Print in progress: Robins revisited

All the Australian robins from my Miniprint series are combined in this open edition, entitled Nine Robins. The print will include: Flame, Scarlet, Red Capped, Eastern Yellow, Pink, Pale Yellow, White Breasted, Hooded and Rose Robins. The pics below may help to explain the process.

The process

My approach to an open edition is usually by way of multiple blocks, each of a different colour(s). Most of these little birds are printed in five colours, plus a two-colour "rainbow roll" background, making a total of 42 separate blocks. Each block measures 80x80mm and is housed in a registration jig when running through the press. However, wth so many moving parts, accurate registration is difficult to achieve despite my best efforts!

• Pic 01: (main) registration jig with blocks in place

• Pic 02: colour palette per bird

• Pic 03: the registration jig

• Pic 04: guide to block sequence

• Pic 05: registration is not guaranteed!

• Pic 06: proofing the colour sequence

• Pic 07: five blocks, six/seven colours per bird

• Pic 08: working proof

It's a long and painstaking process which I will do just once per year, despite the popularity of the print. I count myself lucky to end up with about 15 saleable prints per print run, because of the high failure rate. It only takes one small error to undo several weeks work.