Proofing the Curl Snout

I had such grand intentions.  Tuesday I remembered to put some paper down to soak before I went to work so I could pull some proofs of my Chinese New Year Dragon.  Wednesday morning was literally a goat rodeo as we gathered Odin up to get neutered.  I had intended on packing up my supplies to go to the Virginia Artist Book Center and pull some proofs of the block.  I had such grand intentions.  I barely drug myself to the meeting at VABC but was glad I went.  So many exciting ideas and concepts were discussed.  I'm glad I didn't skip it.  Fast forward to Thursday and when I went upstairs to check my email my foot bumped against my paper humidor and I had one of those Oh, yeah. That's right. I was supposed to do that wasn't I. moments.  A flare of procrastination drifted over my mind but it was swiftly dispatched by the kraken mentioned in my last post.  I tossed my brush into my water basin and set to work. 

I've been trying to use up my bokuju.  It's great stuff but I have a whole other bottle to use after this one is gone so I might as well use it now.  It really has a richer color to it than regular sumi.  

Looks like a good impression so far.  It's hard to ink up a freshly carved block sometimes because it looks so pristine.  The kento needs to print up as well for accurate registration.  You can see the triangle and the trapezoid in the right hand side of the paper.

I stalled on using this piece of wood but I've been hanging onto it for years.  Kraken to the rescue!  Slather the nori on and ask questions later.

I really like this method because I don't have to deal with xeroxes or smelly chemicals for transfer.  There's no extra tools or supplies besides paper and nori that you already are using for printing.  Plus, it's like working from the original because it really is a copy of the block and registration.

I'm saving space by carving two colors and their registrations on one block.

I have an idea also for the concept of an "onion dragon" so I went ahead and made another two potential blocks.  Why not?  The resources are there.

Afterwards, we got all cleaned up . . . as clean as nori stained wood can get anyway.  I love my little dragon's expression.  I love his little curled snout.  It's like he's thinking "That was a good swim!"