Inking, inking, inking. We used two rollers and about a half a can of ink with miracle gel additive. The running over the whole thing process is less glamorous and fun after about the 4th print.

It is easy to leave lighter marks between wheels, so a guide (a human guide) in front is essential. Notice that we placed a board before and after the edge of the block to avoid slipping right off the block itself and displacing the paper or cloth.

We had to take a newsprint proof to assure the block was rolled up completely. Laying down the paper was easier than the cloth. Most fabric comes in 45" width, which was just barely long enough to cover the image. To place down the fabric so that it would not sag in the middle, we had to lay it down in stages. Good thing that Daryl could straddle the block!

Another note is that on the second day, we printed two of the paper prints by hand with the patented Maria-Mushroom-Barens. By far more even and darker than the car prints. A problem with this was that the paper dried (yes, we dampened the paper and rolled it up in plastic for a couple of hours) as we printed, so some shrinkage occurred during printing.

The printing continued on January 12th, 2000.
After the first proofs we learned the following:

• Ink (oil based) doesn't flow outside in the cold, so roller marks were present in the first few proofs.
• Dirt and debris is something we had to just live with. Someday we'll own a studio big enough to accommodate a farm roller and won't have to worry about such things.
• You cannot take a good picture inside of a finished 4' x 8' print.
• The Stonehenge paper took some good prints, but we had to go over with the baren to darken some spots.
• Cloth takes the ink marvelously, but the imprint is a graphite, not black.
• Vinyl takes the ink beautifully. Don't get vinyl with a fuzzy back because the print looks fuzzy.
• Anything you place on the back of the print will leave its mark during printing. Like, for example, newsprint sheets leave an edge, a rug tympan leaves a rug-like weave imprint, etc.
• It is difficult to drive with your head hanging out the window.
• Coffee gets cold sooner when you leave it outside.

• 3 prints on a white polyester
• 2 prints on transparent off white polyester
• 5 prints on Stonehenge white 50" x 96"
• 2 prints on vinyl, one red (maw-velous!) and one light blue/gray

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