Seaweed Stamps.

 I'm starting to carve a collection of seaweed stamps, with five finished and at least one more to go. The large curved ones on the left are very distinctive, so it would be good to have a couple curving in the opposite direction.

                                                           My messy looking test sheet.

Return to the Stamp Carving.

With a dead line not that far away, I have returned to my Leafy Sea Dragons project, and just carved a second Dragon. I thought that I'd look through my old stamps for some vegetation that might double as sea weed. Unfortunately only 2 were suitable and a little too small for the size of the paper that must be used, 30 cm x 40 cm, so I'll use them in conjunction with some bigger new ones that I want to carve very soon..

Antennae.

The butterflies now all have antennae, and look much with them. I could actually have made them longer, but once the pen has left the paper there is no going back and adding more on. At least I didn't completely mess them up as I feared would happen!

Shaped Plates.

 I was pleasantly surprised to see how this collection of shaped collagraph plates printed out to day. The markings on the wings aren't really definite enough, but printing isolated shapes worked well.

 This above was the first one in mono-colour. Obviously the antennae will have to be added later by hand, which will be nerve wracking, as it will be easy to make a mess of that and ruin the whole piece.

                   Here I've introduced a second colour to the hind wings, which looks O.K. I think.

                                        The same green added to the fore wings this time.

Another two colour print, this time a little paler than the first one. No other colour combination appealed today, but who knows I might print in red and black perhaps!

Separate Elements.

I thought that I'd try something new, a collagraph consisting of separate elements all printed together. I've never done this before, so I chose something simple, my own carved butterfly stamp. As you'll notice, the wings aren't symmetrical, a quirk of a free hand drawn image. I've printed the butterflies onto cardboard, cut them out and painted the different areas with gloss or matt medium. Each should wipe off differently, should being the operative word! I wonder how they'll look, but being an experiment, it just doesn't matter, as I'll learn something in the process.

Multiple Collagraph Techniques.

 In this new plate I have used gel medium through a stencil for the wall, dried grass for the trees, pressed lichen for the foreground vegetation and sawdust for the lowest area. This one above shows the various elements, but is overall too dark.

                  This one is better I think, but the sky is too scratchy. Another try tomorrow!

Meet Luna.

                    We have a new Grand-Puppy, named Luna for the pale blaze on her chest.

She is a Groodle (Golden Retriever x Poodle), very fluffy and very self possessed for such a young puppy.  Happy times ahead for all the young ones in this household!

A Quintet of Little Angels.

 While in New Plymouth I visited the Te Henui cemetery, the most beautiful cemetery imaginable, with masses of flowers growing on the old tomb sites and trees full of blossom everywhere. I really liked these little angel statues, but of course they were on the tombs of children which is just so sad.

 This is perhaps one of the few with two complete arms, and she is more like a real child than the stylised children seen elsewhere.

                                                          This one has two missing arms.

                             I just love the way this one is holding out her skirt full of flowers.

                               This one has two arms and a delightfully simple little dress.

Colour Variations.

 With a few hours available for printing this afternoon, I decided to work with my old collagraph plate shown  inked above. It's just a test plate, using all sorts of bits and pieces that I've had waiting for a moment to try out. Although the contrast is necessary, I don't think that the random dark patches work all that well.

                                              This one above is a simple single colour print.

 This one has a copper colour rolled over the first colour before printing and an addition of a little blue above the green.

                                              This is similar, but with a yellow added.

 A much brighter yellow this time. It looks like something seen under a microscope I think.

                                          A similar, but different blue and yellow version.

More from Pukekura Park.

 One tiny corner of an amazing  complex of plant display houses in Pukekura Park, New Plymouth New Zealand.

                                                          A small pond with very fat fish!

                                                A view of part of the main lake in the park.

Old Wisteria Tree.

                     These pictures are of an old Wisteria Tree in Pukekura Park, New Zealand.

               I've never seen such a gnarly old truck nor such extensive limbs and flowers.

It's a pity that it isn't self supporting, so that the metal pipes and bars wouldn't be visible, but needs must of course with the weight of such an enormous spread of vegetation.

Yet Another New Project!

 This is a Leafy Sea Dragon, a gorgeous member of the Sea Horse family. Here I've drawn out the image onto a block of soft carving block.

It was quite intricate to carve, but has turned out reasonably well. The carved block on the right and the stamped print on the left. I have an idea for a complete design, but I will need to carve another couple of Dragons and some sea weed as well.

Back to the Printing.

Although I have many more photos of my trip to New Zealand to post, I have also been adding to an old collagraph plate that didn't work particularly well the first time that I printed it. I've added a whole lot more elements to try to give some more tones to the print, as previously it was all more or less the same tone all over. It's only an exercise, so I'm not really worried about the outcome, but it will indicate what medium gives what tone. Here I've used all sorts of things, sand, cotton threads, pieces of tiny felt flowers, sandpaper cutouts, strips of stick-on fancy paper tape and the original old fashioned starch paste. The print must be interesting surely?

Holiday in New Zealand.

 After a 10 day holiday in New Zealand I'm back trying to catch up with myself and all that I need to do at home. Above is a photo of the main lake at Pukekura Park, a gorgeous 52 hectares of public park in New Plymouth on New Zealand's North Island.

                                  I've seen sparrows and various other birds in cafes, but never ducks.

                                                       A group of ducks on the lake's edge.