Design + Print: Romeo + Juliet Valentine

I recently participated in a letterpress printers' swap where a bunch of us pooled together to exchange Valentine's Day ephemera, namely coasters. For the longest time, I couldn't figure out what to print. I'm not the biggest fan of Valentine's day so I had to rack my brain a little.

On Press: Mark Webber's Linocut, Part Two

On Press: Mark Webber's Linocut, Part One

With everything prepped (finally!) the block is ready to be printed! It was a bit hairy setting it up at first. I was having a hard time getting the press to ink the block evenly. Also, linocuts eat up LOTS of ink so it was a challenge getting it to print as dark as I had envisioned it.

Here's one of the first test prints. As you can see, it wasn't printing evenly and parts were underinked.

Pre-Press for Mark Webber's Art Print, Part Three

The last step before going to press on this project is getting the polymer plate made of the little heart in the middle which is going to be a second color.

1) Here's the negative of the scan made from Part Two then placed on a polymer plate with emulsion on it (orange surface).

Pre-Press for Mark Webber's Art Print, Part Two

Now that the linoleum is glued securely on the base, that took care of the first major task. The next problem to solve is how to print the interior heart a different color. Currently, the lino-block is designed to print in one color as seen here:























My initial thought was to try to carefully "cut" the heart out of the linoleum. The idea of printer playing doctor was in interesting thought. But when I saw how thick the piece of linoleum is and how I could easily ruin this piece of art with an unsteady hand, I voted against it. If my brother who is a doctor was around, I MAY have attempted it with his help...

Pre-Press for Mark Webber's Art Print, Part One

So finally it's coming together! Mark Andrew Webber, my current artist on press, mailed me his carved linoleum from the UK about a month ago and I'm getting ready print it! But first, there are few things that need to be prepped...

1) Here's how I got the artwork, carved on a piece of linoleum