Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Yellow Monotype--1st in a 4-color process

Yay! Time to add some yellow to my drypoint. I tried to register my prints by lining up the center back and sides of my paper with the center and sides of my lexan plate. The results weren't bad, but for red I think I'll try an even more fail safe method--hinged tape. But for now, I'm happy. Yellow is light, after all, and I'll be printing several layers of color on top so mistakes at this point are negligible.

Step one, apply ink. I used 20 drops of Akua Kolor Lemon Yellow and 3 drops of retarder (according to Rostow and Jung's awesome product pamphlet), then rolled up an even layer of ink. I waited 3 minutes and added another 6 drops of yellow (no retarder on this or future rolls) for a nice bright color, then rolled up.

Step two, wipe ink where it's not supposed to be. Paper towels and Q-tips are my favorite tools for this. Even though there is some yellow residue on places I've wiped, I've found that this little bit of color doesn't transfer or is unnoticeable. In the past I've used a clean but dampened paper towel to wipe off any traces of color, which actually I'll probably follow for darker colors like red and blue. On some prints the incidental marks might be really, really nice and forgoing the extra clean wiping might be a better approach.

Step three, line the paper with registration marks and hope for the best! This is my weakest area. I know it and now you know it.

Blue marks on lexan? I covered my drypoint with a sheet of lexan, whipped out a
Sharpie and traced the important shapes. I made sure to write the words "Mark on this side" as is and "Ink on this side" in reverse. This is my color guide and monotype plate.


I'm happy with the results. Onward to red.

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