Wallpaper and rural domesticity

by | Nov 28, 2010 | 6 comments

The start of a new series featuring framed works on wallpaper. All printed on my Takach printing press.

fancy, baroque frame around detailed chicken portrait, all mounted on red, patterned wallpaper

'A Pattern of Rural Domesticity' • wallpaper = about 8ft x 5ft, print within baroque frame is 8x10in • all woodcut images, with tiny etching in window beside chicken image

Printing the wallpaper, block by block:
red patterned paper being printed on etching press

lino block held up for camera. Patterned wallpaper created by this block in background

The linoleum used to print the wallpaper (10in x 10in)

tiled pattern, closeup

A closeup of the pattern.... Bones and offal (intestines, feet, etc), axes...the joys and horror of processing chickens I guess.

And the chicken (Gold Laced Wyandotte, cock), a reduction woodcut, with little etching for outdoor window scene:

reduction woodcut of chicken beside window, scene outside window shows hanging, plucked chicken

7 color reduction woodcut, with etching for the little window scene

And finally, the colors used to print the chicken in the framed reduction print:

colored prints surround full-color final 7-color reduction woodcut

Reduction woodcut, 8in x 10in, with colors used at different stages

6 Comments

  1. Lise
    Lise on February 23, 2011 at 1:57 pm

    Hello, I am a printmaker and book artist also using wallpaper themes. I have been using both lino and intaglio to print but have not been successful with a long paper substrate. Yours looks great. Would you please let me know what you used if you don’t mind giving it up…pretty please. It would help me out a lot.
    Thanks

    Reply
    • S.V. Medaris
      S.V. Medaris on February 24, 2011 at 4:39 am

      Hi Lise. Roll papers that work great for repeated lino printing are Masa, Mulberry, and Arches Cover. All done on press, they work great. Not printed/rubbed by hand. Stonehenge is awful. Often I paint the paper first with a colored wash–thinned down acrylics to provide a base color. Then print with oil-based ink on top of that. The right pressure helps, and holding the block firmly to the paper while rolling it slowly through the press helps. And then thinking positive thoughts helps a lot too, and holding your breath while the block goes through the roller ;-)

      Hope this helps. -Sue

      Reply
      • Lise Currie
        Lise Currie on February 27, 2011 at 11:55 pm

        Thanks so much for sharing!!! I will let you know how it turns out for me when I get something done. I am experimenting with woodblock and etching so slightly different. Do you dampen your acrylic paper once you’ve washed it?
        Lise

        Reply
        • S.V. Medaris
          S.V. Medaris on March 3, 2011 at 11:50 pm

          I don’t dampen paper when printing woodcuts. Is that what you mean?

          Reply
  2. Michelle
    Michelle on January 18, 2011 at 11:46 pm

    Incredible, Sue!

    Reply
    • S.V. Medaris
      S.V. Medaris on January 19, 2011 at 3:05 am

      Thanks so much for the kind words. I hope to have 4-6 done for the May show, so look for more in a few months!

      Reply

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