Last week, I described the process behind cutting out the linocut blocks for my two colour print of bumble bees. You can see my it above, a yellow block followed by a black block, printed onto handmade paper with petals embedded into it. This week, I'm going to describe the different stages of printing it up.
You can see here the two blocks printed up - the large yellow block, which has flower shapes cut into it, and forms the background of the print. I've also left in areas to form the yellow areas of the bees. The black block will be lined up and printed over it. (If you want detailed instructions on my registration method, have a look at my blog post here).
The yellow block is printed up first. It is a very large area to print, so I needed to use a lot of pressure. I mask tape the paper into position. Once I've printed the yellow, I leave it in position, and switch the blocks round. I lower the paper back down into position, and put it back through the printing press. Here you can see the final print - I love the final stage and peeling it back to see how it has turned out! If you would like to watch a film of the printing process, then have a look here.