Working with printing tiles

As Ive been working with a printing technique I thought about using a different material as just using the objects became slightly monotonous. So as a simple experiment I thought about using the outline of a butterfly linking it with metamorphosis, although in my future work it wont all link with this theme, but to begin using the tiles I drew a simple outline of a butterfly on to the printing tile, I then pressed down harder as I continued going around the drawings so that it would have a clear outline of the picture when I use ink. However when using these tiles I had to be quite gentle with them as they are very fragile and snap and rip easily. I created two tiles but with slightly different  features, the first image is a basic butterfly, however the second image is a more detailed print as I thought I would progress the idea of metamorphosis and add more detail. I made the bottom of the butterfly a mermaids tail to show mythological forming and used a simple outline of a human head to link with human forming.

After creating the tiles I began using the roller to roll the paint onto the tiles. I started off on both tiles with a light colour as using a dark colour first can ruin the tile for the first time. I then washed it off carefully with a paper towel and dried it without marking it, as if any marks do get on it they will show when its been printed. Secondly I began to add more detail and I carved the wings off of the butterfly and printed just the wings a different colour, I used darker colours this time so they stood out. To add even more detail I will draw and sketch a design onto one of the wings and print them in either black or white as these both contrast with these colours. Doing this technique has made me realise I don't want to continue using the tiles as I don't feel there are as affective as using the actual object.