Welcome back, printmaking nerds! Spring is officially here, and it seems like Northern California weather finally agrees! The rain is not in the forecast for the first week in…well, three months, and I couldn't be happier.

With that, a warm welcome to the 12 new readers who joined The Inkplate community!

In today’s issue:

• Spring Online Sale

• Why I Quit My Job

• Reduction Linocut Week 2 - Class Recap

• Question Time!

Let’s dive in!

Online Spring Sale:

Riding off the coattails of last week’s launch of ‘Yosemite Spring’. Use code: GGRPWMS for 15% off store wide!

Why I Quit My Job

Unless you happened to not be on Instagram in the past day, you probably already saw my announcement where I stated I had quit my job to pursue printmaking full time.

Well that was an April Fool’s prank.

In case you are not aware of what April's Fools is, here in the United States and in some places in Europe, it takes place on the first of April. The premise is to perform a hoax or a practical joke on someone.

I can honestly say that I got a few of y’all! I had everyone from friends commenting on that post, coworkers reaching out as to why I was quitting, and even family members shocked at the news.

All I can say is APRIL FOOLS! I also want to say thank you to the incredibly kind words you all had. The general feedback was positive, and some even kinda snarky! Whenever I actually quit my job and dedicate my time to art, I will throw a party and you are all invited!

Reduction Linocut Week 2 - Light to Dark

In case you missed the class on Saturday, do not worry you can watch the whole recap here.

This time we dove right to playing with color utilizing Titanium White, Transparent Base, Ultramarine Blue, and a custom-mixed Pink.

When I pulled ink from the tins I made sure to scrape the top of the tin with my pallet knife. I did not dig in there with the pallet knife. When you dig into your ink you are introducing oxygen, oil based inks do not dry by evaporation, rather they harden by oxidation after they interact with oxygen in the air.

This is why you often see inks covered by a plastic sheet inside of the tins and sealed with a piece of tape from the outside.

Utilizing two inking plates, I used one of them to mix my custom colors and the other one to create my gradient rolls. Gradients are often referred to as “rainbow rolls.” Whatever terms you like the most, it describes the same thing. An ink application that gradually changes hues alongside the brayer.

I chose a lite lavender to a warm pink as a gradient on my first test print. This color will be both the base for my sky and the snow closest to the viewer.

One of my favorite questions from the live session was “why do you call it ink and not paint?” The ink we use has a closer relation to ink than it does paint and the reason is where the final solution will end up at.

• Ink: They are typically made of dyes, the dyes themselves are pigments that have been diluted into a solution. Ink is intended to be absorbed into a material (i.e. paper or textile).

• Paint: Is typically made of pigments binded to a medium. A medium being gum arabic or linseed oil. The binder helps carry the pigment on the surface, they do not penetrate the material. That is why when you paint you have to “prime your canvas.”

• Printmaking ink is a bit of both worlds. It’s made of pigments and has a binder typically made of linseed oil, but it can also be absorbed by paper. Thus it has more characteristics similar to ink, than paint. You can not scrape a layer of ink from a dried sheet of paper, and like regular inks their permanence is weakened when overly exposed to natural or ultraviolet light.

We also went over how to install, use the Teners Burton pins. One thing to keep in mind when working with the Teners Burton pins and tabs is the position of the tabs in relation to your sheet of paper. If you add the tab too low on the paper it could interfere with your ink and when you burnish you will end up with a nice outline of the tab.

While setting up the Teners Burton pins and tabs I accidently dropped the block. Which forced me to clean it up, I did not want hair or dust on the block when I reinked. One of the things that happened when I cleaned was that my entire design was erased!

When I originally drew the design I did not use a permanent marker, and well the design was gone. Now no need to panic because if you remember we transferred the design using a sheet of tracing paper, as long as we gave this sheet of paper and our key drawing we should be able to retrace our block again. Hopefully, I remember to use a permanent marker next time!

After making four prints, utilizing two different registration methods: a simple registration jig made of other linoleum blocks, and the Teners Burton pins. I made sure to clean everything up with my favorite method, soap and water!

This Wednesday, April 5, I will have two evening Instagram Lives on my art Instagram profile - @danielvillaart. I will be working to retransfer the design back to the block and carve the next layer. That way we are all ready to go for the next layer on Saturday!

As always I will see you on the Speedball Profile, Saturday, April 8, 9:00 AM PST / 12:00 AM EST for Week 3 of the Reduction Linocut Class!

Question Time!

Do you have a printmaking or artist-related question you want me to answer? Reply to this email and let me know here!

I do not rinse the block. I have a spray bottle that contains a mixture of soap and water. A few sprays is more than enough to get the ink activated. I repeat the process of spraying and whipping until the block is clean, this typically does not take more than 15 minutes from start to finish.

The only thing I make sure before re-ink is that the block is completely dry. Speedball’s Professional Relief Ink is water miscible, so I want to make sure that the block is dry otherwise it will loosen up the consistency of the ink.

Before You Go,

• Want to be part of the ‘Artist Highlight’ or know of someone who might be, fill out this interest form!

• Do you have a printmaking or artist-related question you want me to answer? Reply to this email and let me know here!