Colorado Art Studio

Golden Cut linoleum from Dick Blick

After building my boxes and HAND painting each and everyone for the Colorado Potter’s Guild Show and the Summer Art Market, I decided that I should employ a different method to speed up production of my boxes. Hand painting certainly has a place in my work, but it is labor intensive. So, I decided that the humble relief print would be the perfect solution since I would only need to do the labor-intensive part (carving) up front. The lino-cuts will last years and years and leave a nice imprinted texture on the slabs of clay.

Did I mention that I like using the Golden Cut linoleum from Dick Blick? I hate battleship gray linoleum - ick petuie blech. One other cost effective option,is to carve actual left over linoleum if you have any sitting around your house. Someone in my printmaking class in college did that and it worked great.

I decided to start with a theme that I use frequently - a series of vertical vines. First I draw my sketch with pencil and then go over the drawing with a sharpie for easier carving later on. Pencil smudges, sharpie doesn’t. Love Sharpies - I don’t think one could ever have too many!

Starting to carve

I quickly learned that having the right tools for the job makes all the difference in the world. Forget the cheapo carving tools and invest in some nice palm sized wooden handled ones in a variety of sizes. I purchased my set from a wood working shop in Maine similar to these, though less expensive. One word of caution - carve away from yourself. I speak from experience.

Side View

Finished carving

Yesterday afternoon, I finished carving the vine and even did a little ginkgo leaf cut, since I broke the one I originally made. I tried cutting it out - didn’t work.

Poppy Drawing

My poppy box sold right away at the Summer Art Market, so I decided to replicate it in linoleum. Once again, I hand drew the design in pencil and Sharpie. This time, however, I decided to make this like a line drawing. Where I carve away, it will be raised when I print it on clay. Where the linoleum is left intact, it will leave an impression when printed. Don’t forget that this will be backwards when it’s printed - especially important if you want to add any text. When using text, I like to write words out in pencil and then I hold the linoleum up to a mirror before I carve away to make sure it looks right.

Today, I’m going to venture out to the garagio and do some relief printing on clay. My mom’s birthday is coming up soon and I promised her a box - so I’d better get to work!

Till later,

~Cynthia

8 ceramic canvases 4 have been “printed”, 4 left blank to do some experimenting after being bisque fired
I entered the studio yesterday with the intention of throwing some ceramic tumblers to use as backgrounds for my lino-cut prints. And, I did, however, I got sidetracked making these little canvases (photo above) and some more pendants. I rolled out a few slabs of white stoneware clay because I’m just not going to deal with the slumping of the porcelain for this type of work. Some of the best tools that I use are a transluscent 18″ x 24″ self healing cutting mat, a metal ruler and an X-Acto knife. I use these tools for multiple mediums from painting, ceramics and fiber art. Couldn’t live without them!

Ginkgo leaf and dragonfly ceramic relief prints 3.25″ x 3.25″ x 1″ each
Choices, choices, choices…I decided that I wanted 3″ square clay canvases for my prints for a couple of reasons. The lino-cuts I made are small, and I wouldn’t be using a lot of material if things don’t work out. I don’t have a slab roller in my studio, so I roll these out by hand with a rolling pin, and some 1/4″ thick pieces of wood to use as guides so that I can get an even slab. Once I let the slabs set up for about an hour, I placed the slabs directly on the cutting mat, lined up the clay with the 1″ guides and cut the slabs using my ruler and an X-Acto knife. I’m trying a couple of different techniques and 2 of the canvases are like tiles with no walls, however, the for the other 6, I added walls to the back so that they’ll protrude 1″ from the wall when they’re hung.

Construction view of prints - they’re basically hollow boxes constructed from slabs of rolled out stoneware
In the past, I’ve constructed ceramic boxes, by mitering the slabs for a really seamless look. It’s a little tricky, but it looks good. Last week, I watched Mary Cay demo making a box from clay using the butt to end joint construction method and decided to give it a try. It was fairly easy, but I’m not sure I’m sold yet. I’m going to sand the edges of the boxes today to see if they clean up a little better. I was perusing claystamps.com the other day because I’m considering buying a signature stamp to use on my ceramic work, and saw the owner also has another cool tool for sale: the Bevel-O-Matic - a tool that bevels clay slabs. I might have to pony up the $14.00 for this tool. When I was in college, I beveled slabs using a 2 x 2 which I had mitred using a power saw to use as a beveling guide. I can’t find my bevel guides, and while I like power tools, I’m a little afraid that I’m going to cut off afinger or two I tried this again.

Porcelain tumbler with underglazed ginkgo print
I threw 3 tumblers yesterday. Don’t ask me why I stopped at 3, because I had prepared 8 - 1 lb. balls of clay. I think the idea to use the lino-cuts on a flat surface popped into my head and I left my wheel to pursue that. I sometimes work in my studio like I talk - in tangents. And boy oh boy - they zing out from no where sometimes. Anyway, when I went back to my tumblers, they were too dry to work anymore. I cracked 2 of them trying to alter the shape. So, for the 3rd and final one, I just printed my ginkgo leaf lino-cut using blue underglaze.

Cross section of tumblers - I need to get the bottoms lighter.
The remaining 2 tumblers, I cut in half. They felt a little heavy and since I have decided not to trim the bottoms of these, I wanted to see how well I did getting the side walls thin. As you can see from the photograph, the bottom is a little too heavy in comparison to the walls. That tells me that I can can go a little further down when I open the clay up and begin to throw. Now, if I had decided to add a foot to these, I think these would have been perfect.

I’ve decided to pass on the Gocco for right now, because I found EZ-Screenprint. You can create 8.5″ x 11″ screen prints that develop using light and regular water - no special bulbs, chemicals or goop. I think I’m going to order one of these starter kits and give it a try. I also found a supplier of special ceramic ink to use to make custom color ceramic decals. First things first…I must push the relief printing a little more.

What are your favorite tools?