Mountains and Banners: March Wedding Invitation #1

Although the bulk of the business at Monkey-Rope Press is artist-driven prints and books rather than commissioned work, I readily admit that I really enjoy working on wedding invitations. I am reminded of a friend who has worked an absurd diversity of jobs--from fixing cages at a chicken factory to moving furniture for the military, and now as a college professor--who said his favorite job was his year working as a flower delivery man. He loved getting to spend his whole day making people happy. Who isn't delighted to receive flowers?

Similarly, it is a pleasure to get to bask in the ambient happiness that surrounds the planning of a wedding. The couple who commissioned this invitation are avid hikers, campers and national park enthusiasts and, though they live in Chicago, they are getting married in their home town in full view of the beautiful mountains of New Hampshire. I was excited to get to use these elements in designing the print.

These 5" x 7" four-color invitations and 3" x 5" RSVP cards were printed at Evanston Print and Paper Shop on a Vandercook proof press using hand-carved linoleum blocks, including hand-carved text. The print process went smoothly, with only a slight registration hiccup when I discovered that one of the linoleum blocks was not cut straight. I put a few lead slugs on the corners to twist the uneven block so I could lock it up square; the fix worked, and I could move forward without a second thought. (Every printmaker is a secret MacGyver.) I'm very proud of how it turned out. All the happiness in the world to Tim and Natalie!

Next week is March Wedding Invitation #2, a 5-color, 2-sided 8.5" x 11" poster!

Volume 2: So close!

Printing the cover of Volume 2 this weekend and sending the files to press next week. Not ready for a victory lap yet, but it is exciting to see the finish line!

Facts, Hercule, facts!

I spent this grey, windy Chicago Saturday working on the Christine Jorgensen print. My first step today was to tape the drawing to the linoleum block with graphite paper underneath. The image is just smaller than the block at 11" x 15", so I chose the best corner of the block and lined up the paper's corner against those two edges before taping. I will trim off the excess borders on the table saw at the studio before printing, to save myself the effort of extra carving.

Side note: one thing that I learned the hard way about printing linoleum blocks on a vandercook is that mounted linoleum blocks that you can buy at art stores or online are often not cut perfectly square, which can be a nightmare to print if registration is important. (Registration in printmaking refers to the amount of variance and accuracy in the overlapping of different colors in a single print.) An irregular block might look and feel like it is properly locked in to the bed of the press, but every time the rollers pass the block has a tendency to travel quite significantly. The first pass of my first multi-color linoleum print travelled wildly--more than half an inch--and I didn't notice until more than halfway through the run. Disaster! Although this is a one-color print, squaring the image is still good practice.

Now, tracing. Again. This is the 2nd time the image has been traced, after the mirror-flip trace on the light box.

Finally, the fun: carving! After honing my tools to be sure they are sharp, I started carving. This is a detailed print, so carving takes quite a while. It is an engaging process, but let's be honest: sitting down to carve for 5 or 6 hours at a time can make a girl's mind wander towards less hand-aching tasks. I get the least distracted when I carve by listening to movies or the radio; this was a Shot in the Dark/My Blue Heaven/His Girl Friday-length carve.

This might not look like much for 5ish hours of work, but I am quite pleased with it so far.

Back to the block!