Friday, July 27, 2007

Printmaking for jewelry

I took a printmaking class years ago and still have all the tools, so I brought my linoleum cutters to make designs in Speedycut blocks. Traditionally one would use a brayer to apply ink to the surface, then apply paper to accept the ink as a negative image. I am planning to use the carved images as texture for clay pieces. The Speedycut material resembles an eraser, so it will flex in order for me to peel it off the clay (unlike hard linoleum blocks used in printmaking). “Texture for clay pieces” is one of those categories that renders my job inseparable from “regular life” because I’m always noticing textures to capture in a mold or designs to put into clay.