Above is the final finished carving of the “Regenerations – Waratahs” linoblock. It has been a slow progress – for example it took a full day to finish the central panel leaves. To give you an idea of the size of the block , the final printed image is 51cm x 30cm. The image on the right of the linoblock above shows the template image – note that it is a mirror image of the block – it is important to remember that when the image is printed it will print in reverse to the carved linoblock.
On the left is a detailed close-up is below – it shows the different types of carving including the finer line work.
It is these fine lines that will mean that I need to think about how carefully I ink this block will have to be a careful process to not over-ink and fill up these fine lines with ink and lose all the fine lines.
The final stage in the whole process is to print a ‘proof’ – this is usually the first look at the design in print and is the stage where you can look at how it has actually printed and whether any adjustments need to be made to the carving. One mistake that shows up on the proof print below is glaring and is on the left side down the bottom between the bract of the flower and the central panel. I have highlighted the section in red where I have missed placing the fine line carving. So will fix this and any other minor adjustments before completing the edition. The value of a ‘proof’ print is the same as proof-reading – you can hopefully fix the mistakes before publishing or in printmaking before editioning.
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