Fuzzydragons

Well, not really, but almost done with the wrinkles. And after I get some more perspex, the next big etching is going to be a bunch of horses :)

This looks so odd right now. For awhile it was starting to look like a Skeksis from The Dark Crystal, but its starting to look a little more alive for the moment. That movie really freaked me out when I was a young kid lol

 Actually surprisingly I didn't make that much of a mess, besides getting paint all over my hands :p Wanted to see if the lino needed any more carving before I printed it with ink, so out came the gelliplate. The above is a print pulled from the plate after I put the lino down on it, and the below  is a rough print from the lino after I put it on the gelliplate and it grabbed the paint off of it. Don't think it needs any more carving, if anything I probably should have left more on the wooden part of the ship so it looked more wooden.

Almost done with this and ready to print. My fingers are red from having to scratch at the surface so much :p I prefer working on plexi-glass for etchings because I find it easier to see what the end picture will look like. Haven't used any metal plates since high school, so should probably see if I can get some to try again. Even with gloves on I get the ink everywhere, and since its oil and really doesn't come off of clothes. its a good thing I only wear stained clothes already to college :p Its very tempting to just leave this once its finished and frame it, I really like the look, reminds me a lot of using scratchboard.

Well it was supposed to be my last day in college this year, but of course I forgot the plate of the swans I was working on, so have to go back to Dundee tomorrow and cross my fingers it is still there. I'm not back until the 8th of January and want to work on the swans so the plate is ready to print when I go back, so have to go and see if its still in the room somewhere. (Things have a habit of going for a walk at the college :/, not that I think someone would take a printing plate, but you never know). The eagle above is the next etching I am working on. I figure stick to birds, its either that or go back to drawing big cats and horses all the time. Even tho an etching of a big cat would probably look nice. The etchings are done on plexi-glass , so the etching only shows up in a scan if I put a piece of dark paper behind it. Its not supposed to shatter like normal glass, but it def. shatters when you cut it and goes flying everywhere. I am still stepping on broken piece...

Really original title :p This is a test print of an etching. I forgot how much I love doing this, even if I do get ink everywhere :p I need to darken parts of the left swans and use the proper paper next time. I am really really  happy with how this is turning out :D

Started to work on an etching, which sounds like nails on a chalkboard sometimes :/ Slow going but hopefully get it done this weekend *crosses fingers*

  More cranes :) Off college for a week, so I will kill anyone who wakes me up before 9am :p

  So, after folding about 2 dozen little cranes, this is what I did with them.I folded a bunch of different birds, so will have to print with them and see the patterns that show up. And shocker, I didn't get any paint on me :p Random Sky photo :p  

  After cutting up a lot of paper, it was time to play with my gelli plate :) I had cut up a few horse stencils, need to cut a few more but cutting my finger once already was enough for the day :p I really like how this one turned out :) I will probably take some pencils or ink to it and see what happens. I forgot how much I liked using the plate, and I have more then enough paint right now to make a mess with :)

  I have all kinds of pieces of printed paper left over from experimenting with the Gelli Plate that I have no idea what to do with. Some, like this one, I really like, others I should probably put in the bonfire pile. Well, I would if we had a bonfire. I really think a lot of the art I have done in college over the last few years would make good burning material...should burn pretty well due to all the turps :p

More messing around with the gelli plate and the fish lino plate. So far with the gelli plate, I seem to prefer the ghost prints over the first pulled print.

  Proof prints of the Jabberwocky carving. If I was going to mat this, I would mat right up the the edge of the images so that there was no white edges; the image would flow better without the white. Made a blue background (its shiny :D ),with the gelli-plate and then used the lino like a giant stamp. And a red version, which I think works better. The blue looks a bit too washed out for me.

Lots of blue prints, and a proof print for the Jabberwocky in the back. Should making art be this much fun? :p

Test print for college, using an excerpt from the "Jabberwocky Poem".  After every pulled print I have been saying cool, probably getting annoying :p I think this would actually be more effective if it was bigger, not sure how I would do that yet tho....*puts thinking cap on*

I was told something in class that really made my day :D Related to printmaking and let me know I am on the right track art wise, so I can keep making a mess :p 3 dragons hidden in this print, that was really just printed as an after thought to get the paint off the plate and not waste it.

A very neat looking mess tho :) Kind of reminds me of batik work, I like it. Expect a lot of gelli printing in the future,(partly to get my monies worth out of the plate :p)