Fish five ways

 TerraSkin

I've been drawing fish and printing fish and thinking about fish.  I may soon grow gills!


In my experimenting with some collographs and relief prints I used a piece of 1/8" foam to 'sketch' my image on, then indented the lines that would remain uncoloured.  I inked the foam piece and used it on a sheet of TerraSkin that I had in my art stash.  The print worked well on the TerraSkin surface and perhaps the foam texture helped the ink adhere better.  Drying time even with water based inks is longer on TerraSkin as the paper doesn't absorb any moisture, similar to how Yupo behaves.

 Ink stained paper

I also used a piece of Somerset printing paper, a piece of handmade ACEO paper from India, ink stained paper, and a sheet of plain paper that was my initial test piece.

 Handmade Indian paper

 Somerset paper

I printed an edition of six pieces using the same foam plate but found that the pressure from the baren degrades the plate and it needs to be washed and re-incised again between prints to get a clear image. However, its useful for quick ideas and if there aren't linoblocks handy.  Its also easier on my hand and more like drawing than carving.

 Plain paper, test sheet

I tried a different plate on Somerset printing paper, but the paper was too damp and blurred the image a little.  Lesson learned.  I shall try again.

Japanese Chiri paper

These prints are about 6.5 x 8" and the small edition will be available to purchase on Etsy.