It’s The Final Countdown

Things have been running smoothly with my blocks.  I printed four yesterday and I now only have two left to complete.  I will be trimming them down sometime next week so that they look like bleed prints and buying D hooks so that I can hang them on the wall like picture frames.  

We’re Getting Closer…

I was able to complete two more blocks this week and have just five more to go.  These specific images were printed very well and I am excited about their results!  The wood seems to be lending itself perfectly to the darker images and they are coming out very mysterious.  I am very happy in the way the blocks are coming out and I hopefully will have printed all of them by next weekend.  I am at a bit of a standstill right now because the one place where I can purchase photolithography plates is all out.  I am waiting for a shipment to come in next Tuesday and will start cranking them out as soon as they arrive. 

For now I plan to explore the ways in which I can hang my images on the wall in the gallery by either drilling a hole in the back for a nail or carving a horizontal line.  I wanted to wait to figure out these issues until the images were completely printed because if I were to mess up I could always use the back of the block. 

This coming weekend I will also work on a small website for my IP Thesis and I will definitely be attending Seth’s explanation of how to create a website next week.  I am feeling the pressure to get these blocks done so not having any more plates is making me a little antsy, but maybe it is a good idea to take a step back for a while and work on other issues I may have later.

One side note, I originally planned on having 13 blocks in my show, but some images will probably not make it into the final presentation.  Therefore, I am also going to think more about the layout and the possible number of blocks that will be displayed. 

Off to Print!

 Spring break was the perfect amount of time to relax and contemplate the coming weeks.  I was able to come up with a timeline so I will be on schedule and have time to work out any kinks that present themselves at the end of March before my show.  I was able to print five blocks thus far, although all of them may not be in the show.  I really enjoy the images with more stark contrast and a lot of black areas.  After yesterday’s critique that I felt that a majority of people were drawn to the darker images as well and I plan to work to create more contrast in future blocks by applying more ink to areas.  It was also helpful to learn yesterday that the areas where I touched up the ink with India ink weren’t too apparent.  I was originally worried that they were too noticeable and would take away from the piece. 

Printing is going smoothly and I hope that my pace continues.  I originally planned to have thirteen blocks in my show, but I’m glad that I set the number so high as some of the images don’t look great after they’ve been printed.  Mostly lighter images with a lot of light don’t translate so well because there is a loss of important information.  Hopefully, by the end of the process I will have at least 10 images that I feel are ready to go in the show. 

I plan to print as much as I can basically until I am finished as well as touch up images with India ink.  I also have to start worrying about how the images will actually hang on the wall and I believe I am leaning towards attaching something to the back like a picture hook or something of the sort. 

I really like how the images are turning out and even the surprise of the oil drying in a rainbow pattern doesn’t bother me.  I’m curious to see whether this will happen in the others or what other surprises will happen before my opening. 

Off to print! 

This print will most likely not be in the show because the image is too light and is not working well.