Printmaking is a little like cooking, trying to find the right combination of ingredients for the perfect recipe. I spent the weekend trying to find the best combination of paper type and press tension for a new type of ink (Daniel Smith oil-based relief ink) I'm test driving. By Sunday afternoon, after countless test prints, I happily found the right mix. I often print on Stonehenge paper, but from time to time I've had a problem when the paper slips ever so slightly as the etching press roller pushes the print through. The front half of the print looks crisp, while the rear half of the print looks a little fuzzy and I end up having to recycle the prints. But Rives heavyweight paper worked fantastic. It's a little lighter weight than the Stonehenge paper and laid nice and 'snug' to the inked block. The result, after going through the press, was a nice clear image. To add another wrinkle, I decided to mount the carved linoleum block on plywood, which I never do, and I see some benefits. The photo shows the first layer of my newest edition of Italian car prints.

Car Linocut Print

Yesterday, I found myself roaming the dark aisles of a specialty lumber warehouse in industrial west Berkeley, looking for enticing leftovers of cut hardwood, while wheeling around a little baby sporting a cast the color of pink cotton candy. If you had told me that this would be my life five years ago, I'd have told you to stop sniffing your Sharpies. But there I was and I came across quite a find. They had salvaged these huge, old Douglas fir beams from a 100-year old building on Harrison in San Francisco and I walked away with this four-foot long plank, with the most rad striated grain, for dirt cheap. I need to do this wood justice.

On Sunday, May 19, I'll be returning to the Albany Arts & Green Festival. Hope to see you there.

Ukulele Linocut Block Print

Earlier this month, I listed these new ukulele linocut prints for sale on Etsy. There are four different color versions in a total edition of 12 prints. It was made using the reduction method where the same linoleum block is used to print each color. After a layer is printed on the paper with oil-based ink, more of the block is carved away for an additional color. The print can never be replicated because the block has been carved away during the creation process.

After a nice holiday break, which included a short rejuvenating trip up into the snowy mountains of Northern California, I'm getting back into the swing of things. This morning, I finished a world airport map linocut. This is the most recent addition to my series of airport prints. This two-layer, 8"x16" block print was done in two different color versions - the orange seen in the photo below and a blue-green color.

World Airport Map - Linocut Print

Today, I'm numbering, signing and titling this small edition of beach binocular linocut prints. I printed it a while ago but let it dry for over a month. I was really happy that my new, larger etching press worked perfectly for this project.

Beach Binocular Linocut

2018 Update - I now have a review of my Blick 999 Model II Etching Press and its smaller cousin, the Blick Econo Etch Model II Press after using them for over five years.

My printmaking world is getting bigger and better. A new etching press was delivered last week by truck freight and the deliveryman was nice enough to wheel the crate directly into the garage (the shipment weighed about 200 lbs).

The first step was to unscrew the top off the crate so I could take a look at the press. It's a Richeson / Blick 999 Model II. What this all means for me is that I'll be able to make prints up to about 17" x 35" - much larger than my existing press allows.

I spent a lot of time looking for press benches and had trouble finding one that met my space, functionality and budget requirements. Having used an IKEA kitchen cart for my smaller press, I immediately looked back to IKEA for options. I found my solution when browsing through their Emeryville store and stumbled upon the HEMNES coffee table. It's made out of solid wood, measures 46.5" (L) x 29.5" (W) x 18.125" (H) and has a shelf underneath the main table surface.

I decided to do an IKEA 'hack' by stacking and attaching the two tables and adding heavyweight casters to the bottom. The tables were easy to assemble (less than an hour each) and were connected together with metal corner braces. The trickiest part was attaching the casters I got from a hardware store. The legs didn't have enough surface area to screw in the casters so I had to widen the legs by about 3/4" by screwing in a small woodblock on the outside of each leg. If I want the bench to be a little lower, I could saw off a few inches from the four legs.

Overall, the bench's benefits are that it's tall (I'm tall), mobile, less costly, and has three flat surfaces underneath the press. The shelves will be perfect for storage and large sheets of paper used during a print run. Two of the shelves can be taken out without taking apart the bench. Now I need to put it all to good use!

New Blick 999 Model II Etching Press and IKEA Bench

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