a start

a few ideas for titles for this post ran through my mind just now

"pressing matters"

"pressed for time"

both have been true this week, and not in a print-making way

that's all done with though, things have settled back down again and I managed to make a start

since I wanted to do some blind-embossing with the plates I made last week I started with with the small flower plates

as ever I learned a lot

the one above was my most successful

the flower is fairly even in relief so I got decent prints which might improve if I experiment a little more with the pressure

laying the print along two of my joined paper pieces let me see how things may or may not come together... eventually

I'm still in no rush to decide the end point rather, I'm enjoying the journey through a few techniques that appeal, trusting the rest will come

the next one embossed well but was a plate used a long time ago, not a new one and apparently there was still some ink on it

oops!

this next flower was less successful though if I increase the pressure a bit, with ink it may work better

the other flower I made a plate with was just too thin to print so something else to remember

I suppose it might work in a mono print but as it was too thin to work here it's doubtful

it was a happy few hours, prints made, notes taken, different materials gathered, and I'm keen to get back to it on Monday, this time with the bigger plates, first blind embossing and then ink

in the meanwhile I have a small book on making collagraphs to read

probably would have been a thought to read that first but... when an itch needs to be scratched there's no sitting still

the haiku continue, today was poem #50

here is a recent favourite:

broken reflections

shards of land, sky and water

current disarray

looking at the reflections of trees in the Yukon River, when seen from a short distance they look somewhat whole though still distorted by the river's current

when seen from a distance, they begin to look fractured, splintered horizontally, something I always find fascinating

below is a picture taken by a friend that illustrates the effect

until next week

jillayne