A Mokulito Print from Start to Finish
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Follow the who process of creating 'Sisters' from start to finish. You can see - and buy - the print on my website. It costs £65 and there are 18 prints in the edition www.lauraboswe...
The board I am using is cheap builder's plywood and I have marked it up with carbon paper (the more carbon you can deposit the better!) Charbonnel liquid ground and a random lip liner pencil. I'm inking with Cranfield's traditional oil based ink mixed 50-50 with extender and enough boiled linseed oil to make the ink sloppy. The printing paper is cotton rag paper and it is damp for printing.
I think it is a good idea to take a course if possible. I studied with Caroline Whitehead, an excellent teacher, at East London Printmakers and I can thoroughly recommend the class.woodblock cutting tools,
multiblock printing
mokulito
wood lithography
I very much value your instruction, which is clear and concise without creating nervous tension. I cant wait to try thid.
One thing to consider doing... Print the reference image either in pale blue, or as a light grayscale. Now when you draw over the reference image using your pencil, you'll easily see which parts you've drawn, and which parts still need to be addressed.
I learned mokulito a couple of years ago from Jeff Sipple at Making Art Safely in Santa Fe NM….I first learned lithography on stone and was dubious about this process, but I really love it…and the fact that you can actually carve your woodblock and merge the processes is very exciting! BTW, we used Akua which is an water cleanup oil based ink and it worked quite well although I still prefer the traditional inks myself….
Lovely print, Laura!
Hi Laura,
thank you very much for your very interesting and inspiring videos. Regarding safe wash inks I can confirm that they don‘t work. As soon as they get in touch with the moist surface of the plate, they immediately start to dissolve and it‘s a real mess.
Greetings from Germany
Hi Erich thank you very much for confirming that - really helpful to know and greetings to you!
Gee it looked cold in the studio. Thanks for your clear explanations, your willingness to fail and learn is a lesson in itself.
Yep it’s chilly - but I don’t really notice while I’m working. I could heat the place better, but it doesn’t seem worth it with energy prices rocketing so high and me able to knit jumpers 😀
absolute magic. thank you for making this video and sharing the process. your video is so very well done. this process captures my imagination.
I love that you are experimenting. With lipliner no less! HA! I started using pronto plates for lithography substitutes, but I think this Mokulito would be way more approachable. Thank you for making this video!
Thank you thank you!! It certainly is clear and i am actually optimistic i can pull it off from your excellent tutorial….can’t wait to try it.
Thank you Laura....such a wonderful step by step :)
Found this video very interesting and informative and helpful if im able to aquire these art supplies in the future..also I like the imperfection prints even tho theres a bit of fading or other things you find off..💛✍🇨🇦🇺🇲💛
"Getting things wrong is all part of the deal" absolutely! I've had a few absolutely catastrophic reduction prints lately, but each one of them taught me some valuable things.
I am also interested in exactly how that gum arabic works, as it has to be doing something cunning to get the water to stay put and reject the ink instead of sloshing around and letting you make a mess all over your background.
I need to find out - I have literally no idea why it functions in this way. I am somewhat surprised there’s no incantation to chant while coating/washing the block to be honest…
I'm going to try this. I've had frustratingly little and varied success with foil plate or 'kitchen litho' but I have since gathered more information on that process to try next go. Mokulito litho seems nice because there's no etch involved (less steps) ...which leads me to wonder if one could use a roughed perspex/plexi plate in place of wood ply? I know that a degreased plexi plate that is roughed with 1500-2000 grit paper will retain water with little separation as I've used that to do watercolor monotypes. The litho crayon would stick to plexi quite well I venture especially with a tooth sanded in. Yet I'm not sure how the gum Arabic could/would work on plexi over litho crayon...or if you'd even need it. Thanks for an inspiring demo.
By the way if anyone reading this hasn't taken a look at Laura's work click the provided link above. Her work is phenomenal. The composition is superb as well as the execution of the print techniques. Really fine work. (I'm adding this because I often catch myself mining for techniques and forget to check an artist's full portfolio). Cheers!
@@Beehive101 Last time I tried kitchen/foil litho the scumming was really bad...in fact, I totally lost the image the first roll up of ink each time....never made it to print. At times it seemed like the image wanted to come through after wiping a bit with a damp sponge, but...eventually it was a lost cause. The only thing that I have never used is gum arabic and I think that might be the problem in my case since the plate is too sensitized and my understanding is that the gum arabic protects those parts of the plate from attracting ink...most demos aren't clear on that really and pretty much present it as an 'option' or 'a might help' sort of thing only. Carolyn Muskat has a really thorough demo on this technique...probably the best I've seen and she uses lemon juice instead of cola. If after following her examples I fail...I'm just going forget about it and continue with monotypes, drypoint and relief etc.
Wonderful 👏🏻
Thank you so much for this fascinating video. It has me inspired to experiment!😁
Wonderful thank you !
Thank You!
Thank you.
Awesomeness, loved this! Its not the technique I was searching for, but since I have most of the supplies, I must try it. Lovely prints! And of course the kitties are too. Perfection is boring and so overrated! Pet the cats for me, greetings from Finland :)
Ps. I had minor glitter accident recently, it was _everywhere,_ even our both cats were very festive.. Ill take your linseed mishap any day, Im still finding shinies here and there, couple days later. Drives my poor hubby nuts 😂
Happy printing!
I’m registered with a workshop in September for Mokulito Printmaking at Whitaker Atalier. in Eugene Oregon. I’m watching you closely so that I will not be entirely green trying to understand and recall. Our Professor is Asian and I’m so excited. I’ve watched a UA-cam with another Artist, also Asian. She used rabbit glue solution and dried several days. Then applied the Gum Arabic and the rest is technical similar to you. I noticed you dripped water to remove the excess ink. I’ll simply have to do it. Oil based ink excess that will drip off with water! Probable issue for other plate metals and foil litho with the dirtying of the plate for me before printing. But experience speaks. Love it all. 🌹
Oh lucky you - I’m sure you’ll have a ball on your course. It’s a marvellous and playful method
Excellent spot on videos. I was on UA-cam looking at wood inlays and came across block printing. Your one of the few who hit the nail on all my questions. I never thought of this as a way to do my art. I have a CNC & a Laser cutter. I’m getting a new TOY Tuesday. A Shaper Origin. With that said….this really gets my ideas going. I was thinking linoleum, but probably going with plywood. My question to you is “clean up of plates”. Water & wood not friends. So oil paint needs one way to clean wood. Linoleum another. 2nd question. Is it poss to engrave aluminum plate and get the same effect. Think they would be easy to clean. Thank you in advance.
hi - delighted you are enjoying the filmswood and water can be friends - the Japanese woodblock technique is entirely water based and quite a wet one! Check out my woodblock videos for that one. I'm not sure about aluminium, but I can't see why it wouldn't work with oil based ink if i can stand the pressure of printing? Do let me know how you get on :)
@@LauraBoswellPrintmaker seriously great videos. Been watching a few….not sure which one with the cat & the rain…but thanks for your help. I just got a SHAPER ORIGIN. I can’t draw a straight line. So going to Adobe image, trace on Illustrator, then carve wood on shaper…..I always jump into the DEEP END….have a good day
Hi, thank you for a great informative video. They must take sooo long to do so much appreciated. Just wanted to ask why you add extender to the ink, as I usually only add this if the ink is going to overprint another colour to give less opacity and so mixes overlapping colours. So a single black printing does not make sense to me unless it affects the picking up of the ink? Also, other videos use a stiff ink…. Have you tried stiff ink and had bad results? Thank you
I’d use extender in a single colour print if I wanted the result transparent for some reason, it otherwise not. The inks I use vary in stiffness depending on the pigment and the weather - they’re traditional oil based ink so stiffer than safe wash or waterbased 🙂
Would you do the gum Arabic with soft lino as well? Thanks!
Thanks for the great video Laura, I have everything except to start experimenting with except the Charbonel liquid ground- can I use BIG ground (etching ground alternative?)
Hello..Is your ground Charbonnel soft or hard ground and where do I purchase it please ?
Fantastic Laura. Was it a light pressure on the press ?
Hi Lauara,how did you work out what pressure to set the press rollers to please ? More generally, has owning your new press inspired you to explore other different ways of printing ?
Hi the pressure is quite gentle, just enough to have the roller turning as the print goes through, but I test and set it for each time I run prints. I have lots of plans to experiment with drypoint etc as soon as I have a little time spare - I’m going to try a mokulito/lino combo soon…
Hi Laura
I've foowed your suggestion which you made at Patching and watched this intetesting video. I've just tried the process and must be doing one or more things wrong!
At the stage of cleaning up excess ink from the plate with a trickle of water, my ink was very reluctant to disperse. The overall effect when printed was woodgrain with very little of my drawing appearing.
I followed the video advice. However I did use ready made Windsor and Newton gum arabic and diluted it with one part water. What is the function of the gum arabic.? It seems strange to me to paint it on, let it dry for 24 hours then wash it off.
I'd appreciate any advice and suggestions you give me before I try again
Thanks
You need to leave the gum Arabic at least overnight to dry. The best thing to do would be to find a workshop if you can - I had to do some serious travelling to the one at East London printmakers, but it was really helpful
@@LauraBoswellPrintmaker Thanks for your speedy reply. I had left the gum arabic for 2 days to dry! If a workshop comes to the midlands I'll try to come to it.
Sorry Laura. Found my answer further down in the comments.
Why doesn't the wood warp as it gets wet?
It’s a plywood, not solid
No blanket on the press?
Not for this one :)
Hi Laura, have you prepare the wood plate with casein?
No - i have sanded the wood, but nothing other than the materials I mention in the film
Thank you very much for sharing this technique, I have started with lithography, but it is absolutely impossible to get a place in a workshop that I can afford, so I am really happy to learn about this technique. But what kind of wood do you use? I can see it's plywood, but what kind of wood and how thick is it? I hope you will answer,
It is very cheap builders ply from my hardware store
@@LauraBoswellPrintmaker Thank you so much for your answer; its easy to start then :-) I want to try mokulito this sommer.
What is the Carbonnel stuff called? Thank you!
nevermind, sorry. found your list
Can you use printers chalk instead of talc?
French chalk ?
Yes I think that would be ok - but as always, I’d try testing it before you commit 🙂
@@LauraBoswellPrintmaker thanks. Waiting for the end of term then going to get going with experimenting.
Please forgive my ignorance when it comes to this technique. I want to understand !! So what is the difference between sketching your art and then photocopying onto a beautiful piece of art paper ? I have never held a piece of your style of art so I have no idea of how to compare... Thank you for your patience in this if you choose to enlighten me. !! I do gelli pad printing so I am just discovering all sorts of amazing ways to print. Your is the first video I have watched on this style. Love and Peace Catherine
Still boggles my mind that this can be done on wood. With stone and plate lithography, after the roll up, the surface would be dried of water with a light fanning, then the paper laid and run through the press. There would be no water bleed out to contend with and would likely reduce paper distortion for any multi-colour printing. I'm finding this process very intriguing
You can use disinfectant to degrease your hands.
Could you please refrain from saying Urm, at every other word....
Urm, no 🙂