Tuesday, December 07, 2010

No Naked Walls - About Block Prints

Golden Notes 2
Hand painted block print on wood panel 24 x 36 in

After writing my blog yesterday I though that I should have mentioned how I go about making these block prints.  First of all I work out the design.  I have to decide what size I want the final work.  When I do this I have to allow for the size of the artwork plus the size of the surround or mount and then make it a size that will fit into a standard frame.  After making a lot of art that needed a custom sized frames I am finally getting smarter and working to standard sizes. Once the size is decided I then draw up the design I want.  Next I divide the design up into blocks that will fit the size.  For the Jester in the previous post the blocks are 6 inches square and the design is three blocks by 4 blocks or 18 inches by 24 inches. Next I cut all the small square blocks to make the printing plates and transfer the design to each one. Finally I lay them all out and paste them to one large sheet of mounting card to hold them in place while I print the design.  I use a roller to ink up the whole panel and then lay the paper over and hand press the ink onto the paper.  I could also run it through my printing press. Once it's dry I hand paint the central motifs that I want to feature. I have also experimented with printing onto a wood panel but I have to be very careful to place the design into exactly the right place on the panel because being a geometric design it would look awful if it was off even by a bit.  The attached picture is a piece I did on a wood panel.  It's similar to Golden Notes but much wider. Unfortunately the photo is a bit dark.

2 comments:

-Don said...

What an intriguing process. Thank you for sharing. The 'grids' that occur add a unique interest to the final composition. "Jester" is really cool.

Congrats on the sales you made during your Open Studio. It's nice to know your works have found new homes to grace with new owners to enjoy them.

Happy Creating!

-Don

Eva said...

Wow Susanne! That's a lot of work, but it really pays off as your creations are lovely. I can see why coming to your open house to see what goes into to them would result in sales. Thank you for sharing your process.

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