Project: Flights of Fancy

This print swap is one I joined for the first time last year when the theme was ‘Hello Yellow’. Click here to see my entry if you missed it.

The aim is to print a set of 12 postcards: 1 is kept by the artist, 1 is kept by the group administrator and 10 are sent out to other contributors. In time I will receive my mixed bundle, which I hope will have been created by printmakers from a variety of countries.

My linocut last year was very successful and the aim was to go down a similar route and carve lino. However, with a fractured finger in a splint on my dominant hand, that wasn’t going to be an option. I turned to Ezy Carve instead.

Ezy Carve printing blocks are sold under the Renoir brand and come in a variety of sizes. They aren’t expensive and, as the name suggests, they are easy to carve with lino tools. They are, however, 1cm thick and slightly squishy, so I wouldn’t recommend putting them through an etching press, even with runners. Depending on ink and paper choices, printing by hand – either using your palm & fingers for pressure or a baren – is achievable with good results.

Transferring a design using tracing paper and a pencil is also simple, the block holds the graphite well and there’s no need to press hard. Once I had the basic outline on the block I drew additional details directly onto the surface to guide my cutting. The image below shows it after cutting and printing, hence the reason it’s a bit dirty looking.

Initially I tried rolling Matisse Flow acrylic paint over the design and pressing my postcard to the surface. I thought it might work a bit like a gelli plate and acrylic would be fine and quick drying, but I got barely a transfer. With a dry postcard, around 180-200gsm, and hand pressure, it wasn’t a success.

I immediately cleaned the block, and the bonus is that it could easily be done under the tap and towel dried.

I moved to my favourite oil-based printing inks and went through the same process.

I felt the inks sat on the block surface better than the acrylic paint had and, as can be seen from the results, the transfer was excellent. You’ll note that I left an edge around my block that hasn’t printed on the cards, that was for registration purposes and ensured I placed the postcard in exactly the same spot for each print.

Next I prepared a mask with cutouts for ‘sprinkles’ and overprinted the cupcakes once they were dry.

Having designed mini Cranes, and using my stencil cutting machine, I cut and constructed the tiny birds and adhered them to the sticks on the central cupcake.

I usually use De-Solv-it, a citrus based product, to clean my print plates and it worked beautifully on the Ezy Carve block with a soft cloth and a few cotton buds to get ink from the tight spots.

Postcards ready to drop in the mail box.