Stroke of inspiration.....at the very last minute

Last week I was talking with Kayla my wife, telling her about the progress I'm making in the studio, but that it's going to be down to the wire getting all of my prints done in time. Then I mentioned that I'm really looking forward to finishing all these jigsaw prints. So far I'm loving the look of these prints, it's everything I imagined in my head but it's taking forever. So I'll be glad when they'll be done. Kayla then said something like "you should have done chine collé." (For those who don't know, chine collé is a process of printmaking where a thin piece of paper is adhered to the printing paper generally adding color to the print. It will make more sense as you read on)

 Well as soon as she said that this image popped into my head

This is a print done by Shannon (I can't read her last name) back in 2006 an old student here at SUU. It's hanging on the studio wall as a good example of relief printing but that night it was my lightbulb. The color you see in this print isn't ink, it's scrapbook paper cut out in those shapes, layered on top each other and the black key block image is printed on top. 

The wheels began turning in my head as I thought "how could I get this to work?" I thought I could do the same, cutting out colored paper to glue to my print. I didn't know if this way was going to save me any more time so that became my delima; take time away from the process I had already established even though it's taking a lot of time or spend time trying a new idea that may or may not work. If it works then my time was not waisted, if it doesn't work then I'd have to race even faster, push harder to get it all done in time. Oh the pickle... 

I took the gamble. Maybe it will pan out maybe it won't but I'll give it a try. 

As I worked on this experiment in the studio that night, a fellow student printmaker passed through the studio and we talked about what I was thinking. She concluded that this chine collé idea sounded good but with my deadline fast approaching I shouldn't loose focus now. Great, she was giving voice to my doubts and I began to agree with her. As she left, I turned to my experiment to begin cleaning it all up. But there was this nagging in my head and again I threw my hands up in there air and said "ta heck with it, I'm just going to give it a try even if it's a waist of time." (This inner drama was more dramatic in my head :D) 

Following my gut, against sound logic, I proceeded to experiment with this idea. This was my first attempt, just to see how it would work. What I did was instead of cutting out all the little shapes, coloring them then putting them back together, I outlined the shapes and painted them on one piece of paper so it would line up with the key block. 

Meh, first attempt. Not bad. Not great. The color was off, there was some color bleeding at the top and you could tell it was painted. That wouldn't bother me as much but my other prints are solid colors and this is more blochy. But it worked cause it gave me an idea how this could work. And it was a lot faster. 

Now for the real thing. No more waiting time. I mixed the colors I wanted, I painted all the shapes and got it ready for the final print. 

I sprayed the back with spray adhesive to get it to stick to my printing paper

I set up my key block as usual, in the jig 

I put the colored paper on top the print face down, glue side up, being careful not to move it around at all because the black ink will smudge the color if it moves. 

Then the printing paper goes on top and.... 

Presto! A colored print using chine collé instead of the jigsaw method. The colors are brighter then they were last time which I like. I think over all I'm quite pleased with this and I'm grateful I pushed through my doubts to give it a try. It was well worth the time experimenting. 

Here is a little before and after. Last week I mentioned that I didn't like how dark the colors in this print was. So I redid it and I like the results more. But let me know what you think? My wife is still partial to the dark red print when I like the brighter print. Opinions?

Well the moral of the story is: collaboration is good. Talking with my wife about my issues lead her to say something which lead me to a lightbulb moment. Also listening to my wife is always a good idea. "Yes dear" was the phase I was taught on my wedding day.