Teapot print, part one.
Nov. 7th, 2005 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
saint_monkeyI started this journal, long ago, to document some of my printmaking processes. As time has progressed, I've done almost none of that.
But I'm about to make a print, and I figure now is as good a time as any.
I've signed up for an exchange that requires ten prints of any topic, roughly relating to winter. I've sat around and sketched for a few weeks and contemplated various ideas, all of which have been united by really sucking.
So when in desperate times, take a picture of something that you like and print that.
A picture of a green ceramic teapot, a handmade cup, and a purple tablecloth. This has the added advantage of making me think of a warm cup of tea, and that is a good winter thing.
This would actually make a pretty good color print, but I'm going to start by planning this as a black and white print. Color is a lot more labor, you see, and this print is essentially going to be given away, and since my move, I have almost no wood. (This block will be placed on the back of a prior block.) So black and white it is.
Now, if I didn't have Photoshop, the next bit would be to sketch out the image on paper, thinking about the areas that I want to stay dark, and the areas that I want to be light. There would probably be two or three sketches to work out the look of the thing before moving it onto wood. But I want to capture some of the complex pattern of the rug, and I want to make that process as easy for myself as possible, and since I do have a rusty old copy of Photoshop...
I'll flip the image horizontally, so that I can see what it will be like on the block, then discard color info, and then posterize the thing to say, level 2 or three, and then bump up the contrast so that I'm getting close to two colors.
This gives me a good idea of how the print will look. (Don't worry, the finished print won't be so busy. I'm a professional, trust me. Besides, if you live in the USA, your tax dollars paid for four years worth of lessons from a bon-e-fi-de master to augment my natural skills.)
Now the next bit will be to get this off of the computer and onto a block. I'll save that for later, but I'll give you a glimpse... There are two ways to proceed. I can draw it on, or I can transfer the design... More on that in a bit.
But I'm about to make a print, and I figure now is as good a time as any.
I've signed up for an exchange that requires ten prints of any topic, roughly relating to winter. I've sat around and sketched for a few weeks and contemplated various ideas, all of which have been united by really sucking.
So when in desperate times, take a picture of something that you like and print that.
A picture of a green ceramic teapot, a handmade cup, and a purple tablecloth. This has the added advantage of making me think of a warm cup of tea, and that is a good winter thing.
This would actually make a pretty good color print, but I'm going to start by planning this as a black and white print. Color is a lot more labor, you see, and this print is essentially going to be given away, and since my move, I have almost no wood. (This block will be placed on the back of a prior block.) So black and white it is.
Now, if I didn't have Photoshop, the next bit would be to sketch out the image on paper, thinking about the areas that I want to stay dark, and the areas that I want to be light. There would probably be two or three sketches to work out the look of the thing before moving it onto wood. But I want to capture some of the complex pattern of the rug, and I want to make that process as easy for myself as possible, and since I do have a rusty old copy of Photoshop...
I'll flip the image horizontally, so that I can see what it will be like on the block, then discard color info, and then posterize the thing to say, level 2 or three, and then bump up the contrast so that I'm getting close to two colors.
This gives me a good idea of how the print will look. (Don't worry, the finished print won't be so busy. I'm a professional, trust me. Besides, if you live in the USA, your tax dollars paid for four years worth of lessons from a bon-e-fi-de master to augment my natural skills.)
Now the next bit will be to get this off of the computer and onto a block. I'll save that for later, but I'll give you a glimpse... There are two ways to proceed. I can draw it on, or I can transfer the design... More on that in a bit.
