More Christmas

As planned, I headed up to the Studio in late morning to finish my holiday card block and print some proofs to both test the colors and have one to show here on Christmas Day.  The building was close to empty, but the door was open so I had no trouble getting in.

The composition is simple, but I found myself having trouble with the block splintering a bit, more so than typically happens with birch.  Maybe it's because the grain in this piece I found is going horizontal, not the way I typically work.  Or maybe my blades just needed sharpening.  (both my personal tools and the ones I use in my classes were lacking)  I was pretty sure that my stone was out in the back of my car, and indeed it was.  It's a water stone, so I put in to soak for a while, which gave me an opportunity to walk across the street and get a ChiliDog from the WindMill, which I haven't had for a quite a while.  With lunch done I sharpened my small round blade and quickly finished the last few parts of the block.

Time to proof it.  I had torn down the paper yesterday and found where I had the ink, knives, brayers, etc, so I quickly set up for printing.  I pulled 8 proofs, most of which I think could be used for cards.  I cleaned up and packed my proofs for transport.  By the time I got home, the light sprinkle I had in Ocean Grove had become a heavy downpour.  No problem for me, but my freshly printed cards would not do well, so I just left them out in the car.  I'll get them tomorrow when the weather is expected to be nicer.  (no camera with me today, but then I wouldn't show the card before Christmas Day anyway)