I have participated in the #BlockPartyWithGina Instagram challenge run by Gina of Ridge and Roots three times now (but somehow only wrote a wrap up post once), and it really is something I look forward to every time it is announced. Though I am realizing that the things I want to do with block printing might require some different tools and perhaps a little more time dedicated to each block. I always feel like I’m rushing each design because I procrastinate too much in the beginning stages.

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Test printing with my stamp pad went well, so after the block dries from it’s bath it’s on to step 2 and actual printing. Image description: Two paper prints, a purple stamp pad, a carved rubber stamp and a red-handled carving tool are sitting together on a table. The stamp and prints feature two phones with hands coming out and being held in the center with a heart in the middle. #BlockPrinting #LinoCut #BlockPartyWithGina #CommunityAndConnection #Heart #HoldingHands #StampCarving

A post shared by Casey Kay B (@caseykayb) on Sep 15, 2020 at 4:16pm PDT

It’s tough to pick my favorite block this time around, but I do love that I figrued out a way to do two-colored prints. Might’ve gone overboard by doing so many of them with that technique, though. I think that caused a lot of my rushing this time.

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The first week prompt for this round of the #BlockPartyWithGina is connection/community and, with everyone at home and communicating mainly via the internet, I decided to capture that sense of connection and community from afar. I'm really proud of this two-color print, because it is my first time doing one. I’m still trying to figure out a lot with the printing, and it often takes me a lot of tries just to get a few prints. Swipe to the 3rd slide to see how many prints I pulled versus the 4th slide of the 4 best ones that I will be putting up on Etsy later today. Image description: Slide 1- A block printed image of two cell phones with message bubbles on the screen with hands coming out and being held in the center all in green with a pink heart in the middle above the hands on a white square piece of paper. Slide 2 – A block printed image of two cell phones with message bubbles on the screen with hands coming out and being held in the center all in green with a purple heart in the middle above the hands on a white square piece of paper. Slide 3 – 16 squares of paper with the block printed image on them, some with pink hearts and some with purple, laid out on an art board with a paper cutter, some paper scraps, a box of inks, and a towel, all on a bed. Slide 4 – A closer picture of four squares of paper, three with pink hearts and one with a purple heart on an art board with some paper scraps visible in the corner. #BlockPrinting #TwoColorPrinting #LinoCutPrinting #LinoCut #ConnectionAndCommunity #Connection #Community #Technology #ConnectionThroughTechnology #Heart #SpeedballInk

A post shared by Casey Kay B (@caseykayb) on Sep 18, 2020 at 11:30am PDT

These little ones that I framed are some of my favorites. They are currently available on my Etsy shop.

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Got last week’s prints framed and added to my @etsy shop. I love how these look in the frames, and they can be sat on a surface or hung on the wall. Image description: Both slides show a green print of two hands coming out of smartphones with messaging bubbles on the screens, holding each other in the middle, and a heart floating above. On slide 1 the heart is pink and on slide 2 the heart is purple. #BlockPartyWithGina #FramedPrints #EtsySeller #BlockPrinting #LinoCut #CommunityAndConnection #Community #Connection #Technology #Printmaking #VirtualConnection #Heart #TwoColorPrinting

A post shared by Casey Kay B (@caseykayb) on Sep 21, 2020 at 4:52pm PDT

This design I originally wanted to do half this size to be the front of a card, but I wasnt’ able to get the definition I wanted. Instead of continuing on and forcing myself to finish something I didn’t like, I restarted and made it full size. I like it way more this way. It’s also available on my Etsy page.

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For week 2’s prompt of #Harvest for this round of @ridgeandroots #BlockPartyWithGina, I decided to go with a nice apple pie surrounded by its ingredients. I originally tried to carve it small enough to be the front of a card, but I couldn’t get all the details in that I wanted. So instead I went with a size that would go well on 6 by 9 paper. Swipe once for a close up, twice to see the difference in the original attempt and final block. Image description: Slide 1- A  block print of an apple pie surrounded by apples, wheat, flour, butter, and cinnamon in brown ink on white paper laid on an art board which also holds a pack of paper, the carved rubber block, a printing ink plate with the brown ink and a rubber brayer on it, a piece of scrap paper, three small containers of ink, an ink box, and the tubes of ink that came from the box. Slide 2- A close up of the print. Slide 3- A carved rubber block with ink applied to the design and the same design partially carved on a slightly smaller rubber block without ink applied. Carving block: @blickartmaterials Soft-Kut Printing Block Paper: @richesonart Bulk Printmaking Paper 6×9 in 88# Ink: @speedball_art Fabric and Paper Block Printing Ink #ApplePie #BlockPrinting #LinoCutPrinting #LinoCut #SoftKutBlock #SpeedballInk #JackRichesonPaper #BlickArtMaterials

A post shared by Casey Kay B (@caseykayb) on Sep 28, 2020 at 11:29am PDT

This design is the first one that I actually abandoned. I kept trying and trying to fix it, but couldn’t get it to do what I wanted. Eventually I got so frustrated with it that I stepped away from the whole block party project for a week, despite knowing what I wanted to do for the next design.

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Working on improving my inkjet transfer process so I can write the whole process up for you. But basically you laminate a piece of paper, trim it all down to fit in your printer, and then print on glossy photo paper settings. Press your block onto the image, and then wipe the sheet to use again and again. I’d recommend letting the ink dry overnight before carving to try to prevent it from coming off on your hands. Image Description: A laminated sheet of scrap paper lays on a wooden table with the same image visible twice on its surface. The image says “Grow through what you go through” and has a split tree with new growth in the center. There is one rubber carving block on the paper and one that already has the image transferred sitting next to the paper with the image vaguely visible and reversed. #LinoCut #BlockPrinting #BlockPartyWithGina #SoftKutBlock #GrowThroughWhatYouGoThrough #Tree #Resilience #Renewal #resilienceandrenewal

A post shared by Casey Kay B (@caseykayb) on Oct 1, 2020 at 5:16pm PDT

Once I finally admitted to myself that I wasn’t happy with the direction this card was going, I was able to move on and make something that I did end up really ahppy with, even though it didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted it to, either.

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I am giving up and moving on. I’ve been stuck on the block I created for week 3 of @ridgeandroots #BlockPartyWithGina for so long it’s made me not want to do week 4. So I’m just cutting my losses and moving on. Maybe I’ll come back and redo it, maybe not. But that’s just what happens some times. Image description: An art board with 10 greeting cards, each with a variation of a dead tree with a green sprout coming from the center. The card in the bottom right has the words “Grow through” printed above the tree. #Resilience #Renewal #ResilienceAndRenewal #BlockPrinting #LinoCut

A post shared by Casey Kay B (@caseykayb) on Oct 12, 2020 at 5:26pm PDT

Unfortunately, because I backed this block in cardboard, I was unable to get as consistent prints as I wanted with this block, it’s not ready to be on my Etsy. I am going to fix the mounting issues and make a better run of them soon, hopefully to post before the cut off for the holidays.

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Playing a bit of catch-up today on @ridgeandroots #BlockPartyWithGina – last week’s prompt of warm. I decided to go with a simple fireplace that would make a good winter greeting card. In trying to decide how to ink both portions of the block, I came up with the idea of using a paintbrush to give the fire more of a moving effect. Image description: A white card with a brown block-printed fireplace and log and red fire in the center lays on a tan art board with splotches of paint on it. #Fire #Warm #BlockPrinting #LinoCut #FirePlace #Cozy #CozyVibes

A post shared by Casey Kay B (@caseykayb) on Oct 15, 2020 at 10:57am PDT

I think my favorite of all to make was this final print. The print portion was done in a single color, but I embossed the spiders indiviually after printing. I didn’t get these finished in time to list before Halloween this year, but I’ll hold onto them to list in time for Halloween next year.

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The final touches on the final project for this round of @ridgeandroots #BlockPartyWithGin – mystical/spooky . I wanted to incorporate some embossing for the mystical part of the prompt, and I wanted to do a larger project this time as well. So I decided to do some accents on the spider in gold/silver. Swipe to the last slide to watch the embossing powder change (without the jet engine sound of the heat gun. You’re welcome) Image/Video description: Slide 1: Six prints of a black spider web on white paper with a spider in the lower right corner spread out on overlapping stacks of three. The top three prints have spiders that have silver accents and the bottom three have gold accents. A purple heat gun lays to the left of the stacks. Slide 2: Close up of one of the prints with a silver spider. The silver accents are eyes and three blobbing stripes down the back of the abdomen. Slide 3: Close up of one of the prints with a gold spider. The gold accents are eyes and three blobbing stripes down the back of the abdomen. Slide 4: Video close up of the heat gun melting the embossing powder. #BlockPrinting #Embossing #LinoCut #Spider #SpiderWeb #Mystical #Spooky #MysticalAndSpooky #HandPrinting #HandEmbossing #SpeedballInk #SpeedballArt #SpeedballPrintingInk #RangerEmbossingPowder #RangerEmbossingInk

A post shared by Casey Kay B (@caseykayb) on Oct 18, 2020 at 5:23pm PDT

All in all, I think this Block Party was the best yet. I learned a lot that I want to implement in my printing, and I made quite a few blocks I was really happy with. Next on my to-do list, printing on fabric!

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