On a morning walk I came across a much-battered chunk of wood in the middle of the road. It was a section of an old apple bin -- those iconic large red boxes you see in the orchards. The piece yielded three blocks for printing. First, though, since the wood was so soft and porous and would have absorbed too much ink, I sealed the blocks with a single coat of Liquitex brand Gloss Medium & Varnish. Too much sealer, I've found, reduces the deep embossing I like.
After the prints were dry I cut them down to size, taking advantage of the knot holes and the most interesting grain.
After repeated inkings the blocks take on a wonderful patina of their own.
Often apple bins are stenciled with the name of the orchard or the packing house and at this point in finishing up some of the cards I came back to an idea I'd had for a while. What would it look like to incorporate some of that text into the print?
Have I mentioned I have a thing for text and alphabets? Luckily, the alphabet set on the top of the pile was a good size and mimicked the look of stenciled letters.
I gave black ink a try but it looked too bold and also too "new".
Going for a more weathered look I added Van Dyke brown to the black to tone down the intensity. I also imagined the letters themselves would have faded unevenly. To get that look I tried dropping the tiniest bit of corn starch on the inked letter before I stamped it. In the test above the upper B and C was the look I'd hoped for. In a happy accident the corn starch gummed up the stamps enough I really didn't have to add any more. I also put a lid on my "perfectionist" tendencies and did a quick rough and ready application of ink to the stamps. The uneven inking added to the faded look.
I used a B and C for an imagined provincial apple packing plant and I liked the look of running the text off the print.
I tried a few other letters as well and also stamped the small prints for the back of the cards with a single letter. (You may have to click on the blog title to see the video below.)
This was one of those happy (and rare!) times when an idea that had been percolating worked out just as I had imagined! Now I'm eager to get on with a butter box print and see how I can incorporate text again yet make it distinct from the apple bin print.
