Unas Elenas // Printing Day 1 // Image Copyright © 2009 ♥Ineffable3
This is the first finished print out of the 11 test prints completed today. It’s been a while since I’ve used my press - it’s a little fickle at times. The paper creased up a bit but it was still a pretty good outcome for the very first run.
Unas Elenas // Printing Day 1 // Image Copyright © 2009 ♥Ineffable3
My printing table was a little too small for this woodblock, so we needed to extend it a bit. Nothing a trip to Home Depot can’t fix! An hour later, my table was all nice and sturdy and ready for work…
Here I am laying down some ink.
Unas Elenas & The Tale of Two Swifts // Part III // Image Copyright © 2009 ♥Ineffable3
Finished! Now on to the printing phase. Woot!
Printing is the most fun - alot of work, but fun. I have a small printing press my husband bought me a few years back, so I’m hoping this wood isn’t too wide for it. It would be so great to run off prints faster than the usual wooden spoon + lots of elbow grease method.
Shit! Do I even have paper??? Hmm…
Unas Elenas & The Tale of Two Swifts // Part II // Image Copyright © 2009 ♥Ineffable3
Today I’m hoping to get started on the face and chest of the piece. I kept these parts virgin the entire way through because i had a feeling I was going to change a few things up - and you can’t decide to change things once you’ve already carved into it.
FYI, originally the chest/stomach was going to have a heart in it - then I changed it to a bird - then I changed it to a heart. Now it’s going back to the original bird idea. LOL.
a chunk o' pine (11w"x31h") & my knives
knife, slipstrop, & gold compound
carving out pebbles
Unas Elenas // In Progress // Images Copyright © 2009 INEFFABLE 3
So after much debating and second guessing my initial design composition - I finally worked things out and got to carvin’ this beatch :)
As I tweeted earlier, I failed to sharpen my knives the last time I used them…so I spent an unnecessary amount of time getting them all sharpy again. Once all that was over and done with, I made the first cut.
ahhhh. siiigh.
I wish I could say that I got a huge portion of the work done in the few hours I was out there - but that’s not the case folks. Carving takes time. It’s a slow methodical process, and it needs to be this way - for safety reasons. These knives are sharp as fuck, and if you aren’t paying attention to what you’re doing, you’re going to cut yourself. Any woodworker or printmaker will tell you: clamp your work, pay attention, and go slow.
Since I value my little fingers, I pay mucho attention to detail.
