Stamps & Works in Progress

i used a stamp made of EZCut over the gold triangle at the top. work in progress, 15" x 9"

I recently took a DIY Printmaking class at 3rdWard and learned a few ways to duplicate patterns. I learned how to basically make a stamp. I made one out of linoleum, but much prefer the softer EZ Cut surface. Below are my first attempts of using them my paintings.

These are the 3 stamps made, the first 2 on the left are the EZ Cut and the 3rd on the right is linoleum on a wood mount.

It's black because I couldn't wait to buy proper printing ink and figured I'd give it try with regular acrylic paint. As far as the design, I thought I'd start off with something simple, arrows/diagonal lines.

This pattern is loosely based on Native American saddle blanket weavings.

This linoleum surface is much harder to carve into, so I again stuck to a simple repetition. I now know I can heat it with a blow dryer to soften it. But I'm lazy and I don't like the extra effort needed for that and for the printing. You have to keep the stamp/linoleum up, put the paper on top and press and rub. I wouldn't be able to do that on a panel. I'm sticking to the EZ Cut. It easier and more versatile.

This is an 10"x8" panel, using gold ink. work in progress.

Here we have a mishap. I thought that the printing ink would hold on and not smear after drying, wrong. The linoleum stamp was used in this piece, also a work in progress, 15" x 11". I didn't know how to properly 'stamp' it and did not use the process explained earlier, so it's spotty. But I like the static looking effect that occurred. I was planning on doing a wash of fluorescent yellow but that turned to mud. 

Here I used a the saddle blanket inspired pattern. The 11" x 7.5" paper was painted black, then a layer of gold stamping, followed by 2 with white paint. I gave it a smear of white gesso on the bottom half. That's where it is now.

This is another 10" x 8" panel piece. I used the saddle blanket stamp on the top with gold. work in progress.