hand pulled prints

What do you think? Please excuse the wonky camera angle... the image is a proper rectangle in real life. Rather than the usual white I chose some gorgeous coloured paper with a slight texture to print my carved lino on this morning as a bit of an experiment. The different colours go beautifully with each other. I'm thinking it would be lovely to have a set of different carvings on toning papers as a series.

The ink is still drying on this one... I love this olive green paper. I used the back of a wooden spoon as a brayer. I do have a fancy baren but my spoon is so much better! I don't know why that is, maybe it's because it's how I learned to do it. Maybe one day I will have a proper press... something to dream about. Or should I say, never lose hope ;-)

a new lino print in the works

This is what I've been up to over the last couple of days or so, planning and carving a new block print. I think it's almost finished. I had designed it in my journal/sketchbook, it's basically a notebook I bought which has all different blue and turquoise pages and I tend to use it for everything... list making, rubber stamp thinking, to do lists, ideas when they strike me, designs for cards, prints, brainstorming... etc. This time when I was re-drawing my design onto the lino I completely changed everything except the bird about 5 times until I was happy, remembering to put the text so it read backwards. What I do is carve to a point where I can't bear it and have to make a print to see how it's looking, then carve a bit more. This is waiting for a test print to see if it's finished after I carved the top section away. Hope so!

Wishwoos

My silly name for fish! I'm still driving myself crazy looking at the number of views of my earrings on etsy!!! Thanks to everyone who's added me as a favourite seller or favourited one of my items!! Cheers!! You're all lovely!! I'm thinking of adding a linoprint later. I've figured out that the best time to add items is in the early evening here when most of the usa has woken up and we're still awake over here. That's my theory anyway.

Now, please would you go over and see gromit and tell her she must sell her cyclist gloves on etsy. They are just so funny! You will see why when you click on the link. ;-)

Have a wonderful weekend people!! :-D

mr sparrow lino print

I thought I'd share this lino print with you that I did a while ago but never got around to posting. It's called Mr Sparrow and is inspired by the house sparrows that nest in next door's roof! There is a little gap by the drain pipe and they happily raise their young in there. Then they spend the rest of their time in the spiky berberis bush keeping an eye on what's going on and the local cat before eating seeds from the feeder.

warmest wishes

Just a quick post (no pun intended!) to say merry christmas to you all. I hope you have a lovely day tomorrow. It's been a wonderful year of blogging for me and I feel like I've met so many great people through writing here. You've made it a pleasure with your lovely comments and emails! I'll probably be back here in the new year if not before.

Warmest festive wishes to you and a happy new year! x

making christmas

I've been wondering what to post about because while I have been making lots of things recently as crimble presents I don't want to spoil the surprise for anyone! It is so difficult to keep things a secret!! I have to try extra hard because I'm rubbish at it!

I have been carving lots of rubber stamps and P cut me some little blocks of wood for the very thin rubber sheets I have. I wasn't sure what glue to use so I chose superglue. I was slightly worried that it might dissolve the stamps or something but it seems to have worked fine and makes life sooo much easier. I no longer have ink all over my fingers. ;-) I thought I would have to turn up to the christmas parties covered in ink! :-)

Starting to feel very festive and I've bought a cd with classic christmas songs on like White Christmas by Bing Crosby and Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt. It's great! There are a few dodgy ones on there like All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth but I just skip over those ones!

I love seeing what everyone's up to on their blogs... pics of christmas trees, handmade cards and baking. Hope you're enjoying the build up to christmas as much as I am.

little bird stamp

You know it's very satisfying making stamps, knowing you can use them again and again when you've finished carving them. This one is based on a sketch I made of a blue tit.

I really want to draw the squirrel but it just won't keep still or come close enough! Great opportunity today when it scampered onto the patio but couldn't find my sketchbook. Really annoying!

What are you up to this weekend? Anything fun? Have a good one!

Come back summer!!

Summer seems to have gone downhill here. It's all grey clouds and rain. I'm sure you've heard about the awful flooding there's been recently. We escaped luckily but reading the headlines while we were away was really shocking. Those poor people.

I've given up sun dancing and have decided to get on with my latest lino print, hoping it will inject a bit of summer back into my life. Not sure if I've made it a bit too intricate but I'll soon find out when I start carving. It's one of the old fashioned ice cream vans. A Bedford van I think.

My blog break was... mmm... refreshing? ...different? ... definitely a challenge. We had a break from life in general and went to the Isles of Scilly for a couple of weeks. In a tent. Not the best choice in this weather.
:-o
But that's a whole separate post!

Hope the sun's shining on you wherever you are.

Teacup love No.2 and some birthday cakes

It was such a lovely day here yesterday. The sun was so hot it felt like a summer's day so I sat out on the balcony to carve the lino, listening to the sounds of people doing their gardening, dogs barking, birds singing, a radio playing somewhere in the distance. It was very relaxing. Later we sat out and had a glass of wine and watched the sun go down. Very romantic!

I'm really pleased with how the new print has come out. I tried it in more of a raspberry colour than the other teacup by adding a bit of white to the ink. So I think I will print both blocks in the same colour to make a set which I may add to with another one when I find a new teacup.

By the way, I want to thank everyone for their comments and imput into the design of the first teacup. The majority thought that the original was better so I have decided to leave it alone and print it as it is. You've all been very helpful. Thank you!

P's birthday was also a good day and featured lots of walking, wildlife, a picnic and a meal out. I made some cakes for him using directions from a book by Peggy Porschen but changed the design slightly. They reminded me of something which I couldn't quite put my finger on. Then sally_jane on Flickr said she loved the 'big top' ones and hit the nail on the head!

Photoshopped version of lino print

Ok, this is like spot the difference! I've used photoshop to see what the print would be like if I removed some of the lines above the cup to create more of a band. Now, which is better?

teacup love - lino print - first proof

It's been all about birds here recently, so this makes a nice change.

Now, maybe you can help... I can't decide if this is the finished cut or not. I'm trying to decide whether to make a small band of white space above the cup. I've had a bit of advice from some flickr friends but they both said different things... I'm a bit stuck!!

I did the initial drawing at my parent's house on Mother's Day. I've always loved this china. Underneath it says Royal Albert, True Romance. They are very romantic, that's for sure.

Bird on a wire - lino print

Here's another offering.

'Bird on a wire'
Edition of 25
Printed on archival Japanese Simili paper
Image size = 10.5 x 15cm
White painted pine frame = 16.5 x 21.5cm

Little Wren framed and for sale

£12 including postage

I have 6 of these framed at the moment out of an edition of 25.

The frames are made of wood with a card backing and perspex instead of glass. This is great for posting and is also an advantage if it's for a child's room. Frames are 21.5cm x 16.5cm. Image is 15cm x 10cm.

Little Wren Lino cut

My first attempt at creating a lino cut since primary school. I was inspired by some prints that I bought from littlest flower. Really pleased with how it turned out. They are 145mm x 105mm.

The following photos show the process.

If you would be interested in buying one of these for a small amount, say £10, let me know in the comments and I might put them on etsy or even put a paypal button here (if I can figure out how to do it!). Thanks :-)

ps. Sorry for all the seperate posts. I have just installed new security software on my computer and for some reason I can't turn off the block on the popups so I've had to use Flickr to post the pics.

My very messy table and my notebook with the waiting drawn out lino. Luckily remembered to turn the text around so it would print properly.

Lino cut in progress.

The almost finished, carved lino. I always think that carved lino is more attractive than the prints. Well, most of the time.

Finished linocut printed