words with prints

Words over prints, around 6 ins sq. format, cartridge paper, gelli prints.

I tried out a few of my shorter poems over some of my gelli prints today.  These were experiments only.  

I found that the prints that were lightest, surprise surprise, showed the words best.  Complicated designs or dark colours were not as effective as they drowned out the writing.  

One way to use darker colours or complex designs may be to just use those elements around the edges.  In other words to design the print with words in mind and leave a lighter area for the penned words.

Rather like this one:

Good to find this out on small scraps before going on to design a poetry book!  Probably an A4 size would be best for the final thing.

Here's an example of a fussy design, which looks good as a visual element, but fights for attention when you put the words on.

And here is a strong colour print which drowns out the words, such that I had to go over the letters twice to get them to show up on the page.

So now, its back to the drawing board, to choose a size of paper and a way of printing that dances with the words rather than competing with them.  Then there is the choice of colour palette....And I thought it would be easy.

I would prefer my poetry collection to have abstract print designs rather than traditional watercolour illustrations.  Most of my poems are about nature so an illustrative approach with watercolours would seem logical.  However, I will try the abstract approach first as I like doing prints.  Maybe it will work out.