What We Have Learned:

Printmaking is hard.

The carving was easy enough, but I’m havin’ a helluva time with ink coverage. For whatever reason, no matter what paper I use, I’m pulling it up with all these white spots.

I’m guessing it’s a combo of cheapass Speedball ink and not enough pressure, since it’s not like I own a press or anything. I’m damping the paper before printing, and I’ve got an array of papers I’m using, none of which are notably better than any others. I’m rubbing it down with a makeshift baren (old doorknob) for a little under a minute before pulling. Any advice from experienced people would be very welcome (I’ll call my stepdad tomorrow, but damnit, I wanna know now!)

Here’s a picture of one of my (many, many) proofs, that’s got the least failures of coverage…not high art, but I figured I better start simple.

Exclamatory Chicken

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