Verbal Expression Part 5: Execution Day
After sleeping on it, I woke up yesterday and decided I would not be defeated by my own idiotic ambition. What could help me align those goddamn arrows? I decided on a cardboard base that would be meticulously measured. I roped in the wasband you know the way men love to work with a ruler, makes them feel like an engineer!




So I roped in fellow printmaker and cousin Dawn to help me with the grand finale. We had use of the print room in Gorey School of Art til approximately 11.15 so the plan was to run some prints in the press before moving out to an alternative studio to conduct some non-press prints. Here’s what happened:
Press Outputs



- The first execution involved putting the uninked plates through the press on scrap wrapping paper. Just as well as you can see I messed up the arrow on the second base and printed it above the other one.
- The freshly inked plates came out lovely on the Tokatsu paper (image 2) but the arrow was a bit smudgy, it’s very hard to re-align when you’re backing the paper into the second feed.
- The Calico output (image 3) was a little more successful because we thought to use double-sided tape to keep the arrow in place. The plate is a bit flimsy and made from lengths of cut-up cereal boxes sellotaped together so it can hop about a bit before placing the paper or cotton on top.
Hand Dabbing Tests



The Tokuatsu 55 gsm was too fine to allow for a clear print when wet. The dry version came out a little better. I’ll admit I was too lazy to properly re-ink the plates hence the faint image. The image on the wet cartridge paper came out best but it’s only academic because we didn’t have a roll of it to suit the full plate but good to know I suppose. Dawn being more meticulous than me re-inked this plate so that also helped.
The Human Press Outputs
Being unhappy with the poor alignment of my arrows by having to split the plate to go through the press, I felt the only way to get the alignment I wanted was to run it in one clean swoop. Alas, the press was too short so I reverted to plan D which was the makeshift human press using two yoga mats. Here’s a time-lapse video of the process. You can’t hear all our laughing. It was fun.



Finally the arrow came out straight. We’re happiest with the paper output because we sort of messed up the calico and it’s a bit skewed but time will tell if the Master Framer can sort this out when he goes to stretch it.
That’s all folks. Speaking with mentor James afterward, splitting the plate to accommodate large prints only works with solid chunky plates, not pieces placed on the press with the hope they’ll align even with all the measuring in the world. I might return to my original small plates and see about doing a continuous one on the press but it was interesting to think up a human press. Although I realise watching back over the video, that we should have placed the second yoga mat under the human and then just rolled with the bottom layer. You live and learn.
Update 18/4/23: The mini continuum
