Love In Vain part 13

 I've pulled no print in this Robert Johnson series as much as I have pulled copies of the print for Love in Vain, but I guess that's because it may be the most popular in the series.  I have sold two of them, and have orders for a third.  It has been exhibited in two locations, and may be in a third.  That is why I was dealing with it today.  To this point I have new acceptable proofs of all the vertical prints in the series, and the two horizontal prints I have printed with the lyrics for the purpose of framing them, but those proofs have paper tape hinges on them from the framing process, and may not be suitable for what is wanted.  I still have no real idea, as I haven't heard anything about this print fair since December, but I do know that March begins in a few days, so I need to do something soon.  I did look at the email that mentioned something, and it specifically named the print fair, which is not the one I had originally found, but the dates are the same.  I should look into that soon, but for now I have some printing to do. 

I had my good cutting tools with me, so I decided to cut both blocks.  Nothing new, just cleaning up a few spots, mostly around the lettering.  

Since Molly wasn't around, I listened to music from home- my rock/pop collection and my home burned disc of Sharon Jones, mentioned on this blog back in June of 2016.  I took care of both blocks, and decided to print Love in Vain mostly because Tom had named it as his favorite of the first three, so whatever he wants for this fair, I would think this one would be part of it.  I will print the other one next week, so both will be available.  This block has one other problem, in that it was the one done at the wrong size for the set, about 1.5" too wide.  I was able to produce a smaller (accurate size) version of the image only, but the lyrics are designed for the full version, and today I was printing lyrics as part of it.   Since this one has been printed more than any other, initial inking did not take long.  What I remembered from previous printings was that some of the broad black areas took a lot of re-inking to get them right, a common problem for large black areas of woodcuts.  But in the end I got it done, as can be seen in the image below:

I was able to find room for this one in the rack, but next time I will have to move something in there to make room.  Still, it's best to have it drying in the rack, and ink dries from both sides, making the rack the place to be.  The first disc ended, so I put on U Resdy, Man by Hobex, which has a soul sound and pairs well with the Sharon Jones, thus a combination I have done before.  In fact, the two discs occupy the same page in this book.  Stopped on the way home to pick up some lunch and ate it when I got there.