The Key

Today is the day that I finally finished my Geisha of…like 8 months…ermerger…YAYYY!!! I don’t think it’s quite hit me that it’s done…o.O I skipped posting the printing of the maroon layer because I was frantic in getting it done (I had to go to work and only had ~1.5 hours to finish 16 prints…yeah…me cray cray…). In this post I have both the maroon and the “key” layer represented (if my phone will send me the photos I want of the maroon…they may just get posted later..XD)

With my new shirt instead of a black snack, I was ready! (I wanted to change “stuff” to a different “s” word…XD)

So with my block all ready and carved out, I printed my final layer!!

Hot of the press!!! Kind of…

My gorgeous Lady 🙂

You can’t tell from far away, but the registration was really badly off for the light lavender color on quite a few of the prints, if not all…eff-ing oops…sad panda on that…but from far away and squinty, it is FABULOUS!! Ermerger…after all that hard work, she’s finally done. Just don’t look too closely…XD

As for the maroon layer (my photos finally sent and I can get them uploaded):

Rolling the ink

Maroon!! 🙂

So now that I’m done with this geisha, it’s time to start planning out the next one…gyah! I’ve found out that the paper that I use, is limited. Well, obviously, but I mean the rest of the paper that I had originally bought about two years ago, was only partially prepared (meaning registration holes and double taped). The rest of the stack still in the wrapping was left untouched. DANG IT!! I forgot that I had stopped ~3/4 of the way through my paper while I was at the studio at UCSC prep-ing them. So now I have to figure out what to do next…I might have some prepared paper left in my garage, but that still doesn’t solve the problem I will eventually face. *sigh* anywho…gotta think up my next project and get it started once May hits. Not a lot of time…at least I get a few days to fret over what to do next…OKIES!! BAAAIII!!!

This is the final layer by itself. I kind of like the B/W…but I’ll probably watercolor the three I printed of these.

Behind in posting…

Oops!!! So I just posted photos of my wood block up close and personal, saying that it was ready to print purple…but I already did!!! Yesterday before work, I scrambled around and got my dark purple layer finished!!

YAYYY!!!! 7/9 colors done!!

 

I’ve posted photos of the process before, but I want to show it once more:

I start off with my color laid out with the roller on a giant glass table…

Barney purple, yo.

After I get the color evenly spread along the roller, I roll it onto the wood block. It’s key to get the layer of color to be even across the whole block, if not, you get patchy. And no one likes patchy…unless you are a pirate!! ARGH!!

“1st Because Yuck”

Once it is evenly rolled across your block, you have to run it through the press. The registration pins and holes are EXTREMELY important in this step. Notice the tape and holes along the print paper? Those need to be placed exactly on the pins or the layers will print off. WHICH HAPPENED WITH THIS PRINT!!! Hence, the “1st Because Yuck” written along the top…

 

Such a pretty profile!

The good thing about viewing something from far away is that you can’t see the mess-ups 😀 For example, her profile is GORGEOUS!! But if you look carefully at the flower on the fan, you can catch the mess up on layers with the red showing through…dammit. But that could just be me…everything is starting to get a bit fuzzy around the edges with registration…the curse of multiple layers!!!

My purple snack!

My snack for the day was a pack of PURPLE grapes. Ignoring the fact that the label says “red seedless grapes,” they are OBVIOUSLY purple in color…

Lovely Ladies!

The final two colors are going to be AWESOME. Maroon for her kimono and black!!! ERMERGER. The black will be freaking crazy…SUPER EXCITED!!! 😀

Also, I now have an instagram (yay….-__-) so find me at amendo418 if you’d like to follow!

Some carving views

Here are a few photos of some close-ups on my wood block.

This is now going to remain red

It was kind of a pain to do these little buddies, but I think it’ll look good….XDI think….Gosh darn it…

Using the “V” gouge to get that detail

At some point I want to get some more professional grade tools, but as for right meow, these tools work great 🙂 Heck, the first ever geisha print I did, I used freaking Niji tools…those were like…$15 for 10 tools!! Cheapest tools you can get…but they worked XD Goes to prove that you can make beautiful things from the seemingly worst materials. BAM! ^__^v

I am now ready for purple!!!  I believe…I carved out a few of the loopies in the corners so I hope it ends up looking alright…O_O

On a roll(er)!!!!

Heck yes!!! Today is the day that I finally started the more dramatic colors!!! RED!! It’s funny though because I wasn’t planning on red today…I actually wanted to do my dark purple, but something told me no. Could’ve been the ink screaming at me to not do a darker color first (had just made the purple color and was staring at it for a while…), could’ve been my need for the dramatic color of red in my life…could’ve been the flaming cheeto fries that I bought at the 7/11 next door. What ever it was, I’m glad it spoke to me.

Beauty, eh?

I am very very very happy about how this buddy came out today. It just wasn’t catching my eye or my breath when I looked at it before, but now…ermerger, I almost cried when I pulled my first print. Wow. I LOVE IT. It’s got the dramatic flare that I needed. Pur sure. The colors are now starting to separate themselves and it’s turning into something awesome. Though now that I say this, and you see the colors separating things out, you start to notice the iffy places in design…I won’t tell you where because I’m hoping that I’m the only one who sees them XD oops…

This is the starting block for today

The leaves are done

Close-up on the vines and the leaf outline

It’s kinda funny how my snacks for the day tend to be in the color theme for my next layer. It was unintentional today for me to print the red color, but I think my consciousness was telling me something. I had gone to 7/11 to pick up a soda for my lunch and saw the cheetos…they called my name so I bought them. I was going to print purple, the cheetos told me not to…byaha! Inner Peas was my snack for when I printed green…weird…but if this is a trending theme with my printing, I’m scared for the final black layer…I don’t particularly like black licorice…maybe I’ll buy some Japanese nori or something…XD

Red snack!!

With tired hands and a sore back, I can now relax tonight with a cold beer and a kid movie XD I did the hard work today, I deserve some relaxation.

Unfortunately though, I found the boo-boo print. The one where my registration got so out of whack for purple it is pretty much a dud print meow.

“1st Because Yuck.” ’nuff said….

So yeah…this print is officially the first print that I test run on!!! BLEH.

Looks fine, you say? Looks pretty and awesome and great, you say? (Thank you, but you are wrong, my friends…) Here’s a close up as to why…

Just look at those bags under her eye!!

Look at that purple showing!!

Yeah….Yuck.

Anywho, on to carving for the darker purple! Again….o.O heehee….And by on to carving, I mean, time to watch that movie…:D ‘gnight!