Project 7: Multi - block Lino print

For this print I decided to develop one of the ideas in my sketchbook. It is the image of a pug constructed using fingerprints to reflect the fact that humans have interfered with the conformation of these dogs by selective breeding. Stamping our human (cultural) identity on them by producing what our consumerist society wants without consideration of the welfare of the resulting animal. Our fingerprints are all over these animals:

Pen drawing from A5 sketchbook

I'm running low on Lino so I chose three approximately A5 blocks that I had. They weren't exactly the same size which meant I had to try to cut them to the same size using the guillotine (my first mistake - I didn't realise I hadn't successfully achieved this until the end of the project).

I decided to make one block for the detail and print this in the darkest colour (black). One block for the general colour of the face and body, and another for the tongue and some details around the eyes and nose. 

I transferred the shapes I wanted to use onto each block by tracing from the sketchbook onto each separate block. (my second mistake: - I hadn't read the instructions in the course book properly. It was impossible to ensure that my blocks matched up correctly in this way.)

The carving process took some time because in the key block I had to carve away a lot of the line leaving very thin lines of black so it was necessary to be very careful with the carving. When carving away the lino, I was careful with the direction of the marks because I was aware that marks would show. I made directional marks extending outwards from the head in a kind of 'sunburst' effect on all three blocks. I did encounter a slight problem during the carving process: as I carved more of the blocks away the tendency for them to curve/curl up seemed to increase. I put some heavy textbooks on top of them between my working sessions to try to flatten them but it didn't really work. 

Single colour print of the detail or 'key block'

In order to align the plates and paper when printing I used a combination of a jig made from cut up mount board and Ternes Burton (click here to see these on the handprinted website) registration pins. On previous lino courses I've tried just using a registration sheet prepared by drawing round the paper and the plate. However, I haven't found this particularly successful. I seem to be particularly bad at placing the paper - even if I align consistently to one corner - something always seems to shift at the last minute. The Ternes Burton system makes life so much easier. However, I did still have one problem with the registration system. Because the plates kept curving, I struggled to place them accurately within the jig. They tended to spring up which meant I was relying on the press to flatten them down and couldn't be completely sure that the registration would be spot on.

Registration system: The blocks are aligned to the
mount-board jig. Tabs are attached to the paper which
click onto the registration pins to allow the paper to be
repositioned accurately for each layer.

Combination of the two colour blocks

So far, it seemed to be going OK. It was only when I combined the colour blocks with the key block that I realised the errors I'd made: 

1. The block for the tongue and nose (pink) was obviously smaller than the key block despite my efforts to cut the blocks to the same size.
2. There was quite a large discrepancy between the outlines of the head and body on the key block and those on the coloured (yellow) block.

The pink block is smaller than the black block - this is especially visible on the left side of the print

The carving on the yellow plate doesn't match the carving on the black block

Three block print

I was disappointed with the result so I reviewed the technique to see how to accurately align the images on three blocks. Obviously the problem of the different sized blocks was a separate issue. But my main question was how to transfer the image from one block to the others. I thought I'd been pretty accurate in tracing mu images in multiple layers but this was not the case. There must be a better way.

I found a You tube video which suggested carving the key block first and then transferring this to the other plates by printing onto non absorbent paper (tracing paper) and then placing this paper over the next block and transferring the ink from the paper to the second and subsequent block. When I re-read the course book I realised that this step was included in the instructions for this project but for some reason I had overlooked it. 

I decided to do this retrospectively in order to try to improve the print:

Image transferred from the key block to the
next (yellow) block

I carved away areas that didn't match up but I decided against trying to cut the blocks to exactly the same size because I wasn't confident that I cut trim the two larger blocks while maintaining the alignment between the three block. To get around the problem of the smaller block, I carved away more lino from the 'white' areas so that hopefully the discrepancy in the edge of the plate wouldn't be so obvious. I also printed this plate I a paler colour so that the edge of the plate wouldn't be so obvious against the white. I also removed some of the details around the eyes which didn't seem to be working and were not well aligned.

The plates ended up line this: 

Key block

Yellow block

Pink block

I re-printed the three blocks together using a pale pink and a tan colour:

Re-print after re-carving

The discrepancy in the carving has been resolved here, and the discrepancy in the plates is somewhat less obvious. However, the colour combination is not interesting. A more serious problem, is that, having carved away the coloured part of the body, it just looks like a head floating in space. It would have been a better approach to carve away the black outline of the body on the left side of the key block and leave the coloured part. I'd got tunnel vision about matching the other plates to the key block and hadn't considered that the reverse could have worked too. I could have carved a further block to print just the body but I wasn't generally happy with the image so I decided to move on instead.

So far I had printed with water-based ink on cartridge paper. My plan had been to eventually print with quality oil-based inks and to try a variety of papers. However, I was unhappy with the image I'd made and felt that this attempt didn't warrant going any further with. The image  itself doesn't really communicate what I wanted it to anyway. It just looks like a stylised pug on drugs. The only thing I like is the texture on his nose.

This has been a very useful exercise, because the errors I made really helped me learn a great deal about creating multi-block prints. I would like to repeat this exercise from the beginning, but I have run out of time and must submit what I've done so far. I will have a second attempt if I am able to find an opportunity. 

What I learnt:

• ALWAYS READ THE INSTRUCTIONS THOROUGHLY BEFORE YOU START !!!!!
• It is of paramount importance that your blocks are of exactly the same size.
• I learnt how to use a combination of a jig and the Ternes Burton registration system to align plates and paper.
• Carve the most detailed block first and transfer this image to your subsequent blocks to ensure that the images coincide.