Adirondack Drying Rack

Couple a recycled screens in the cooker. After stripping the old screens of ink and emulsion, they are dehazed, degreased, recoated with emusion, allowed to dry, burned with new images and blasted with water until they finally come to rest in the Adirondack Drying Rack.

Tuxedo final

I finished printing the second colour on the "Tuxedo" linocut earlier today and promptly continued cutting the plate for the third and final colour. Here's a proof. I'm happy with it. So the next 24 hours will be a frenzy of printing so I can do packaging on Tuesday and have them ready for the Craft Fair on Wednesday evening (Jack Byrne Arena, Torbay, Nov. 11-15). I haven't done a final tally yet but I'm expecting to have around 50 prints in the run.

Tuxedo linocut, 2nd colour

This is a frantic week of making and packaging. On the making side of things, I'm working on this linocut "Tuxedo." I pulled this quick proof of the 2nd colour tonight. Hoping to have this available next week at the Craft Council Craft Fair at the Jack Byrne arena in Torbay, NL (Nov. 11-15).

Tuckamore etching

Etching class was a great experience. Shown are the three prints I pulled as well as the copper plate. Signed up for a membership at St. Michael's Printshop so I might be trying out some other methods later in the year.

Mechacod Linocut

Mechacod: the linocut. Since doing the t-shirts, I had a few requests for prints. I'm not currently set up for screen-printing on paper so I made a new linocut plate. Edition of 60.

Duelling Squid

Printing Duelling Squid linocuts this week. Will have some of these limited edition prints available this weekend at the Downhome Expo at the Glacier, Mount Pearl, April 17-19, 2015.

Cornelius Cod linocut

Printed this guy last week. Cornelius is the third in the postage stamp series I started this year. Last night I started working on screens for t-shirts but had some issues. The short of it is that I ruined 3 screens over the course of the evening. Then I had to spend this morning cleaning, de-hazing, and de-greasing said screens. Frustrating. So this afternoon I got the Cornelius plate out and spent some time making prints... clearly relief printing is my happy place. Made some nice crisp prints that I was really pleased with. Found my center again. Ready to try the screens again tomorrow.

Linocut progress

Chip-chip-chipping away at the latest (and probably last for the series) postage stamp linocut. Hoping to have prints available for markets on the weekend. Will post a proper pic when he's presentable.

Charles Puffin t-shirts

After a few months of gathering gear and ordering supplies, I've started a little screen printing operation with my friend and t-shirt mentor Doug Bird. Having a great time with the process. Our first screen is based on my Charles Puffin linocut... I suppose Alphonse Moose will have to be next or he's going to get his nose out of joint.

Alphonse Moose linocut

Finished Alphonse last week, just in time for Saturday's market. He was a big hit.

Some people questioned the "14 points" and counted them out.

"I only see eight" they'd say.

"Hunting accident," I'd reply.

Linocut process pic

Working on a new linocut which I'm hoping to print by the end of the week. The blue is from the transfer paper. I started the illustration in Sketchbook Pro (iPad) finished it in Illustrator. When everything is just so, I print it out and use the transfer paper to, well, y'know... transfer to the linoleum plate. Then the knives come out and the real fun begins. I'm using Xacto blades for the lettering this time around to get cleaner lines.

This is my major art project for the week. Printing on Friday for Saturday is a realistic goal as I'm using water-based inks these days. Got a big market on the weekend, hence the deadline.

If you're in St. John's, drop by Canonwood Hall for Some Good Market (10am-4pm), Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013. I'll be there with my linos and painting prints.

Midnight Slumber linocut

I took a few days away from my cow painting (moo) to fiddle with this image as a linocut. I’m still pleased with the figure but I’m not happy with the sky. I may jigsaw a new sky or I might just start again. I did a quick test print last night and, based on that, spent some time cleaning up the plate today. The extra prep time made this evening’s printing session very smooth and satisfying -- no troubleshooting, great ink coverage, etc. For the first time, I used a rolling pin as my “press” and I think it contributed a lot to the excellent ink coverage.

The top image is a shot of the print on a dark background so you can see the paper fibres. The lower image shows the print alongside the plate.