printing on the press

Rachel came over to the studio today and as promised, we played around with relief inks, monoprints, collagraphs, paper, fabric, and the press. It has been a while since I have printed and we plunged right in, making a few uglies along the way. Here she is, turning the wheel on my tabletop Blick press. I had purchased the four basic colors for starters, thinking I would mix my own colors because these Akua-Kolor paints are not inexpensive. We just worked with red, yellow and black and by the time the day was over we were SO done with those three colors. However, we had to use up what we had taken out of the jars, so we kept at it. This was the first print of the day, on mulberry paper. On the way in this morning, I grabbed a few leaves and here they are - wherever they landed on the plate. Later, we made more prints with leaves. I don't have a picture of the one I made on paper but here is the plate, and here is the resulting print (on fabric). The press picks up a lot of detail, much the way a gelatin print does. But the effect is not quite the same. Most people use a press for paper, of course...but the late Karen Berkenfeld taught me about putting fabric on a press. I love paper but I keep going back to the cloth....maybe out of habit. After playing with monotypes for a while, I turned Rachel loose to make a collagraph plate. and here she is with the first print of what turned out to be an edition of sorts.It is her self-portrait, and no, she is not holding it upside down. These are a couple of things I printed with a collagraph plate I had made last winter with glue. Enough for tonight! Another trip to the dentist in the morning and late in the day an art opening and dinner out. I will need to nap in the afternoon!