Boardwalk Bar part 25

 I went in with the plan today to pull a better proof of my Boardwalk Bar block, which got some additional cutting a few days ago.  It was cloudy when I left home, but no rain yet, possibly predicted for today.  So no jacket required either.  I got to the Studio and found the parking lot nearly empty again.  I decided to park in a space right next to the building.  Such things were available today, plus it would put me close if the rain did come.

Inside I cleared some space on my table, got the appropriate pieces of paper, took out all the tools I would need for inking, and got started on that.  It's been a few weeks since the last time I printed it, so the block is completely dry.  It was easy to see where the fresh ink was going down- it's a glossy black, as opposed to the dull flat black of the first proofing.  Got less stray ink on it this time (and needed less blue tape), but I don't know if that is because of the second round of cutting, or just taking a little more care this time.  Once it seemed fully inked, I carefully placed a fresh sheet of okawara on top, and some plain newsprint on top of that.  At first I hand rubbed through the newsprint for protection against tearing, but after doing the whole print that way, I removed the newsprint and rubbed the back of the okawara directly.   Did a little more re-inking, but not much, and again no tears in the very thin paper, so I was happy.

I know there are some improvements in cutting between this proof and the first one.  In addition, I was a little more careful with inking and printing than with the first proof, and I think it shows.  

After taking a photo of today's work, I put the proof in my rack to dry.  As with last time, I won't touch it for at least a week, which gives me a little time to look at the first colored proof and decide what I want to do with this one.  

For music today I started with my homemade Homicide: Life on the Street soundtrack, which I have written about on this blog back in February of 2020.   The reason for this is that the show is back on tv again.  Not new episodes, so these are about 30 years old, but I'm sure it's at least a decade since they were aired in a place I could see them, so I am glad it's back.   These days cable systems are full of rerun stations (an effect of the change from analog channels to digital, and the resulting surplus of bandwidth, so I believe) and so here's another one that popped up and content is needed.   Homicide was a quality show, the cast is top notch, and none of them are currently in jail (not something that can be taken for granted these days), so episodes are being shown.  They are on after I am in bed, but my DVR is up all night, so I can record them and watch them later.   When that disc ended (and I was still printing) I went to my rock/pop book and selected U Ready, Man? by Hobex, as it seemed it would go well after the other, and it did.  More can be read about this album back in November of 2021.  About the time that second disc ended I was done cleaning up and putting things back where they were, so I went home.  If it ever rained, it was brief, because the ground was dry and the sun was out.  On this hot day I drove home.