tools Archives - Page 3 of 7

Build your design skills – gelatin printmaking

Gelatin plate print, masking stencils, techniques, tools / Linda Germain / April 14, 2021

Gelatin printmaking is fast and gives you immediate feedback about composition and design skills. That is one reason that I love the process.

Art school teaches us to make thumbnail drawings and plan our composition first. I just don’t have the patience for that approach.

I like the trial and error approach of making lots of prints. And over time my design skills have grown and I had fun in the process. And I want to share that approach and what I have learned with you in the online printmaking workshops.

We will create growth and success by:

Getting to know your masking stencils and how to get strong impressions
Limiting the colors so we can create prints with a strong range of value
Using a small standard size paper to get a dynamic division of space

These boundaries will give you the structure to support new understanding of the tools and how the impressions are created. This should create success and happiness!

I hope you will check out the online printmaking classes.

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Play with Printmaking

inspiration, mark making tools, tools / Linda Germain / April 7, 2021

Things can get serious. So that is why I routinely remind myself to put some play back into my printmaking.

Sometimes I get hung up on results, process or materials.

To get a lighter fresh approach I:

Try a new technique – tiny eraser stamps above
Use simple or new tool – rusted paper below
Use my ten pieces of paper idea

If you have a child or grandchild to print with that can be a great way to loosen up and play.

It takes time to really let yourself get into the play mode. Sometimes I need to make a mess and a bunch of ugly prints along the way.

Yet, in the end something new usually emerges.

I hope I have encouraged you to put some play into your printmaking today. Enjoy!

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Museum of Printing – yard sale

tools / Linda Germain / October 24, 2020

I am so lucky to have the Museum of Printing in my hometown.

A few times a year they have sales on type, books and equipment. Today they had a yard sale. I usually pick up a few odds and ends.

You may know that I do most of my printing without a press. I carefully picked out the 2 cuts in the image above.

I cleaned the little “stamps” and inked them with speedball water based block printing ink. I was able to hand print a stack of small cards.

I love the tiny tree, barn and flower image. It is so amazing how much info is created in the 1.5″ x 1″ cut. I was drawn to the simple tree shape but I did not really care for the uniform roots. So I masked out the bottom of the plate with a small piece of paper.

I think I am just in a card making mode. Below are some hand printed cards that I made with Tyvek® stencils on the gelatin Plate.

You still have time to join the online workshop, Hand Printed Cards. Read the details and join us.

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Print with wonderful weeds

inspiration, mark making tools, tools / Linda Germain / October 13, 2019

Today as I enjoyed the one of the last sunny days at the beach, I also gathered some fall weeds for some upcoming projects.

I found some thin, detailed twigs and branches that I hope to use in a clay project.

If I were printing with weeds and grasses on the gelatin plate, then I would look for very strong and very flat varieties of weeds.

So depending on the printmaking process that you are using will determine what kind of weeds will work for you.
I use strong and moderate thickness to create foam relief plates. These kind of weeds need to be strong and thick enough to make an impression in the plate.

So I hope you are encouraged to see the value in roadside weeds for your printmaking practice.

This thick mess of weeds is too complex for using with the gelatin plate, but it is going to be great for one time use in making an impression in clay.
Happy hunting!

Get support from an online class. Check out the current offerings on the printmaking workshop page.

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All about the brayer

tools / Linda Germain / June 25, 2019

Recently, I have been going back to the basic tool in printmaking – the brayer.

Sometimes I want a nice thin and even layer of ink. And other times I let the nature of the roller and texture of the ink be a key part of the design.

In the book cover above I used a modified roller to get the textured lines. And yet I love the smooth texture of the landscape print below.

If you are new to using a brayer and you are seeking a smooth application of ink it can be frustrating. It really does take time and practice to get the brayer to do what you want it to do.

So give yourself a break. Factors that affect a brayers release of ink on the plate:

Viscosity of the ink
Pressure of you hand
Speed and motion of the roll
Air temperature and humidity
Size of the roller
Width of the roller
Type of roller
Type of ink and type of plate

Have you developed your own style of using your brayer to create marks, impressions and prints?

If you need a little help choosing a brayer for gelatin printing on paper check out this blog post.

I have been making so many brayered prints that I am making them into books using the drum leaf binding.

The drum leaf structure opens flat and does not require any sewing. I like to make small journals for quick sketches. And because they are easy to make the books feel less precious and I am willing to fill them with notes and sketches.

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