Print challenges are a thing. And people really love these things! Usually a member of the community puts up a random set of parameters and people to post their ‘response’ all via social media (apparently some good things DO come from it). This particular challenge came via Pressing Matters a gorgeous UK print magazine, who you should check out for a great overview of modern printing the world over.
I hadn’t previously found the pull of them, but after prompting from a friend, and feeling in a particularly creative state of mind, I decided to weigh in with a three-layer print that had been brewing. This was a worked-up version of my pink and green Tetra print but adapted to the ‘Blue and Yellow’ theme of the regular challenge put up by the folks at Pressing Matters.
I may have been a little over-ambitious when I decided to do a full-on dotwork texture in the background of the second layer. It was THE MOST time-consuming plate I’ve ever carved. It took me close to 20 hours to ‘carve’ the dots (a recipe for RSI if there ever was one). There a lot of trail and error to find the right tool for the job. Once I discovered my wrists weren’t up to it, I ended up bodging my own out of a scalpel handle inserted with a 2mm drill bit, used with a tiny low torque hand driver – win!
Given that I had decided to enter the challenge three days before the deadline of the challenge, I decided to print using Schminke water-based inks, which dry mega-fast, meaning I could print layers over top within a matter of hours. I submitted within the last few hours before the cut-off, having taken some pretty dark, dodgy photos at 9pm and posted to my Insta account. I’m really happy with how it turned out, and found the familiarity of working intensely to a deadline, a comfortable place to be given that it was my choice to put myself in that situation.
They are available to buy in my Etsy shop here.
Megan Abel 