No. 2 Experimental Gocco print, day 1

After much procrastination, I finally got started on my next experimental gocco print, partly because the Tribune reporter and photographer are coming over this coming week so I'd like to be in the middle of a print when they're here, and also because I instigated this simultaneous print project on the gocco-printers group, so I better get something printed.

I was dragging my feet a little getting this started -- I kept waffling between a few different choices on what this print was going to be about and just couldn't make up my mind. One thing about getting it started, it kind of makes up its mind for you.

So here's the first layer. Once again, I'm using the same screen I've been using since Feb 2006 for Fatherland, a couple of small gocco prints in 2006, and also for the horse print. I wanted to see how complex a shape I could cut with the self-adhesive labels. I'm finding that labels that had gone through the inkjet printer does not seem to cut well with an X-acto knife, although a pair of scissors still worked. This was cut with a pair of small scissors.



And here's how it printed.



Then I got out another old screen (again, from the rejected Dentistry CMYK print) and painted on some PVA with a brush. Here's what it looks like on the light box. I wanted to see how much brush texture I could create with this. I removed all the emulsion from this screen by peeling it off using some packing tape.



Inked up and in the gocco:



And here are 2 prints with different results. First, I used some light gray I had mixed and saved a while ago. Half way through printing, I started to run low on ink. I mixed up another batch but it's a little darker. Since this was just a texture for the background, I wasn't too concerned about that.



Here's a detail of the part created with the brushed on PVA.



I decided to try to PVA rather than the gel medium because it's a little more fluid and I could brush it on like a liquid. I got the texture that I was after, so I'm happy. When I cleaned up though, the PVA softened and started to come up, although it did not come up completely. It'd be interesting to see how it would print next. I imagine gel medium would have a similar problem. Nail polish might be the most suitable for this– 1) it's pretty fluid so I can paint it on and get the brush strokes texture, 2) once dried, it does not soften when wet, and 3) I can remove it with nail polish remover.