Paper Trials

I had a successful morning printing and trying out a few different options using Awagami papers. I've never used these papers before and was curious as to how they would work with intaglio plates and Akua inks. I was pleased with the results.

The image on the left was printed on dry Awagami Shiramine paper using two plates. The right image uses the chine colle' technique; plates were printed on dry Washi paper embedded with noticeable fibers. The support paper is Arnham heavyweight. I like both results but lean toward the warmth of the image on the right.

This piece will be submitted to the 2017 Awagami International Miniature Print Exhibition. Once they're dry, I'll ship them off to Japan before the July 31st deadline.

Minature Print Underway

Recently, I came across a miniature print competition sponsored by Awagami Paper. Since life is a little busy at the moment, I thought I'd enter. It helps me to have a goal and a deadline when I feel as though I'm being pulled it too many directions. I have until mid-July to get this piece resolved and on it way.

An added bonus, Awagami sent a package of sample papers. Since I have never used their papers I was curious to see how they performed with the Akua inks and intaglio process.

As luck would have it, I found some old Solarplates (the ones before the new plates with the protective layer) that had gotten shoved back on a studio shelf. I didn't know if they were still usable but they turned out to work fine.

I planned on using two different plates and after exposing the positives, the old Solarplates looked good. The image size is roughly six by eight inches.

Between this and that, I managed to eke out  a bit of studio time for proofing. I was playing around with a few different color variations but noting was finalized. These were printed on dry Arnham paper using Akua intaglio inks.

Chine colle' was used in this one; printing on one of the Awagami sample papers.

At the moment, I'm partial to the one below but that can change once I have time to get back to the studio. Again, I used one of the sample papers, with fine threads running through it, for chine colle'.

For now, "Elusive Perfection" remains just that - elusive.