Hundreds of Stag Beetles

I've always liked Stag Beetles and interesting insects. I have a small collection of preserved bug specimens in with my cabinet of curiosities. I decided it would be interesting to make some small engravings based on a few of these specimens. I wanted to work from the exact specimens, flaws and all, and not make the engraved beetles look so perfect and sterile.

The completed blocks were printed using heavy pressure on a very thick 110lb cotton paper called Cranes Lettra. The results are these beautiful thick prints that almost have dimension from the impression.

**This is a little flip book video to show the steps that go into engraving a block. The block pictured is the "Atlas Beetle".**

**An early stage of the "Cicada" block.**

**The actual Cicada is finished. The final step was to clear out all of the remaining area around the insect, allowing for just the cicada to print on the paper.**

**The drawing of the "Rhinoceros Beetle" on a block of Resingrave.**

**The "Rhinoceros Beetle" coming along nicely.**

**The "Rhinoceros Beetle" block before carving away all of the area around the insect.**

Here is a picture of the "Stag Beetle" block on press during the printing session. The small piece of blue tape was used because the edge of this block was a little sharp and was making a crease line in the paper when printed due to the amount of pressure used. The tape was just enough to smooth out this edge and not leave a dent in the finished print.

This is a picture of the "make-ready" used on the "Stag Beetle". The inked block is placed into the press, the Cranes paper placed on top of it, and lastly this odd shaped additional piece of paper.

This extra sheet helps make the block print evenly. In this block, for example, the beetle's legs were printing perfectly, nice and crisp without the ink filling in the lines, but the body of the beetle needed a bit more pressure to get a deeper impression and a darker print. So the section of the block where the body of the insect is under the paper gets this extra layer of paper to add more pressure.

**Ahh the best part... The big reveal!**

All 4 insect blocks were printed in an edition of 100, so the whole shop was covered in 400 drying bug prints for a few days.

**A look at the back of the print. DEEP impression.**

The "Rhinoceros Beetle" block cleaned off after its print run. Because these blocks were printed with such a tremendous amount of pressure, the entire area around the beetle had to be carved and sanded down to almost the bare wood of the block. Leaving any little bumps in that large section would make a bump or a dent in the paper while printing.

**Taking advantage of out Slinky drying rack, which is the greatest thing ever.**

Need a drying rack that holds 70 cards or prints? For about $5? Take a Slinky, stretch it out over a piece of 2x4 and staple it down. TADA!!!!

**Final print of the Rhinoceros Beetle.**

**All framed up! The paper is exactly 5x7 inches which makes for very easy framing!**

I started this project in August and worked on engraving the blocks between other projects. We just printed and finished the editioning this past week, and they are available in our shop separately as well as in sets!

Designing and Printing Posters for Tor Johnson Records

On May 12, 2012 Tor Johnson Records celebrated their 10 year anniversary show at AS220 in Providence, RI. Tor Johnson Records is a local record label run by Paul Dechichio. It was a huge night, with 8 bands playing hard, fast sets and destroying the place. TJR had the show filmed for a future release, and over the past few months they have been editing and putting together the DVD from that killer night. In classic Tor Johnson fashion, they had a gigantic concert to celebrate the release of the DVD.

I was asked to make the posters for this release show, and I jumped at the chance to work with Paul and the Tor Johnson crew. Here's how I made them!

It all started with a concept and a drawing. I decided to make the poster 11 x 17 in. and began by drawing the poster to scale in pencil. Who doesn't love a screaming skull and stag beetles?

The next step was transferring the drawing onto the linoleum block backwards. I find the easiest way to do this is to make your drawing in soft pencil. Then place it pencil side down on top of the linoleum and simply burnish the back of the drawing. The image transfers clean crisp, and most importantly in reverse!

I inked some details into the skull and started carving the linoleum. The process basically involves carving away any part of the linoleum block that you do not want to print. What remains is the lettering and images. I use different types of chisels, gouges and knives to remove the linoleum.

Here is the linoleum block after 18 hours of cutting. All that remained was the information that would be printed. I rolled a thin layer of black ink over the surface to see if there were any areas that still needed to be cut.

Once the block was cut, it was time to start the actual posters. There were a few steps to making these guys. I started with 120lb 11x17in. white card stock purchased locally. I decided to screen print the card stock first, leaving a large matte color block on the paper. I mixed a cement grey acrylic ink and flecked some gold and Prussian blue onto each screen as I printed. It gave the effect of each poster being slightly unique.

I printed 50 of these and hung them for a few days to completely dry. The paper now had a matte flat grey surface and a white paper border.

Time for round two! Once dry, the papers were ready to have the linoleum block letterpress printed on them. I used an oil-based black relief ink for the linoleum cut. The ink was rolled onto the surface of the linoleum in a thin even coat making sure the larger flat areas received plenty of ink.

The inked linoleum was then put on the press bed and a sheet of the screen-printed paper was placed onto the surface. I use a variety of registration systems to make sure the linoleum matches up with the grey surface of the paper. For this project I used some masking tape to help align the paper and block. Then they went through the press using a rubber blanket to get some nice embossing on the poster.

The paper is pulled off of the block and hung to dry.

So. Many. Posters.

One of the coolest features on these posters was the sheen on the surface of them. Because I used a glossy oil-based black ink for the linoleum block and printed it on the matte screen printed grey paper, the lettering and skull looked wet and shiny! They almost had a warm silver look to them. This was an experiment using both processes in one poster and it came out great.

When the edition was complete and drying, I had to clean the linoleum block. I decided in true DIY punk fashion that I should make a patch on an old shop rag to give Paul when I dropped off the posters. What I should have done was stop messing around and cleaned up the shop, as I had been down there for almost 9 hours at that point! Paul dug the patch! Well worth it!!

So here is the finished poster. Again, every one is slightly different because of the random blue and gold flecks as well as the scuffed up bottom of the grey inked section.

This project was so killer!

I really look forward to some future projects with Paul and Tor Johnson Records. Check out their website if you are in the mood for some heavy music and killer records! There may be a few of these posters still available too!

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