Posted by Dave Bull at 1:59 PM, November 15, 2009
Continued from [Forest in Winter - 1]
I haven't posted much during the carving of this one, mostly because there really hasn't been much to see, or to talk about.
There are only three pieces of wood for this design, using both sides for six faces. Two of those have multiple 'colours', so perhaps it might be about 11~12 impressions in all.
The last couple of days have been a bit of a scramble to get this finished. My usual practice is to be a carver for as many weeks as it takes to get the block set done, then clean up my work area, pack away the carving bench and sharpening stones, and get the printing gear out. But about a week ago, I did a count of the remaining stock of the Gift Prints, and found that there were only enough of this year's design left to last a few more days. I would soon have to get the printing bench out and make some more. So it was kind of a little 'race against time' - to get the carving done so that I wouldn't have to interrupt the final block to do the gift printing, switch back to finish the carving, then switch again for proofing ..
But luckily (not luckily!) there haven't been so many orders for that print in the past few days, and I was able to keep at it and get the carving done last night. I've now cleared away the tools, and am ready for some printing tomorrow ...
I found something funny while I was cleaning up though ...
I haven't touched the printing gear in months, and when I picked up the water bucket to clean it up I saw something moving in the shallow water at the bottom:
Mosquitoes! In November!
During the summer, this is something I have to watch for every day, as my water bucket is a favourite place for them to try laying eggs. But I certainly didn't expect to see this in November ...
Proofing work can't begin for a few days yet, not until some of these other jobs are out of the way. As I mentioned, first up will be some quick printing for another couple of batches of the gift prints. Then, on Tuesday, I'm out of here for a demonstration at the Officer's Club at the Yokota Air Base. And I'm still spending time most evenings preparing P/R material for the new 'Your First Print' eBook ... Another hundred samples/flyers/letters flew out of here yesterday ...
The thread continues in [Forest in Winter - 3] ...