Friday 7 March 2008

Easycut - the lowdown

My drawing for today
which I turned into this


using the leftovers from this, ripping the stamp I'd had made off the wooden base and gluing easycut lino on instead. (I know, I could've paid someone to make a stamp, but the easycut was there, and one thing led to another....)


I was playing around with easycut because I needed to make another one of these


because of this corrosion, so that I could print more of these.


Easycut is easy to cut. It's quite different from lino: it's more sensitive, but also stretchy. You can't do those neat little flicks of the knife that break bits of lino off when you get to a straight edge - this stuff just does not break. It's less stretchy if you stick it to a piece of masonite, which you'll need to do anyway in order to print, because it's floppy. It doesn't have a backing like lino. Pretty easy to gouge right through it, too. But for a print on paper, where you don't have to cut too deep, you can get pretty good detail.


I'm wondering what this will look like big, on a cushion. It seems a bit Victorian to me... which could be nice. Watch this space!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wonderful post. I think it will look magnificent big on a cushion! I also just like looking at your carved 'blocks'...

Sonya said...

What lovely cards. If it's the same stuff I'm thinking of - almost eraser like in consistency - I wasn't that big a fan. It was almost too easy to cut. I like the resistance of lino, even when heated.

flowerpress said...

Hi Jezze,
Glad to see you back blogging, I do enjoy popping in here :-)
I love your design. I'd love to see it as the full circle!
Funnily enough I was just carving this stuff last night, I'm new to it but amazed at the fine, detailed results that I've seen other people getting. I was also experimenting with some great new versacolor pigment stamp pads I'd bought, have you seen these, fantastic colours and a great painty finish.
I was wondering if you could fabric print with the eraser stamps but you've answered that for me. Oh and I love your blockprinted fabric too :-)

Kristen Doran said...

Love, love, love the print on your business cards!

Denise Kiggan said...

I love the way you let us in on the whole process! Thank you! It makes it so interesting and I am looking forward to those cushions!!!

Anonymous said...

Your design is great Jesse... I like the corner to corner positioning. Thanks for showing us :)

Anonymous said...

I love everything in that post. beautiful, as always!

kat said...

Nice to see you back in blogland!

painted fish studio said...

gorgeous prints. and you have convinced me to try easy cut, especially after gouging my thumb more times than i'd like to admit when i was on a block printing bender last fall!

elly said...

Hi Jesse,

Welcome back! With regard to erosion, I use Japanese lino (which is blue on the outside and dk grey inside), and I have found it lasts very well with no erosion at all. Some of my blocks are 10+ years old and still working very well. Japanese lino also allows for very fine lines and precision cutting. I have no idea where to get it, I've almost run out, so if I come across any while I'm searching for it on the net I'll let you know!

Heloise said...

I really enjoyed this post. I was wondering what would happen if you stuck the easycut down on the block before starting to carve - would that help prevent the stretch. Or is it in theactual carving cut that you feel it most? I've not tried it yet.

Anonymous said...

Hey,
yummy yummy prints. love that business card