With my digital designs ready and completed on Adobe Illustrator, I began the process confident in my choice and my compositions, excited to have such a large canvass (lino) to work with and put my own detail into.
The reason I chose to begin with digital designs is that I was told (and aware after some research) that I could print out my digital designs on a laser printer and then iron transfer the designs on to my lino keeping my compositions exact and saving the trouble and time of hand drawing the designs myself.
The transfer process
I first began by printing out my digital designs at uni just before Christmas. Unfortunately when i came into uni, the digital print resource to print my digital designs out on A2 was closed, so to combat this I separated my A2 designs into 2 A3 designs, printed them out in the studio and attached them together after printing.
Feeling confident that my 3 digital designs were now in physical form i tested out the ironing technique that I had been explained.
*Note: My designs didn't have to be printed out in reverse. Once the designs were printed then laid down on top of the lino, this then transfers a reversed image onto the lino to be cut. Once the lino is cut and paper is placed on top, this then re-reverses the designs - printing it the correct way around.
Instantly I came across problems. I wasn't sure if it was the thickness of the printer paper, or maybe that the printer I used in the studio to print out my designs wasn't laser jet (despite researching its make/model on the Internet prior to printing), so I contacted a friend of mine who is an architect who managed to print my A2 designs out for me on their A2 laser jet printer also. Despite all this effort, the design wouldn't transfer cleanly on to the lino-very frustrating.
I spent ages marking up both the lino and the designs to make sure that each design transferred onto the lino in the exact centre etc, only to find that when I lifted off my design after ironing - the design on the lino was hardly recognisable. At one point i ironed my design so much in the hope that the the extra applied heat would help transfer my image more clearly, only to cause the lino surface to bubble and burn.
This was a big blow to me. I had spent so long on my digital designs, using no tablet (just my track pad) due to to access at the time and no mouse - all for the ease of this stage in the process. My theory to do this digital process was to save time and create accurate imagery - being able to see and edit my designs, centre them and make each of the 3 A2 designs consistent with each other in terms of placement on the lino and where I wanted certain elements of the composition.
At such a late stage and needing to have some sort of a Christmas/New Year there was only one thing I could do. I reverted back to an old way of transferring and covered my assembled printed designs in graphite on the back and transferred each of my 3 designs my hand onto the lino. After the this, i re-drew over my design to make them clearer for cutting. This of course did take quite a bit of time, and I was worried that this transfer process might be a bad idea, as due to pressing so hard when drawing through the design onto the lino - it could indent/scratch the lino which I didn't want to show up when it came to printing.
This process worked and to bring out more of my design, I went over some of the lines in permanent marker so that it wouldn't smudge off during the cutting process. I hope to be able to clean off the marker once the cutting is complete, with some lino roller/brush cleaner I have purchased.
Once i had picked out all of the relevant lines I needed and was sure that my design would not rub off the lino, I was able to start the cutting/carving process. Exciting!
Worries:
At this stage I am really worried about time. A lot has gone wrong so far throughout this whole process and cost me a lot of time and patience. I hope that cutting wont take too long. I need to animate after all!
I am also worried about my design. The digital versions transferred onto the lino are just roughs with areas of detail needing to be added as I go along. "Winging it" in this way could cause more problems and take more time as i try and solve and add bits along the way. I only have 3 pieces of lino for my 3 designs so making mistakes is not an option. Any mistakes i do make will have to be integrated into the design I guess. *Nervous!*
Note to self: Don't waste time that I don't have! Have faith in my roughs and get on with it.
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