Busy Building

Things were a little different on this third night of the current woodcut class in Belmar.  When I arrived I saw several cars parked around the Boatworks, and a group of people inside the back room.  Turned out a photo class had decided to set up, not realizing that we had a class scheduled.  Since we needed more space and tables to conduct our business, they agreed to move into the small side room.  That's good, because when we get going, we need a lot of room.

The past two weeks have seen a lot of cutting, but I expected that most would be ready to print tonight. I had ordered a bunch of supplies after the first meeting.  Cutting tools arrived later that week (distributed week 2), but the supplier for the other stuff took their time sending them east.  The package with the paper arrived late yesterday, but the box with ink and brayers still had not shown up when I left for Belmar.  I would have preferred to have both for tonight, but the one I did get was the more important one.

Some of the group wanted to get some more cutting in (see above), so they got out their tools and continued work on their blocks.  Two of our veteran printmakers were ready to print, so I set them up at  a back table.

Another new thing this time around was that some tried oil based ink for the first time.  I always use the water soluble ink with my college classes for practical reasons, but some members of this group wanted to try working bigger and/or hand coloring with watercolor, and in both cases oil based ink is preferable, if not necessary.  Above, Jill tries the ink for the first time, while below she tries it on a second block and Kate inks the largest block tried in this class to date.  They quickly found the oil based ink easier to work with, and appreciated the resulting quality of the prints.  It's a bit more work to clean up, but that's the price you pay.

Below are some of the prints that were pulled tonight, using our newly arrived supply of printmaking paper.

Obviously we have a group that is very interested in printmaking, with each print demonstrating the individual style of the artist.  And we have one more week to go.  (they asked about continuing the class into the fall, which I expect to do, but not until all my fall teaching schedule is settled)  One of our new people should be ready to print her first block next week, some took home new wood tonight, and others may continue to work on the prints started tonight.  Check back next week to see what they do.