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So many Trees last year
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With everything that has been going on neither my wife or I have felt particularly festive. Yet the holidays are closing in fast and the only thing we have done for the Christmas card is the design (which will not yet be revealed). Suddenly I'm feeling very enthused about it though, so I'm running with it.
I have ordered new inks for this card as I'm going to try my hand at using multiple colors this year. That means that each color needs its own printing block to be carved. The design is pretty straightforward so the carving is pretty simple, especially compared to last year's tree. The key will be getting everything lined up properly.
I'm also go to try a new transfer technique using acrylic gel medium, crossing my fingers on this one as its by far the fastest and easiest way I have seen. The one example I saw was a piece that must have been 2'x3' and it worked like a charm. I made four copies of the design and started the transfer process on to the linoleum. I'll need to have the carving done quickly so we can get straight to the printing stage since each color needs about 3 days to dry completely, although I suppose they don't have to be completely dry, will have to think about that.
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| Forgot that we had to make a trip to Hobby Lobby. We are going with a brown card this year, although that will now require some rethinking of the design which originally was going to use the white of the card for an element of the design will just have to rethink that a bit. |
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| Starting the transfer, a piece of linoleum, a cheap brush and Matte Gel |
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| Spread a relatively thin coating on the linoleum, as thin and even as possible |
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Here I'm using the registration marks on the design to get the linoleum in the right spot. Far easier on this small card to place the linoleum on the paper than the other way around.
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A fuzzy image with the paper side up and any air pockets smoothed out. In theory, I should be able to peel this off and it will leave the toner from the print on the linoleum. If that doesn't work I'll try an alternative technique using the matte gel.
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Very interesting! Hopefully the transfer comes out well.
ReplyDeletePrinting your own cards is a great tradition.
I'll definitely post a picture or two after the gel dries. I just checked it and the paper still felt a bit damp. I hate waiting for stuff to dry.
DeleteI do like the tradition, my parents did it for years so most of this I picked up from my Dad. You just go into it thinking you are going to save money by doing your own. I think we will be around $150 this year after buying supplies. Of course once you have the inks that expense drops down to nothing and linoleum is pretty cheap. But I get a great deal of happiness going through the process.
And given the state of Christmas cards these days, getting happiness from the process is key.
DeleteIt certainly is! Every year I try something new, that certainly doesn't help the process!
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