Here's what I did for days 23-31 of #PrintInktober:
These are all videos embedded from instagram. If you click on them you can see still photos too. If you are reading this on e-mail, you probably have to click through to read this post on my blog if you want to see the videos.
I'm doing my best to use what I have in new and interesting ways. The good news is that it turns out that I have *a ton* of stamps!
What I Like: I love the finished print. I love masking as a stamping technique. I love this color combo too.
What I Can Improve: I didn't do a great job cutting out the mask and so there's a bit more of a gap than I'd like.
What I Like: I love this stamp. And I love printing a light color on a dark background.
What I Can Improve: I don't love the uneven printing of the gold ink. It makes the squares really obvious, rather than seeing an overall print. I think I could have been more generous with the gold ink (I was stingy) and the printing would have gone better. Also, this is a very detailed stamp. It might print better with stamping ink rather than block printing ink.
What I Like: I love the finished print. I love that these two stamp sets seem to go together, even though that was never my intention.
What I Can Improve: Dare I say, this one is kind of perfect to me! I'm satisfied.
What I Like: Masking off these "snowflakes" creates a very finished feeling in the final print. I love how these little shapes create something greater.
What I Can Improve: This isn't a printing issue. It's a carving issue. When I carved these stamps, I didn't really measure the angles and so they don't really fit together correctly. I can do better!
What I Like: I love my carved brayers.
What I Can Improve: I still struggle with even inking of these patterned brayers. And I probably didn't need to use every single one...it's very busy.
What I Like: I love the finished print in all its simplicity. And I cannot believe that it's just the letter "x!"
What I Can Improve: I could have been a bit more careful about crossing the x's -- there are a few spots where it's off.
What I Like: I feel like I embraced imperfection here. I want all the lines to touch, but taking a step back, the gaps look intentional and create a nice open feeling in the print.
What I Can Improve: My spacing is off. If I had just made a few measurements and tick marks, I probably could have had a much cleaner print.
What I Like: I love the center section of the print where the "u's" make a kind of long oval shape. Reminds me of paperclips somehow.
What I Can Improve: I wish I hadn't used the orange. I think it makes the print less polished.
What I Like: The way that the "a's" created that super cool center section surprised and delighted me. This was a super fun experiment!
What I Can Improve: I feel like the print got a bit busy with all the overlapping "o's."
And now some overall feelings about the whole experience:
- Of all of the daily challenges that I've done, this was by far the easiest. I made it a bit harder on myself by videoing the process every single day. Without that element, I could easily do this project every single day, even when traveling.
- It was great fun to drag out old stamps -- stamps I haven't used in ages -- and give them a go. I actually feel like the old stamps are inspiring me to want to carve a bunch of new stamps! (Good thing #CarveDecember is coming!)
- As much as I wanted this month to be an exploration of printing, I found myself reaching for new stamps almost every day. I'd love to try this project again with a severely limited palette of stamps. That way the focus would really be on creative printing rather than reaching deeper into the drawer of stamps.
- I think a month of printing might be better after #CarveDecember, rather than before -- you know, to use all of those stamps.
- I think it's funny that I tried all kinds of stamps -- hand carved, rubber, wood, foam, etc. -- but I didn't really use a lot of different printing techniques. A bit of masking, an experiment with chine-collé, but pretty much everything else was very straightforward.
- I have become increasingly interested in registration. Registration is the process by which you are able to perfectly place your stamped images where you want them. There are myriad registration techniques to explore!
Did you participate in #PrintInktober? What are your thoughts on the topic?
Thanks for stopping by!
