All abuzz......

I'm participating in the Baren Forum's 70th Print exchange which has no theme but does specify a paper size (3" x 6") as well as a technique "challenge" requesting works done in the spirit of wood engraving.  The due date for finished prints is November 1st and oddly enough (for me),

I'm well on my way.
I've engraved most of the block and I'm now refining the image after taking some rough proofs.
I wasn't happy with the 1st printing--I think my ink was too thick or stiff and my paper a little too rough.
There's a lot of detail cut on the block that's not showing up on the paper and I wasn't sure whether to keep the background.
I cut out the black background with a pair of scissors and decided that I like it better. So I went back to the block with the scorpers to clear it.

Another of the first proofs, trimmed to show what it might look like without the black halo.

I've cleared out most of the background and added a tiny chop to the corner and taken another proof:

Mosquito Proof #2 (on coated bond paper)

Better.  I'm still not happy with the clarity of the legs and torso. But it's pretty close. I've a little tidying up to do with the background and try to make the legs and torso a little more readable.
I still need to set some type for the title and I have an order for paper from Intaglio print makers on the way.  So I'm on hold until the paper arrives.

There are 22 people in the exchange so I need to plan on at least 25-30 copies to have enough for all the participants and still allow for bad copies or printing flubs...and once I see how easily or hard the block is to hand print, I'll decide on the total number of copies and whether there will be both a letterpress text and no-text versions. In the meanwhile there are still some corrections to make and I need to smooth the bottom of the block to allow for trouble-free (or simpler) printing.

Mosquito paralysis

My first clumsy engravings were really carved almost without thinking.  I didn't really consider what I was doing. I had a block, and a couple of tools so I just cut them and printed the resulting image without giving any thought to how I was working or the still unknown ways of working in wood engraving.

After finishing my last simple Puppet engraving, I finally picked up a copy of Simon Brett's book,"Wood Engraving How to do it",  that I had purchased some time ago.   I must admit that going through it has sort of stopped me in my tracks.
There is a great deal of useful information and illustrations: this section on how to make a "sampler" of the tools and the different ways to consider letters is really helpful.

Illustration from Brett's book on engraving showing lettering styles.

But further on,  he discusses and illustrates the varying ways one can approach an image and this other series, illustrated to show multiple examples of the same image, engraved in differing ways has stopped me completely.  There are just too many choices--

Illustrations from S. Brett's Book on Engraving.

There are more examples--many more as this image gets resolved in many different ways and styles.
Many aren't suited to my work or habit but in theory, I should be pulling from these as needed when solving issues of tone and depth require differing techniques.

So I'm back to the block thinking: now what?
I've done enough trials on scrap wood that I'd like to try a piece of real boxwood and see what the smoother cutting and fine grain will allow.  I have a small off-cut of European Boxwood that I've been saving for a small work and I have an on-again, off-again series of parasites and small insects that I wanted to add to and I have many small mosquito thumbnails that I've drawn over the last weeks and from which I managed to cobble together an image I'm happy with.
The above photo shows my prepared drawing applied to the surface of my block. The block is just 2.5" in diameter so the image is pretty small.  So now I'm ready to go but I've been hesitating. Thinking for example of how to resolve the "tiger" aspect of the alternating black and white bands of the insect legs.
 And in this case, my small frail insect on a round of box can be resolved in lots of ways.....most of which I had never even considered until now.  The biggest decisions--whether to carve the insect as a white drawing lifted out of the black ground or to engrave around my drawing--preserving the drawing itself by cutting everything else away which is a bit more natural for me coming from my moku hanga experience.

The good news however is that while I've been procrastinating, mulling over in my mind what I think I'd like to do, I've been sharpening my tools. Slowly I've been selecting the gravers I'm likely to use, and they've been cleaned and sharpened and honed and then honed again and so are actually ready to cut.

Meanwhile, as I stare at the block, I have to keep the fan on as the mosquitoes are honing in on my exhaled CO2 and my bare ankles and calves under the table while I sit, inactive, thinking about the first cut.

Treehopper: (If you give a printmaker a cookie.....).

After I finished printing my Cypress trees print of a few weeks ago I was eager to jump into a new project.
But in my life, the path between "A" and "B" is never linear.
Besides having a few acres of olive trees to prune, I wanted to try sizing some paper that wasn't printing well.   I have a few papers that are either too soft--difficult to handle and the paper pills while printing and others that hold up well enough but that print really flat and dead....my light-size formula of a few months ago helped but not enough to be called really successful so I decided to increase both the alum and glue and try sizing them to try out on my next print.
So I sized one each of Gampi, Mitsumata, a few varied 100% Kozo papers and a few mixed fiber/handmade papers. The weights varied from about 29g/m2 to about 50g/m2.

Now,  I needed just a little print to test out the newly-sized paper.....but I didn't really just want to print color swatches..nor did I feel like revisiting any of my old, already carved blocks....so I ended up doodling, and sketching, and looking through my sketchbooks and idea folders for simple ideas that I hoped I could do quickly.  And I came across a few sketches I'd done of this insect, a thorn bug or treehopper that I've wanted to do in a print for a long time. 
Newly redrawn--quickly and very loosely and with only a passing nod to scientific accuracy-- I was ready to go.

Rainy weather this week meant I could take a break from olive pruning so, yesterday, I transferred my sketch using a piece of tracing and carbon paper and then carved and printed the keyblock.  The 6 copies I made were then pasted them down onto six,  4" x 6" Shina blocks and set aside to dry.

Today I managed to carve the color blocks and dashed off a few color proofs.

These are mostly proofs to check for alignment and registration and to look for areas that need clearing or recutting. This proof is still missing two of the blocks/impressions. Nevertheless, I think that probably NONE of the colors will stay the same in the final print and looking at these I'm thinking of carving one more block.........

So, I wanted to size some paper, that now I need to test, so I carved a little block, but now I need color blocks, and now maybe one more block, so I can proof again, then I can print an edition.....
but wait, I didn't size enough paper for a whole edition.
But first, I'll need to size some more paper.

(A nod to Laura Numeroff's book, "If you give a mouse a cookie"). 

Grub

Prionus Californicus (Cherry Root Borer Beetle) Larva; EV 200.
Moku hanga, 2.5" x 3.5" ACEO print.

I wasn't sure when or if to post the grub version of my beetle print.
This is the pair to the beetle print of several posts ago and is 1/2 of my contribution to the Baren printmaking forum's 50th anniversary exchange. My print(s) are a portrait of a common, New-World parasite of cherry and other hardwoods.
In the larval form, the grub eats the roots of cherry trees and burrows into the trunk making circular burrows and holes, often killing the trees and rendering the wood useless. I had wanted to do the much more attractive Asian Tiger beetle (currently destroying thousands of acres of hardwood trees since arriving in the USA from China in packing material) but despite that beetles taste for ornamental hardwoods it doesn't seem to eat Cherry. And I really wanted a beetle that turns perfectly good cherry lumber into useless frass, woodshavings, and damaged timber.
(I had just been rejected from yet another printmaking association.....)

As the beetle and grub were printed off the same blocks using the same colors I did something not just a tad repulsive but also a bit unorthodox.
I decided to number the prints sequentially. So the first print became grub (E.V. 1/200) and the beetle E.V. 2/200. All the grubs bear odd numbers and in theory pair up with the even numbered Beetle prints.
I sent in 51 of each and the 100 participants will receive a print titled:
Prionus Californicus, but will get Either a beetle or a grub.

Calling this an edition varie E.V. is technically not correct--an Edition Varie (EV) can have variants in printing or paper or color--but the carving of separate--but related images makes them two distinct prints. But I'm totally fine with breaking the numbering/editioning rules.

Since I'm giving these away, the idea that they have to be numbered and editioned rationally so that "collectors" and dealers "know what they are getting" is rather moot. (except for a few 11 year-old bug collectors there has been surprisingly little demand). Besides, if anyone is miffed or feels slighted I can always say that I sent out all grubs but that, during shipping and customs clearance, there must have been some that metamorphosized.

Wallpaper

Here are some quick shots of the prints drying and a close up of one of the two variants I printed. While these are small prints the beetle and grub are quite large and these are just over life-size.

Beetle and Proof

This showed up in the driveway today.

I think it showed up to check on my work as I was proofing yesterday.

I think it is still a Prionus beetle but I am not sure.
It lacks the little spikes on the thorax that are quite prominent on P. Californicus.
But doesn't resemble the more common, local P. Coriarius beetle either.

This is a quick proof of my beetle print (tube watercolors/rice paste and sumi).

The beetle made little hissing noises and excreted a rather unpleasant-smelling fluid...so I may have to adjust the colors.

Printing Again

Prionus Californicus keyblock proof

I still don't have a dedicated work space.....I'm working out of a spare bedroom...but I got my keyblock carved and I was I was itching to print again. I found a small jar into which I had thrown a broken up sumi stick in December? so I poured off the surface water and it seemed good to go after a good stirring.

Turns out Arborio rice will work for rice paste and the kitchen table, once the kids are in school, will too.

I dashed off 6 copies of my keyblock for my small bug print. This is the hanshita, it is printed off the keyblock including the kento marks and will be pasted face down, one for each color.
So far it has two 2.5" X 3.5" prints on it printing side by side...
it will have color blocks too and I'm trying now to figure out how to combine the colors to get both printed simultaneously.

Due date for 100 prints is Nov 1.
I'll need to go back in and open up the "O" of "prionus" and the second set of legs are too long but I think I'll leave that alone.