Linocut in Progress: Little bits

After my last update I spent several days wrapping up an illustration project, but yesterday went happily back to the carving table and created lots of lino crumbs.

As luck would have it, however, all that carving didn't really have any bearing on what was printed next.

The area around the pelican's eye will be yellow, but it's a tiny shape... barely 1/8" wide and 1/4" long in an image that's 18 x18 inches overall. To ink up the entire block for that tiny shape would be a ridiculous waste of time and ink, so instead I decided to apply ink directly to the prints via pochoir, or stenciling. 

Applying ink via pochoir, or stenciling

Here I have cut the shape out of a piece of clear acetate. The black lines are marked on the acetate stencil to help me place it correctly. Ink is pounced directly on to the prints with a small stiff brush.

Et voila:

Pelican linocut, Step 3

I cut a second shape and applied orange in the same manner:

Pelican linocut, Step 4

Next, I carved some very small bits out of the face and then printed a yellow-orange. The shapes to be printed were much larger, so this time I used my acetate sheet as an inking mask instead of a stencil. I placed the mask over the block rather than over the print and rolled ink across it. Then I ran the block through the press as usual.

Pelican linocut, Step 5

One or two more small areas remain to be worked in the bird's beak, and then the color work for this image will be finished! Everything else will be shades of gray. Geez, I hope this works.