Energy! Two Studio Tricks
I love it when I'm full of energy...mostly because some (other) times I have to "make" myself work, ups and downs, you know...
Anyhow, I am fully enjoying a flurry of self-inflicted activity, and making progress on a long project and a short-ish project.
The Long: Ghost Town
About a week ago I finished carving not only the 20 small woodcuts for the Ghost Town project but also a medium size View block. The 20 4x6 inch blocks are ready to print and so I started mulling how to make a big project not so big. Turns out, a sheet of 22x30 inch paper will print 9 at a time with generous margins.
I have printed multiple blocks before, all this trick necessitates is a "jig" that holds the blocks in place while a large sheet of paper is placed on a few blocks simultaneously. The "lock" (in letterpress called a chase) has to be slightly lower than the blocks so that I can ink away without removing the blocks each print. I construct these from foam-board, mat-board and/or gator-board, whatever thickness combination gives me the ideal height to hold the blocks in place just above the jig surface.
Here are pictures, better than descriptions!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAKyJNYkI7eSVlPMWy22RDA98BeoUbi_cSflVkxihOnakigSUhyphenhyphen6ipBZwYm3C0VKHHEZ4nbY0b04WviDgBU_7DWhR8NGTWWvRaLEdvIHneyiLAy78gScqpeBMKXVsOdoGM0kjwvV1hGUE/s320/IMG_7504.JPG) |
First laying out the blocks and finding the spacing |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCH43UfrJ_oVfMB8RFwqUCBgbNUt9cyCAlDNgek1QdsXG7hRghniFFdxEq-Vqb1e8POri77OMDo2Z4vfUvOmReVizg4phS8RM08t365egVUpAsfJpgktdgPLjr5GZ6FRK4Cjo64SUUbLU/s320/IMG_7602.JPG) |
Some calculations on the sizes of spacers needed
(I'm good at math!) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmP0ql88gs30D4_Ad3zRS7S5Fs_OvoC-4DLuN-mgWwRsCrTqfRl_Dib7d9geFs_vNQP6ba8cG2460LvhlNz0Xetcimi2YSMmKVZiwGaJyc2zt-mMDH_i1zC1agidiuc8VNnpUbm3MSCiw/s320/IMG_7601.JPG) |
Spacers cut on left, glue and square ready |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpNLA9V0RpwlGcVAg8H1Y0czkXFtRKmNZPvxFAh3MT-tRP0Kltb_csFSGLcOry_kpWEOWaHiI-SrhlnFC5264TE08MKxaqlOBf657hGmur1-o314QIBjS0QJcHPmSj7NfK81QSqLIfwFk/s320/IMG_7603.JPG) |
I place the blocks as I go to make sure they fit |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXMRXq4moTra5_R4fpAu-NZ0wNp7p0tcVRtvyaQr78dj-0oBb6Qm8acggWyI8KHvUjqXPf89_B4O6DWrNPcxF8xYkbsfolshZXmyHYcsnq9dThB8d_bjbbiEVFibNRPcYRVznQCZzMogU/s320/IMG_7605.JPG) |
Each block held at the right height by gator-board |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjitRZdgyJzJxvyxzPIG7DZFyqspyM17EacWE14tH3x5xrmQIuIHD9XYxjIIvEIIlLUjcoLVcE8OA_UdaMnifheM3CiPBEX3LCS7jEUPo7yJD8zvsDAUWX5RmVsYCd2B66kgi4RVaiEy4/s320/IMG_7604.JPG) |
Presto! The completed chase, blocks in place
Ink and paper required, After the blocks are printed
I can trim the paper to size |
The Short: Wings Exchange, the Flying Maple Seeds
Also made the final adjustments on the Seeds are Sown, Life is Grown print for the
Barenforum.org 72nd print exchange. I will detail the complete process in next post, but here are the photos and the video:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5na4uhkcmWtt-FE4kaOeEzFfYZUMJvKH3HMEgK386bZ8xVxRpfWDdi7Buu_5Zodq-22_Y_3TwUu3-ssXnzbp0qK1Jvgrar3pxWbbFgUryAqzVNWO56vJHgiLwdH3gtg9WfRkMBf85GDk/s320/IMG_7579.JPG) |
First vs second proofs |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5PZoXQWMF1OG_4rpZGJtrYh_1kA3Sw0SWZ_TM5_YyMEo9tWcAYa5L9mxqWgxynpUojMF1F5jF1EmHvu-Ogc8iOGzOv3QJ_iZ-Q0_Y8bFg7URsSV1Dl0kp79l-_FqFUmvPH_EtDwsqZS4/s320/IMG_7580.JPG) |
block and print |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJKHWZN4Puff_00ylAfbTylXr5MCU7Sim2jkq1exQMOinMKT5pJW5UxfVWQ9Lbm3onW7Q2INx_yQ31xPlCOh30YHFoCuXk9m_ttm1gu0YcRuRYEvsDN6j0WHdTUb5r1wWrP7XydOGwAzg/s320/IMG_7593.JPG) |
Last few details and cleaning up
require my magnifying lamp |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXQD5PVmX59aTvCsRMGgMtwObEKsw6Bn9kz-8viDBB8VUhkUyH10A-JpZesgDYXyOAbFFKi1ZAvhyEvsVRfjKb_J4RKeEhygcCZyB9lPh3PcnIL2gn_2fPTSVivT0R3gMP6hrKTgj2RN8/s320/IMG_7598.JPG) |
Detail of my tiniest tool doing some
delicate carving |
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