November 22, 2006

So much going on! Day after day ... hours of printing ...

I'd like to be bringing you better and more frequent photos, but it's very difficult to shoot this printing while working 'solo'. And now that we're into the dry season, it's difficult to put the work down and fool around with the camera - there's no way that I can get a series of shots showing the colour building up, because I've got to get those damp sheets back under cover the instant that I finish pulling each impression.

But I grabbed a chance this morning to shoot one of the impressions, and I'll try and get some more as time goes by ... Here's the block I was printing today - a black spiral pattern:

Here's a quick shot of the paper in the damp box - this sheet is about to receive the impression:

And here's the same sheet after the black is printed ...

It's really a hoot seeing this thing come to life as each impression is done. Some of them are more dramatic than others of course, and some are easier to handle than others, but for this print, none of them are 'easy'. The registration on sheets this large is fiercely difficult - I have to focus intently on that corner mark to guide the paper exactly into place, while all the while holding it stretched under tension to keep it stable. I've spoiled a few sheets here and there so far, but I'm getting better at this as I go along.

I'll try and keep updates coming a bit more frequently ...