Friday, November 9, 2007

My Ex-Libris Lino-cut is coming along

I have been working on my Ex Libris print. Ex Libris from the latin meaning "from the books of",was an old way of claiming ownership of books, much like a library stamp, when books were still very valuable. The idea was to have a personal stamp to put into the frontispiece (1st page) of the book. It will be a lino cut. This is my basic outline. The design is based on Fionn mac Cumhaill, (pronounced Finn MacCool) an early Irish mythical hero, who while cooking the salmon of knowledge for his teacher Finneces, accidentally gained the great knowledge of all things....much like an avid reader does. I will be titling my print "Fionn mac Cumhaill's Salmon" and I think it is an Ideal subject for an 'Ex Libris', as it is sympathetic to the idea of books as tools of learning.

This is my first plate, although it did print well I am not totally happy with the final print. I will cut another block and try it before deciding one way or another.

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