※ part three for your dear hearts ※

Some weeks it's like this in my head

fragile, fractured and foolish

And then it all leaps together like hares in the fields and I am done up again

Made again, right way upped and laughing high.

Making pictures, taking long looks and standing surrounded by air scribbling swallows.

I don't forget you of course and that we are on Part Three of Printmaking on Kitchen Tables, 

Garden Benches and even Ironing Board Studios.

I was fortunate and foresighted enough once to bid on a load of ink for 'small presses' on Ebay. I think it was about £2 for tubs and tubs of the stuff and the carriage cost me a lot more but here it sits in my studio gathering dust but never forgotten. A selection of colours too. I buy ink anywhere if it's a bargain. It seems to grow a skin and then beneath that waxy shell the ink stays perfect for years and years. I was tres lucky mon amies but you might too happen upon a delightful bargain. I probably strike fear into most printmaker's blackly beating hearts because I use all kinds of inks and mix them up a bit. It always seems ok. 
I am probably a printing pirate.
Ink supplies are available from 
http://www.lawrence.co.uk/
http://www.intaglioprintmaker.com/
and a recent find for me 
http://www.jacksonsart.co.uk
(they will deliver to Europe)
So, using a piece of glass, (mine is an old glass chopping board) or flat non-porous surface squeeze or scoop some ink onto your surface. I use old kitchen knives for this task; 
no need for spatulas or special tricks.
And begin to roll...you can use a cheap basic roller. But if you fancy this printing lark for more than five minutes, invest in something more charming, more seductive.

Spread your ink, smell that oily gloop and remember to come back to the moment.

Roll over your lino block in all directions to make sure you have inked up every little groove and turn.

Then carefully place a clean piece of scrap paper over your inked lino, use a lovely old spoon to burnish the back of the paper and transfer the inked design onto your paper. Try to use a regular circular motion and do it for quite a bit longer than you think you ought.
Keep the paper still.
You want a good strong deep print. 

Old spoons are best as you don't end up bending them under pressure.

And you know they don't make spoons like they used to.

Then carefully peel back your paper and admire your handy work. At this point you can note what may need tweaking, trimming or readdressing. I know I want to remove all the excess lino from around my design because I only want to cake stand on a white background. But this was just a test print to see where I was. It's easy to get lost.
Sometimes I think it might be easier to move into one of my best friend's gardens 
and live in her little caravan.
Just enough room to breathe.