Hand Made Christmas Cards

I have this old Speedball block print that I made years ago.  It's my favorite holiday card design. 

When I needed cards to tuck into Christmas gifts for my family, I dug this block print out.

It was lovely not to have to go out to shop for cards!  Instead, I played beautiful music, and printed up a stack of cards.

Once you've carved a design in a printing block, you can make all the prints you like, even years later.

  The process is easy.  

You squirt a blob of ink onto a smooth surface like the enamel pan above, then roll a brayer back & forth through the ink to form a smooth, uniform layer.  As you roll the brayer, it picks up a smooth layer of ink onto its rubber roller.  

Once your brayer is evenly loaded with ink, roll it over the block print, then lay a piece of paper on top of the block.  You transfer the print by rubbing on the back of the paper.  I rubbed with my fingertips.

I used water-based Speedball black ink because it's easy to clean up.  I printed onto 55 pound vellum paper. The thin paper picked up the ink beautifully and had fewer missed spots on the prints than heavier papers.

After the prints are dry, you can trim up any uneven paper edges. I used a paper cutter to get straight sides.

You can layer colorful papers under your print or just glue it onto a blank card.  I used Yes! Paste, a thick, archival glue that you spread on with an old credit card or palette knife.  The paste is thick enough so that the paper doesn't warp or wrinkle as it might with liquid glue.  You could also use a glue stick.

Make sure you sign each card you make!  I signed the backs.

If you'd like more details on designing and cutting your own block print, you can read this post.

Happy Creating & May Your Yuletide be Artful!

A Valentine Print

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays.  It's all about love, chocolate and sending letters and cards to those you care about.

Each year, I fight back against the cold, dreary weather with bright colors, and hearts.

 

This year's plan began when I was in a local Michael's store buying supplies for a Pet Portraits class I was teaching.  On the way to the checkout, I passed down an aisle of brightly colored papers.  I couldn't help but pick up a pack of pink papers with Valentiney projects in mind.

I dug out linocut blocks and rubber stamps I'd carved in years past, and sketched up new ideas.

The songbird stamp bubbled up to the top of my idea list, 

and I transferred the design onto the rubber block with a graphite pencil.  

You can color the back of your design with a 4B graphite pencil, 

then place the graphite-covered paper on top of the rubber block, graphite side down.  

Now trace over the design with a pencil to transfer it to the block.

I began carving out the design, using Speedball carving tools and an X-Acto knife for the fine work.

Here's the finished printing block. I inked it up with a Ranger permanent black ink pad with StazOn ink.

I was happy with the final result!

Hoping you have fun finding your own way to create with color in winter!