Print Inktober 2022: Days 24-31

I limped into October feeling creatively drained. #PrintInktober and my self-imposed chine-collé challenge have reinvigorated by creativity.  Yay!  Before I share this final round of prints, a quick reminder about what #PrintInktober is — It's the annual printmaking adventure I started in 2018.  The challenge is open to everyone.  Here are the basics:

• Create and post one print each day in October.
• Use the hashtag #printinktober when you post.
• Any stamp/block can be used – foam, silicone, rubber, hand carved, lino, whatever you want!
• Any ink can be used – screenprinting ink, marker ink, stamping ink, printing ink, etc.
• You can use the list of prompts, if you’d like.  Or not.
• MOST IMPORTANTLY: Have fun and don’t worry if you miss a day (or more). The point of the challenge is to get those stamps out of storage and into use!!

Here's what I've made for days 24-31 (for each piece, you will see a still photo and a video embedded from instagram):

If you're interested in learning all the details about how to do chine-collé at home and without a press or even hand carved stamps, I am teaching a live online chine-collé Zoom class on Friday, November 11, 2022.  There are just a few spots left!  If you can't attend live, class will be recorded and if you sign up, you will be sent the recording.

This has been such a super fun challenge.  A few thoughts about my personal experience with #PrintInktober this year:

ONE: Giving myself a specific but open challenge has always been a good choice.  I'm still working my way through the hand printed fabric stash I made in 2019 when I decided to use #PrintInktober to print a fat quarter every day.

This chine-collé challenge has been equally good for me.  I'll have to think about what to do next year....

TWO: A daily challenge is all consuming.  It feels very much like I did nothing else on my to-do list this month.  In my experience, the only way to make a daily challenge not all consuming is to make things extremely simple.  For example, the only way I made it through #CarveDecember in 2019 (it began less than a week after my son was born) was to strictly limit the size of my stamps and the amount of time I would spend on the project.  Every stamp I carved that December was under an inch and printed on a manila tag.  

THREE: I normally spend a lot of time looking through and commenting on other people's work during challenges.  This year I simply didn't have the bandwith to do it and I really missed the community aspect of a challenge like this.  It had a very different feeling.  Most years it feels like a team sport and this year I felt more like a distance runner.  In the future I need to think about taking on a less time consuming project so that I have the time to look through other people's work and participate in the community.

All in all, it was an excellent month and I'm looking forward to #CarveDecember beginning in just a few weeks!

Thanks for stopping by!