This week on Meet the printmaker, I'm honoured to tell you we have the fantastically talented HoneyThief Prints talking to us about her art! I've been a fan of HoneyThief's art since she started her Instagram account last year and it's brilliant that she's taken the time to answer my burning linocut questions today! Let's get started...
Have you been printmaking for a long time? What first attracted you to linocut?
I've been printing for about a year and a half. I've always loved looking at other artists' work and I happened to find Karin Rytter and Maarit Hänninen's amazing prints. That was definitely what got me started, their work is stunning!
Do you have a favourite part of the printmaking process? Is it the designing or the carving or the actual printing or?
I love the actual carving part, it's very relaxing and meditative. My favourite part is coming up with an idea and sketching it. I also enjoy shouting at prints that don't turn out well.
You make a lot of truly beautiful process videos on your Instagram, do enjoy the video editing side of this? Do you have an idea in mind for how the video will turn out or do you just go with the flow?
I love making the process videos. My boyfriend works in video production and he taught me how to edit the footage. I didn't want to have to ask him every single time I needed a video, so I've been learning it and I really enjoy it! When I'm done editing, he corrects the videos for me where needed. I still have a lot to learn. He does the filming whenever possible. I wouldn't be able to print and film those beautiful shots at the same time (with inky hands, on top of everything). We don't really plan the filming, we just follow the printing flow and have a lot of fun in the process. I love it that it gives me a chance of working with him. One of these days, we'll put together a blooper reel.
You've made some lovely quirky characters recently in your smaller prints, is this something you'd like to do more of in the future? What is it that attracts you to creating characters?
I don't really create them, they just sort of show up! They come with their own stories, too. I would love to print new characters, but I never know when they'll turn up or where they come from. I suppose I like my little characters because I enjoy storytelling, and this is the best way I know how to do it.
You use a lot of beautiful thin printmaking papers for your prints. Do you have a favourite paper? Is there a reason you prefer thinner paper?
I started using very light papers because I didn't have a printing press in the beginning and these papers make your life incredibly easy. My favourite is the handmade Himalayan paper, it has such a beautiful feel to it, almost like fabric. It's delicate and really sturdy at the same time and it withstands wrinkles more than any other paper I've tried.
Do you have a list of prints you'd like to make in the next few months or do you finish one print and then inspiration strikes and you begin work on your next one?
I usually have two or three ideas floating around in my head while I'm working on a piece. It makes me very eager to finish what I'm doing so I can move on to the next one. I have a pile of unfinished lino blocks because of that. Printing is an exercise in patience, I guess, and I'm not the most patient person. I'm not organised enough to keep a list of ideas, and I'm sure I forget a lot of them, but I like to think they'll come back to me if they were any good to begin with.
Where would you like HoneyThief Prints to be in five years time? Do you have any secret ambitions you could share with us?
I don't really have any secret ambitions. There are things I would like to do, like learning other printing techniques. But I'm quite happy at the moment. A couple of years ago I couldn't imagine I would be doing something I love for a living. So I suppose that's the main thing. If I can keep making a living from art, I really can't think of anything that can top that.
Quick-fire question round!
Favourite printmaking tool?
The smallest "V" gouge from Flexcut tools
Mini prints or larger detailed pieces?
Larger, lots of details!
Black and white or coloured prints?
Black and white
What is your favourite print (of your own prints)?
At the moment it's the teapot, "Tetsubin"
If you could meet any artist (alive or dead), who would it be?
So many. But I'll say Mark Ryden.