Learning how to print multi block linocut cats on an etching press..meow meow!

I've been working on a birthday commission of my old colleague's  cats, Tig and Tab. After taking the jump and quitting another non-arty full time job to try progress my art, I was very pleased to get this commission just at the right time.I decided to try out multi-block printing on my etching press, as I've not had chance to do this yet, this was an interesting and challenging experience, so I though I'd share some of the key mistakes/learning points for next time with you.

Cutting the plates

The cutting of the plates was lovely and relaxing as usual whilst listening to women's hour and various dramas on radio 4.

Printing & registration

This is where trouble set in. Things I have learned:

1. Pad out the the front of your block with a scrap strip of lino to help prevent movement and even out the pressure when it goes under the rollers

2. Use something like cardboard with a bit of give and NOT lino to create your jig around the lino block. This helps prevent line marks pressing into your paper.

3. Either carefully pad out your template or just print in 1 direction on the etching press to help reduce movement again. I printed left to right with the following jig:

4. If working in an outdoor brick shed, make sure you get a fan heater so that your inks don't get too stiff and lose the ability to roll out or print evenly.

5. Close the door tightly if working on a gale force wind day..

6. If you decide to use your letterpress black over your linseed oil relief inks because you think that black is much nicer than the other perfectly good relief print black, then mix in a bit of linseed reducing oil to help reduce the stiffness of the letterpress ink. This helps achieve a good even overprinted image. I read somewhere about printing fat over lean so that each layer sticks to the paper properly. Or better still, maybe don't mix different types of ink on top of each other..

7. Take a break if everything seems to be going wrong.

8. Do a happy dance when everything comes together and you get some prints you are pleased with! Yay :)

Happy New Year's Eve to anyone who got this far down too!

My first solo Christmas Craft fairs

I just took part in my first solo craft fairs over the last 2 weeks. I've taken part in shared stalls before which have been well received, and so finally plucked up the courage to brave it on my own. I'm quite a worrier and so had my reservations before the first fair such as worrying about whether I had enough products to sell, worrying that no-one would buy anything, worrying that I would sell out and have an empty looking stall etc. But after lots of frantic making, a heavy husky cold and a huge packed suitcase, I made it to the Hope House Christmas market!

 A happy and blurry me with my stall

It was the perfect venue for stepping out on my own, the atmosphere was really relaxed and Christmassy with live music, lots of really friendly makers and some delicious winter stew and mulled cider. It was hosted upstairs in  a lovely newish venue, The Belgrave in Leeds. I'd not been in the upstairs before and was really surprised at the size of the room. It had a good sized dance floor where our stalls were and a 'proper' stage for the bands. It even had a back relaxed 'sitting room' style area with comfy sofas at the back. I will be definitely be going to a gig there soon.

There was a good flow of visitors and I  was really happy to have sold both of my framed etchings as Christmas gifts. My etchings and linocuts don't seem to sell as well as my books online, but when people see my art in the real, the reaction is so much better. I think I need to work more on my photography so that people have that same interest as they do when they see the work in real life.

My stall

The other fair I attended as the DAC Beachcroft Christmas fair. This was for the staff at a solicitors in Leeds. I was really pleased to have been approached to attend this based on one of the staff seeing my work on Folksy, so people do actually look at my Folksy shop! This fair was much quieter as I think the majority of the office were getting ready for their Christmas party, but I still sold a few items and so it was worth it. I met a lovely chocolatier, Pat from Sugar Violets who saw me salivating over her reindeer lollies and kindly gave me three broken chocolate lollies! They were delicious, she is a very talented lady who makes all her chocolate by hand.

Tasty choc lollies from Sugar Violets 

(bad photo taken on my tablet, I was too eager to eat them!)

Overall, I has a great time meeting customers and seeing their reactions to my products in the real. I've learnt a lot and am now planning to create a series of mountainous etchings to complement my etching of Scafell Pike. Looking forward to getting my boots on and climbing a few more hills.

Scafell Pike, original etching on Somerset satin paper.

21.5 x 26.5cm © Laura Long 2013

Easy Squeegee: The Annual Affordable Print Exhibition

Looking for a unique and beautiful Christmas present? Well look no further than Easy Squeegee: The Annual Affordable Print Exhibition. This is set to be a great contemporary show, highlighting the print talent in Hull and beyond. I'll have a few prints for sale and there is something for everyone with prices starting at around £10.

The preview is tomorrow evening 6 - 8pm at Artlink, Hull. The fair then runs from 16th November - 25th January 2014.

Brains, brains, brains - 20:20 Print 2013

The last few weeks I've been busy cutting and printing lots of brains for the 20:20 print exhibition. This is an annual print exchange run by Hot Bed Press where lots of different print workshops across the UK get 20 of their members together to make print editions to swap with other print workshops across the country. Each print must also be 20 x 20cm in size.

This is my first time taking part and I've really enjoyed putting together my largest edition size to date, with an edition of 25.

The print is all about anxiety, something I've been suffering a lot of recently, so I apologise if you find the final image colours a little too much, but that's what it's like in my head sometimes! I'm particularly pleased to have just hit the deadline amidst these last few days of printing and vomiting after catching some kind of winter bug. Here are some photos of my progress:

Sunny bird photo album to celebrate sunny September

This weekend was unusually warm and sunny after last week's cold spell. To celebrate this, I've been working on a bright yellow photo album that would be perfect for a wedding.

Today, I've been carving a linocut lovebird design to go on the front of the album. I thought I'd share some of the process with you to show the different stages involved in making one of my books, and also some of the difficulties encountered when printing!

Stage 1: Cut the pages, sew the book block and attach the end papers. I found a zingy yellow linen thread that will go beautifully with my covers, it's just a shame that most of the stitching will be hidden..

 Stage 2: After working out and cutting my linocut design, it's time to print it!

I take initial test prints on scrap paper:

I then re-cut the lino block with some final tweaks before printing onto the 'proper' final paper:

 

My designs are quite detailed and delicate, so they come out best when I apply lots of thin layers of ink to the block. But sometimes the print looks too pale if I've not rolled enough ink onto the block. You might like this effect, but I prefer a strong bold print.  Sometime, I will try to rectify this by re-printing the block, but as you can see above, you can end up with a double image which looks a bit blurred.

Printing a block well takes time to get enough ink on the block and the right pressure from your press. But with some perseverance, you finally get the elusive print you were looking for. Hooray!

Here's a shot of the final book, all glued together and ready to go between boards for a final press.

New logo!

As you can see, I've changed my logo to a much nicer magpie with a moon in the background. Thank you so much to Cristina at Sombras Blancas for designing such a beautiful and much improved logo and banner for me!

Papermaking

Yesterday, I went to a workshop at the lovely West Yorkshire Print Workshop to learn the art of Papermaking. It was really fun (and very stinky!) mushing up paper, getting very wet and making lots of lovely sheets of handmade paper.

It's really easy to make paper, you just tear up any old paper, add water, add some plant fibers and pulp it up with a kitchen blender. Next, take a large container such as a plastic box, fill with water and add the pulp and swirl.

Finally, get a mould and deckle, and scoop the pulp onto it to make beautiful sheets of paper.  The more pulp, the thicker the paper.

Here are some of my experimental sheets:

 

The whiter sheets were made by adding titanium oxide to the pulp. We also added Daphne to the pulp, a type of Nepalese plant paper. Can't wait to get tearing up and pulping more old paper now, what better way to recycle all that junk mail!

Maker of the week

I spend lots and I mean lots, of time browsing other maker's beautiful shops on Etsy, getting drawn in by all the exquisite hand made items. So I've decided to devote part of my blog to a 'maker of the week' section.

This week i'd like to introduce you to a talented lady I came across called Kaija, whose shop is called paperiaarre

Apparantly this is Finnish for 'paper treasure' and she wasn't lying. Her book binding is just beautiful, she is truly a master bookbinder; and I really like the elegance of her brooches.

 

 

I was lucky enough to win a goodie bag of miniature books and postcards from a give away on her blog, and I'm now saving up for one of her beautiful brooches. 
 

my goodie bag!

Go over to her Etsy shop and take a peek..

Christmas already...?and exhibitions

I know, I know it's only August! But, I've just finished my first batch of Christmas card stock, hurray! I used to work in a library and hence have amassed a large collection of old damaged books with missing pages and cracked spines. I've finally found another good use for them as paper cuts for Christmas cards. For the designs, I chose all the things I loved as a child at Christmas:

Even more exciting news.. One of my etchings, 'My Father's Tears,' has been selected for a prize in the New Lights exhibition! This is a competition to promote and support emerging young artists in contemporary art in the North of England. This is particularly special for me, as the print they selected is a very personal piece reflecting on my father's death when I was a child. So I'm just really pleased that his memory will be celebrated in this exhibition.

For anyone who lives in Yorkshire, the exhibition will be on at the Mercer Gallery, Harrogate from 20th Sept – 17th November.

 

 © Laura Long 2013

A new beginning

Hello, I'm Magpie Moonshine and I make hand bound books and original contemporary prints; the ones that pass my quality test make it into my Etsy shop here: magpiemoonshine.etsy.com.

I went to a rival's Summer School (shhhh! don't tell etsy!) in a beautiful hideaway in the woods for the Folksy Summer School

I volunteered there and it was really refreshing to be surrounded by other eager creatives. I felt like I'd found my second home: a course in the woods with a wonky wood-framed house.

I was so busy taking down notes and soaking in the atmosphere that I didn't get chance to take any photos but if you're interested in a more detailed round up of the weekend you can find it here: http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=3d1c6a149b4d82013b3fd0b15&id=10699476e6

Anyway, one of the key things that came out of this weekend was that I've still not got round to creating a dedicated blog for Magpie Moonshine, I have my own personal blog, but that has lately been drifting into a learning log for my Illustration course. So instead of procrastinating, I thought, just start it! and here it is.

So hello to anyone who might be reading this slightly rough around the edges blog. I'm hoping we can go on a journey of improvement together, where I'll be featuring my favourite printmakers, work in progress and maybe offering some tutorials on book binding and printmaking.

I thought I'd start with what I've been up to last night:

I've been playing with old library books and trying out different snowflake designs. A lot of them didn't make the cut and have ended up in here:
 

But some worked out well! I've also been getting the rest of my artist book editions ready for binding. Nearly there..