Welcome to The Heartward Project! I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of saying that. Whether you’ve been with the challenge for one day or five! (Okay, so that part will be better once we do have a few months under our belts.) I’ve chosen to explore the art of printmaking for my first month’s challenge. Something I’ve dabbled in through middle and high school art classes, but not much beyond that. Fast forward to 2017: My Most Creative Year Yet.
And we’re only just beginning.
Like I mentioned before, it has only been five days since The Heartward Project officially started, and I just bought my supplies a few days prior to that while I was out of town. I was gone over a week for the holidays and then recovering from a not-so-fun, 24-hour bug, so a few days have been needed to simply get back on my feet. All of that being said, I’ve really only picked up my supplies once since January 1. However…
This makes me happy.
It makes me happy because I’ve built in the time for when life just. gets. busy. When you plan a creative project that lasts a full year, flexibility within the timeline is greatly appreciated when needed most! And I’ll be honest, I anticipated a slow start because, well, even after the holidays, things are busy. But now there is no time to waste!
Let’s get to it.
Pretty easy to narrow in my focus for this exploration post as I’ve had only two distinct events thus far (kickoff aside): buying my art supplies, and creating my first stamp. Below you can find the materials that I’ve purchased to begin my January challenge of exploring the art of printmaking. The kit I bought was a great way to get my starter supplies for a reasonable price!
- Speedball Block Printing Kit – $35.99 (I got mine for only $17.99 because coupons!)
- Lino Block
- Lino Handle + 3 cutter tips
- Black Ink
- Brayer
- Foam Tray
- 2 Extra Speedball Speedy-Carve Blocks (4×6) – $6.49 each (except, coupons! $3.24 a piece!)
I’ll be making myself an expense spreadsheet to help track all purchases for The Heartward Project.
Try it to learn it.
Our original plans had us arriving home Saturday night around 7pm to bring in the new year with some friends. But other things were in store for us! Remember that 24-hour bug I mentioned? It put a bump in our plans and we didn’t get back to our place until 3pm on Sunday. After unloading the car from being gone a week, it was time to carve my first stamp for The Heartward Project; I wasn’t about to miss my own kickoff!
I had finished writing “Happy New Year” and planning for my print on the carving block when I realized my design would print backwards. Welcome to Printmaking 101! Such an obvious thing, but it still took a “try it to learn it” experience to fully grasp that concept. Haha! I’m not even sure what made me realize that it would print backwards; I’d like to take the credit for realizing that but I’m pretty sure I read it somewhere else first. I’m just happy I noticed it before I started carving. Perhaps I would have noticed it then anyway? Yes, let’s go with that. 🙂
I’ve learned that carving handwriting is a challenge because the motion is much less fluid, but it works; probably better if the letters are larger and thicker. I was worried my thin strokes wouldn’t print that well, but they did alright! I’m eager to explore various techniques that are commonly used in printmaking.
So, despite the year having a bit of a rocky start, I’d say I’ve already learned a lot about the art of printmaking and I’m ready to start pushing these new skills (if they can be called that yet)!
What is it that you’ve chosen to take on for the first month of The Heartward Project? Have you had any challenges already thrown your way like I did? I would love to hear your early progress through this first week and root you on!
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