The Narwhal part 9

My plan for the narwhal block was to pull some black ink proofs, then to decide if it was done being cut and if I planned to color any of them.  The completed block was in the Studio, had a go bag of printing stuff  (ink, ink knives, brayers, wooden print tools, print apron, hand soap) in the back my car, packed an assortment of paper in my apartment, cutting tools in case I needed them, and hit the road.  Got up there in the 11:00 hour, place was fairly empty.

After inspecting the block, I decided that the cutting was satisfactory, so proceeded to the inking.  Put out some oil based black ink, and chose two brayers, one hard and one soft.  Measured the still dry block against my papers and realized it was too big to fit the entire thing on half a sheet of any of my papers.  Since these are just tests anyway, I took a sheet of the okawara, tore it in half, with the plan that I would have to bleed the block partly off the paper.  The focus of the print is the part in the middle, so losing bits of the ends wouldn't matter.

Inking the block helped pick up some of the dark shading I had cut into the block and not pre darkened with ink wash, but it was pretty much what I expected. The downstairs felt fine when I arrived, but the more I worked, the warmer and moister it felt down there, the heat and dampness of the summer. But I kept working.  Put on a disc with the complete collection of Zombies singles from their original run.  Inking the first time is always tricky, as the wood absorbs some of the ink,  but I got through it, and pulled the first proof.  A slight tear in the dark black area above the tail, but I can repair that later.  The second proof inked a lot faster, but I took more care with printing (no tearing this time).  Short term hung them both on my tack wall to inspect them.

Zombies disc done, I grabbed a disc onto which I had burned the UK version of the debut album from the Manic Street Preachers (two record double LP, as opposed to the single shorter CD distributed in America, courtesy of my friend Doug Daniel, the biggest fan the band ever had in this country) Above are the first two proofs. The top one is the one with the small tear, so that will be my practice proof for coloring. The shadowy areas in the water on the second proof picked up a little more ink, which was intentional.

This is a better photo of the best proof of the day.  With the heat and humidity, I decided against pulling a third, so blotted the block and cleaned up.  I can get one on another day if I wish it, or just go ahead and start coloring the block as planned.   I don't consider this to be a major work, but I think it turned out just fine.  Composition is fine, good balance of black and white, though I do plan to add some color to the proofs.  Left block and proofs in my drying rack.