About
Hi! Thanks for visiting my site. To share with you a little bit about myself...back in June 2020, I earned my BA in Art with an emphasis in Book Arts from the College of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I currently work as a Library Technical Assistant, and manage Rose Shell Press in my spare time. I enjoy sharing my work, and I hope you have enjoyed taking a look. If you see something you like, send me an email or a DM on Instagram. Thanks for your support!
Roshelle C.
Rose Shell Press was founded in December 2020, at the end of a long and unfortunate year. Since moving from the academic world into the professional world six months prior, I had been feeling the need to expand my experience and passion for art into something concrete. I wanted to create and sell my work under a press name that reflects who I am, yet I had never landed upon one I felt I could work from. After brainstorming with an academic advisor one day, I finally stumbled upon the right name: Rose Shell Press. This press name is classic with a touch of elegance, yet timeless enough to be relevant. It is a play off of my name, and is symbolic of two items I always find beauty in and feel connected to (one of my favorite things to do is collect shells along beaches, and Rose is my sister's middle name). Thus, Rose Shell Press was decidedly the final name for my brand, and my ideas were beginning to take shape. Now, after months of preparing to introduce my work for sale, I am finally happy to see my plan shaped from ideas to reality.
The Printmaking Process: I create my prints through one of two methods: using a letterpress or hand printing.
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The letterpress method involves a Vandercook printing press, upon which I place a block of carved linoleum or metal/wooden type to print off of. The linoleum and type are always a reverse-image of what will be printed, since the printing paper will lay face-down on top of it to create the image. Once the linoleum or type is locked onto the press bed using furniture, a roller covers the type-high surface in ink. Paper is fed into grippers on the press, and then rolled over the inked surface. As the paper rolls over the inked surface, pressure is applied using additional rollers, and the ink transfers to paper in a manner identical to an inked stamp.
The hand printing method is what I use when I do not have access to a letterpress. First, I create an outline of the carved linoleum onto a piece of paper taped to a level table. Then, I lay a piece of printing paper over the linoleum to create a second outline of where the edges of the printing paper will line up. This is so that I can achieve exact registration of the inked image onto the paper, similar to the purpose of furniture and grippers on a letterpress. After that, the linoleum is placed onto a piece of scratch paper, and ink is applied with a handheld baren, similar to the rollers on a letterpress. The inked linoleum is then placed within the outline on the taped-down piece of paper. The printing paper is placed over top using the second outline, and pressure is applied with a brayer or pin press.
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The Linoleum Carving Process: Many of my prints are created using carved linoleum, often using a method called reductive linoleum carving. For this process, I use linoleum or wood carving tools, especially the Speedball and Flexcut brands. To begin a carving, I will sketch out the image onto tracing paper with pencil, ensuring the lines of the final sketch are very dense. When I am happy with my final sketch, I will place the tracing paper face-down onto a piece of linoleum that is cut to the appropriate size. I will then rub the back of the tracing paper to transfer the graphite onto the linoleum. Using a thin, point permanent marker, I will trace over the graphite on the linoleum to create a permanent line drawing that I can use to carve; then I erase the graphite. When I begin a reductive linoleum carving, I plan the colors I want to use to create my image, as each color will be a printed layer with some of the linoleum carved away each time. The initial portions of the linoleum I carve away are what I want to be white on the printing paper. Once I have done this, I will print my lightest color, then will carve away what I want to keep as my lightest color on the paper, then will print the next darkest color, and so on.
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Another method of printmaking I use is pressure printing. This process involves using a shape cut out from material such as Dura-Lar, Mylar, or vinyl behind the paper on which I'll be printing. On a letterpress, a flat base (often a blank photopolymer plate or laminate) is locked into the press base and inked up. When the paper that has the cut-out behind it is rolled through the press, the extra pressure from this added material causes the ink to print darker in those areas. This creates a silhouette effect within the shape that is printed from the photopolymer or laminate base.