kelim pieces. I printed 13 strips; 6 on Echizen Kozo and 7 on Nishinouchi. I took the better ones--those printed on the whiter and heavier E.K. and started playing with how they would look. Then I spent a day printing the background sheets. These are printed by hand off a sheet of uncarved exterior plywood and were printed in multiple layers and colors.
As I worried, I had a bit of trouble laying down and registering the background damp sheets of paper. My paper was slightly larger than my printing plate/board so the unprinted edge formed a frame all around the work. Unfortunately, as the printed portion became thinner from rubbing firmly with the baren, this portion became damper and thinner. The corners sort of dried a bit/ the printed parts got wetter and the corners buckled pretty badly. I let them dry and then re-wet the paper and let it sit overnight. Then I ironed them again as I printed an additional color or two over the background. They flattened out nicely but once they dried (under plywood sheets/some pressure) they wrinkled up again.
I'll have to figure out how to correct/avoid this before I try to print on a larger sheet.
I suspect I'll have to dampen them again, Flatten them with my baren to iron out the wrinkles and try a longer and heavier weighting to flatten them until they are fully dry.
But of the 3 big backgound sheets I prepped I got 2 acceptable versions.
Sure sounds difficult to wrestle with !!
ReplyDeleteMostly organization problems.
ReplyDeleteI had a piece of plywood that was 17 X 28" so I used that. My paper was a bit bigger and I could have solved the problem by trimming my paper so it all got smooshed on the board or buying a bigger sheet of plywood. Or just using a thicker damp pack and letting the paper rest and equalize before printing another layer. Haste, Poor planning and lack of table space make everything harder.
That said;
ReplyDeleteThe one with the salmon background and alternating bands really vibrates while the ochre background print has all the strips lined up.
I like them both and hope to print one more to bring this version up to an E.V. of 5.
Oops; I mean the salmon one is all lined up. I got that backwards.
ReplyDeleteI like both, for different reasons....sounds like you need a paper support?
ReplyDelete