Printmaking
I'm really tired and I keep getting headaches. They piss me off, and I expect that they might be the reason I've been feeling like I've been crying or something; the lights are probably irritating my eyes and I'm probably dehydrated and just oof! Like right now I'm really sluggish.
So printmaking is a pain in the ass. Scully said, y'know, when I wanted to do dry point 'I don't think you have the muscle for it!!!' in her Scullyish way that sorta intimidates you, but umm... that kind of stuff tends to motivate me to do it, just so I can be an ass and prove the person wrong. xD; So, lets do all three dry point!!!!!!!
HOLY FUCK.
We use these sort of scratch awl things... but the one I use is like... a little piece of metal that's sharp on both ends and that's it--No handle or such. Actually, those are the only ones she has; the other stuff in that drawer is more for wood working... not gouging plastic. Dry point is basically scratching into plastic or metal or whatever, then making a print by rubbing ink into it, running it through the printing press, la de daaaaa.
I figured I'd be fine, yeah? Can't take THAT much effort; she's just trying to scare me. ..... -_-; For one thing, with the amount of force you have to use to scratch into the plastic AND follow the lines you need to, you could very well, hmmm... stab the awl through one side of your calf and through the other. I'm not kidding. And then, because of all that force(you hold it like a pencil, basically) it puts MAJOR strain on your thumb, index and middle finger. My index finger was red and swollen last night. P: They still hurt, the tips of all three those fingers.
And now once you've effectively murdered your hand, it's time to make the print! The process is pretty confusing and such, I'll spare you the babble. But... You take the ink, which is... thick, goopy, oil based. It's gross. Doesn't come off your hands with water or soap. Put gloves on first, 'cuz you use your hands to do this. xD Rub it over the printing plate so what you want covered is covered... Now you're supposed to rub 90% of it off again. :)
So you take cheesecloth(sort of mesh cloth thing, I dunno) and rub away at the print to take the ink off. It takes a lot of effort to do this, mind. A good few minutes of scrubbing away at this, and maybe you'll have enough ink rubbed off where the print will work. Do you know for sure? Nope! Go print it. ;)
Half the time it comes out as too dark or too light. So you have to repeat the process over and over, rubbing ink on and off until your entire arm wants to just turn to jello. Then you'll finally get one and realise 'Hey, this is a print! It can't be perfect' and just... accept it for what it is.
And then that ink that I said didn't come off with soap? Yeah. Take lotion. Enough lotion to like, smooth out any callouses on your feet(gross huh?) and just rub it on your hands and HOPE the ink comes off.
Repeat 3 times. :)
I have one print done. It took... 4 or 5 tries.
Goodness I am tired of having a headache!!!!! I need to lay down, like seriously... lay down and drink some nice cold water.
So printmaking is a pain in the ass. Scully said, y'know, when I wanted to do dry point 'I don't think you have the muscle for it!!!' in her Scullyish way that sorta intimidates you, but umm... that kind of stuff tends to motivate me to do it, just so I can be an ass and prove the person wrong. xD; So, lets do all three dry point!!!!!!!
HOLY FUCK.
We use these sort of scratch awl things... but the one I use is like... a little piece of metal that's sharp on both ends and that's it--No handle or such. Actually, those are the only ones she has; the other stuff in that drawer is more for wood working... not gouging plastic. Dry point is basically scratching into plastic or metal or whatever, then making a print by rubbing ink into it, running it through the printing press, la de daaaaa.
I figured I'd be fine, yeah? Can't take THAT much effort; she's just trying to scare me. ..... -_-; For one thing, with the amount of force you have to use to scratch into the plastic AND follow the lines you need to, you could very well, hmmm... stab the awl through one side of your calf and through the other. I'm not kidding. And then, because of all that force(you hold it like a pencil, basically) it puts MAJOR strain on your thumb, index and middle finger. My index finger was red and swollen last night. P: They still hurt, the tips of all three those fingers.
And now once you've effectively murdered your hand, it's time to make the print! The process is pretty confusing and such, I'll spare you the babble. But... You take the ink, which is... thick, goopy, oil based. It's gross. Doesn't come off your hands with water or soap. Put gloves on first, 'cuz you use your hands to do this. xD Rub it over the printing plate so what you want covered is covered... Now you're supposed to rub 90% of it off again. :)
So you take cheesecloth(sort of mesh cloth thing, I dunno) and rub away at the print to take the ink off. It takes a lot of effort to do this, mind. A good few minutes of scrubbing away at this, and maybe you'll have enough ink rubbed off where the print will work. Do you know for sure? Nope! Go print it. ;)
Half the time it comes out as too dark or too light. So you have to repeat the process over and over, rubbing ink on and off until your entire arm wants to just turn to jello. Then you'll finally get one and realise 'Hey, this is a print! It can't be perfect' and just... accept it for what it is.
And then that ink that I said didn't come off with soap? Yeah. Take lotion. Enough lotion to like, smooth out any callouses on your feet(gross huh?) and just rub it on your hands and HOPE the ink comes off.
Repeat 3 times. :)
I have one print done. It took... 4 or 5 tries.
Goodness I am tired of having a headache!!!!! I need to lay down, like seriously... lay down and drink some nice cold water.