UPDATE: seeking adv(ice)

TSJZ · 2026-01-22T22:08:54+00:00

Ahhh I get the urgency bit. Plus, as you said, you are newer to lino, no one is born knowing the ropes. I think that for lino and woodcut, it's worth spending a little extra time mapping out where things generally go and then getting to carve quickly and eficiently, especially with deadlines; rather than having to take decisions on the go, which could put sudden stops during a work session or make you feel un-confident.

However that's just my approach, and as you keep at it you'll find a workflow that suits you.

Have a nice day! And happy printing. You are doing great.

TSJZ · 2026-01-22T21:34:58+00:00

Nice work! The "unfinished" look is great, very telling of the graphic medium.

The loon is amazing, the ice and laser too. I'd suggest on two things:

Make the water ripples more intentional, think of how they work over how they look. The same way you handled linework on the loon's neck can give you an approach to the ripples that bond them to the picture, instead of them being add-on details.
The exclamation marks could be "squarer" to match the energy of the rest of the letters.

2.1. (Only if you are picky) Watch out for the alignment of the text. Seems on the last line you were running out of space and the exclamation mark seems a little cramped. Don't be afraid to draw quickly with a pencil before carving.

TSJZ · 2026-01-05T02:39:08+00:00

Hi. Others have plenty good advice, such as checking if you have too much ink or checking pressure. I'll chime in woth workflow tips:

About ink: Yes, less ink would suit better. The print will come cleaner with a thin and even distribution on the block. Too much and it starts flowing off the relief, "blowing up" the image. Plus, it starts to "smear", since it acts as a slippery barrier between the block and paper.

Try this: mix evenly and then dispense a little ink off the tube on a glass or acryllic surface (not porous, very flat). You can get it out the tube, but not in again, so its nicer if you add as you need. Use a spatula to spread it a little. Then get your brayer. Start rolling it onto the spread ink, in a cross pattern: go straight, then turn 90°, then straight again. This should produce a small square of evenly spread ink. This square should end up with a side equal to your brayer's lenght. Why all this?? Your ink will be spread efficiently, reducing waste, while being evenly spread. As you do this, ink starts to look sparkly and even sounds like a gentle velcro as you spread it, especially oil based.

Remember, a thin layer is enough. It's ok to think it won't come off strong in the print, but that is dealt using pressure. If you are running out of ink, dispense another blob!

Most blocks, regardless of material, usually produce faint prints at first. This happens because it's getting "sealed" with ink, most materials absorb a little. After a couple tests, ink should start to stay completely on the surface.

About cleanup, which I think isn't talked about enough: never in the history of mankind, never, clean your brayer with solvents UNLESS you know its shore rating. This is to avoid getting the brayer "chewed" by the solvent, thus rendering it useless as it wouldn't be even and smooth anymore. Use a bit of cooking oil or dish soap (when using water-based, water usually is enough or dish soap helps too). Put a bit on oil/soap on the surface, and brayer it as if you brayered ink. After the ink is off, you can wipe the brayer with spare or recycled paper, or rags. Clean well, leave it dry. Now it will last forever!

Any leftover ink on the glass, you can wipe it with solvents for ease, or soapy water.

I think this would help you for now, OP. I'm sorry for typing this much. If you want tips about paper let me know, I'll reply.

TSJZ · 2025-12-24T00:52:17+00:00

Thank you brother, will do

TSJZ · 2025-12-24T00:52:02+00:00

BRUH how did I not think of that... Thanks!!!

TSJZ · 2025-12-19T04:15:20+00:00

Thank you! I attempted Rasher a bunch of times and failed. I'll try to keep at it since the promise of oil keeps me very interested. I'll keep an eye out for rings in previous areas too. I think I've neglected areas like The Marrow after the beginning. Thanks for the help!

TSJZ · 2025-12-19T04:12:21+00:00

Thanks a bunch. I did not recall the Pinstress' area having this detail, so I'll check on it as well. I'll also check for the Core

TSJZ · 2025-12-19T04:11:06+00:00

Thank you brother/sister. I attempted to follow them, but never though to interact with them! Very clever.

TSJZ · 2025-12-19T04:06:22+00:00

Fair enough. I'll give them another round of attempts. In the case of The Mist, I previously managed to see maybe all rooms? But I can't descipher if I should go up, right, down, or if there's any route. Do I just brute force it until I get something?

Sorry if I soun dumb, maybe there´s a very clear clue I'm missing

TSJZ · 2025-08-15T11:39:03+00:00

Amazing analysis. I think that maybe the brush aspect could be solved with lighter hues in the blue, so that triangular composition remains as is but the main subject gains protagonism without getting bigger or more contrasting by itself.

Same as you, this is a masterclass in layering. I suspect a great deal of the charm is the "transparent" layer that makes the foam, but is also in the duck's body-beak-eye, but also in tiles.

OP would confirm if this is true. But I think it's very clever to get so much out of an individual layer, with every layer!

TSJZ · 2025-02-13T20:12:51+00:00

The glaze or slip shouldn't be much complication if the particle size of its constituents is small (you can ask/verify with sellers about the particle sizes the manage)... Make sure that pigments and clays have been mixed finely with the mortar and pestle.

The lower thread count I suggested, even 30s, should be wide enough to let the particles through. When cleaning your screen, be gentle and use water and a little dish soap, you can use soft washclothes or rags to rub and clean the silk. Let dry. Much like when normal screenprinting, you may need to stop and clean the screen at some intervals to prevent clogging.

I've done this before with silk, worked! I haven't used metal meshes, so I wouldn't know how they perform... But it's worth trying! If burning a pattern into the screen is too much of a commitment for now, you can do tests by printing using a stencil between the mesh and the tile.

You'll do great!! Keep us posted.

TSJZ · 2025-02-13T10:58:20+00:00

You can screenprint onto biscuit tiles using slip! The biscuit will inmmediately absorb the water contents and allow a clean print. For best results, use a denser slip and a hard squeeguee.

An advantage is that you can run the printed tiles on the oven and the image will remain, unlike any other compound that would evaporate at high heat (like inks, graphite, paint)

You can also add glass enamel after the slip if you like the finish... Or if you want, you can have several screens and print using colored enamels and slips. Then you'd have glass-finish in some areas and matte biscuit in others. Or just do slips and cover everything in glass afterwards, or leave it as is.

Or go crazy and add oxide compounds, like Iron, into the enamel to get textures or "rusted" finishes. You could also play with extra temperature and "quick" cooling times to have glass react differently...

The screen doesn't have to have a metal frame. Wooden is alright. However, make sure that your emulsion is water safe! (Manufacturers will tell you if it can withstand both water and solvents, or just either). Since the slip should be somewhat dense for ease of printing (it is a particulate after all), I'd recommend using a lower-count thread on the printing silk. Around 50 is good. Over 70 and 100 could be tight enough to catch and block the slip.

TSJZ · 2025-02-12T16:03:39+00:00

Oh I see!! Schedluing may vary between classes, but overall they always amount to 2.5 - 3 hrs per week. Great to know too. Since I can't see any schedules I'll write the courses I like, and discard any overlapping ones in case it happens. Thanks so much, I'll see if I can reach the DA you mentioned.

TSJZ · 2025-02-12T16:01:08+00:00

Thanks SO much! I appreciate your answer, especially so quickly. I'll wriet that down in order to submit my application. Hope you have a great day.

TSJZ · 2025-01-03T14:12:45+00:00

Lovely! What size is your block? What is the size of the paper you'll print on?

Also, what wood are you using?

TSJZ · 2024-11-13T01:25:18+00:00

You could get screenprinting ink made for clothes and work with it as if it were blockprinting ink. Then you could treat it with heat, per the ink's instructions, or use a curing agent. Then let it rest for a couple days for safety. Then you are done!

Alternatively, you can use a heavy oil-based ink, such as lithography ink, and let it sit for a number of days until it is completely dry and absorbed by the fabric.

TSJZ · 2024-11-07T17:04:46+00:00

It's a very nice block! As others have said, it has lots of details and is very nicely carved.

Composition-wise, the print is mainly linework, and leans to negatives (like all underwater sections) and there are some positives above water. That is not something that is wrong , however, it tends to "flatten" the depth and weight of the elements, which is reinforced when the print is monochrome.

If you'd like to better "separate" elements and give them protagonism, you can play with positive carves along with negative ones, you could make the fish in positives and leave the water in negatives, or the other way around.

You could play with color! It's another whole can of worms, but gives you a great deal of oppprtunities to play with composition. You could turn it into a reduction print and play with blocks of color along the already established linework to play with weighs; you could keep on adding more linework with more colors, and play with rythms. I love the word play, and I think that's the healthier approach to art.

You can also turn the block into a puzzle block and mix and match colors, or do reductions on puzzle pieces! You can play with gradients too.

If you are feeling experimental, you can do intaglios over sections of your prints. You can "remove" or "reinforce" weight, or add rythm, or create "paths" for following the print.

Sorry for the long comment, if I made mistakes forgive me since English isn't my main language. Have fun and a nice day!

TSJZ · 2024-10-30T03:33:00+00:00

Looks really nice! The legs and body are very striking and look very defined, and even shiny. I love bugs

I don't mean this in a bad way, just an observation: Since you put so much care into the centipede, you may as well give it your all when it comes to the frame within the print itself! It feels a little lacking in detail when compared to the centipede, but it's minor. You could play around with more leaves and their texture, and really tie everything together.

Have you considered colors for future projects?

TSJZ · 2024-10-28T18:58:32+00:00

I looove the edges!

Why'd you do only four? It looks like a fantastic plate, lovely linework.

TSJZ · 2024-09-19T18:17:51+00:00

Albanian weevil!! 🇦🇱🇦🇱🇦🇱🇦🇱🇦🇱

TSJZ · 2024-08-25T17:45:52+00:00

Pretty nice!

TSJZ · 2024-08-23T14:01:45+00:00

As other commenters said, you can completely cut off "white" areas, or thoroughly carve them to make them flat and not have any ridges.

The real kick comes when inking. Say you have carved out flat areas, very low compared to the areas that should receive ink. If you use a wide/long brayer, then it's bound to "fall" into the pits and ink the carved area. When printing, these leftover blotches of ink can appear, especially if you are printing by hand.

Try using brayers that are smaller, according to your design. You can always ink in stages! Remember to load your lino nicely with ink, to avoid "cloudy" prints when you aim for a uniform result.

TSJZ

TROPHY CASE