Fire 2012 (Chimú)

Here is a little behind the scenes post to show you my process as well as the amount of work that goes into creating a print that is rather simple looking. 

Sketch inspired by Master Weavers of the Toadlena & Two Grey Hills Region, 

a recent show at The Wheelwright Museum In Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

Here I am filling in the pattern with pencil on a grid before I begin to cut the linoleum. 

This is the "red" plate. 

This is the "black" plate.

Linoleum shavings. This is approximately 1 evening's worth of lino shavings.
Roughly about 2-3 hours work.

Here is a rough cut of the "black" plate. At this point I have gone over this design 3 times. 

With the 1st pass I made a shallow cut around the edges of the design using a small V shaped No 1 blade. This way when the graphite smears away I still have my pattern line.With the 2nd pass I scoop out large pieces of lino using a C shaped No 5 blade. At this point the plate begins to take shape and looks like lo-relief. On the 3rd pass I use a larger V shaped No 2 or 3 blade to add sharper detail and clean up the edges of the pattern.

Finally on the forth pass I use a No 4 blade to flatten out the ridges created earlier with the 5 blade. 

Here is the "red" plate inked on press. You can see the small blocks of wood I have cut to serve as furniture to hold the lino plate in place. I should mention at this point the plate is mounted to particle board.

And here is the black plate.

Fire in the Sky (Chimú)
tArvis © 2012
13" x 17"
2 color linoleum print
$25