Fabulous Flat Files

Spring cleaning is underway in the studio. It's amazing how quickly things begin to pile up and before you know it there are so many stacks of paper and prints laying around that you can't fine what you're looking for. So I decided to go on a mission to see if I could solve my print storage problems.

Everyone I spoke to said that flat files were the way to go. However, after a little on line research I was convinced that I was out of luck; the price of a new flat file was over $800 for one 5 drawer unit! I was beginning to consider other storage alternatives when someone suggested craig's list.

After a quick search on craig's list, I found just what I was looking for. Less than 2 hours away in Massachusetts, was a Stacore unit in great condition, with a base, for only $400. My husband and I picked it up yesterday and it is now sitting in the studio ready to be filled. Sometimes lady luck is on your side!

Spring Fever

Spring is a time for new beginnings and I enthusiastically welcome the opportunity for a fresh start. After traveling and being away from the studio for few weeks, I'm more than ready to tackle new projects. In fact I have so many ideas running through my head that I'm experiencing a creative brain freeze! My plan for the week is to get organized; review the options I have for upcoming shows and exchanges, track due dates and set some REALISTIC goals. With any luck, I'll have a couple of pieces underway by the end of the week

As the old Irish Proverb reminds us, "If you do not sow in the spring you will not reap in the autumn."

Time Away

Last week I was fortunate enough to spend some time on a beautiful Caribbean Island. Needless to say, it was wonderful to get away from the drab and rainy New England weather, bask in the sunshine and drink in the sights and sounds of a tropical paradise.

As I write this post, it is another gray & rainy day here at home so I'm making it a point to think about last weeks beautiful weather and remind myself that spring is on its way.

Layer 8

I just finished adding a darker value to my little girdled figure. (The print is only 3.5" X 3.5".) The image has a impressionistic, painterly quality to it but at this point I'm contemplating creating a second plate to add dark outlines. I'll let it sit for awhile before I call it finished.

I did however accomplish what I set out to do; that is just have fun with the process, move along and not worry about the outcome. A few more of these exercises wouldn't hurt.

Print Underway

Moving right along. Started out with a pale pink and layered on 6 more colors. I'm using Akua Intaglio Inks with a small amount of Akua oil converter to thicken them slightly to facilitate rolling. I like how they're working out and appreciate their slow drying.

Time to stop and access my progress. I'm thinking one final color; darker value.

Getting Started

This is the set up I decided to use. Since I'll be doing a reduction print, cutting away and printing as I go along, I need to have a good registration system. I decided to employ the same system I use when doing a serigraph.

I punched "dots" out of a scrap of matt board, glued them to another strip of matt board and then taped the unit to my linoleum. Next I punched holes in my paper - in this case Arches 88 - to correspond to the dots on my linoleum.

A window was cut out of a piece of mylar to act as a stencil as I inked the image area.

Playing Around

I haven't done a linoleum print in awhile. It was my intention to do something different, just have some fun with the process and not worry about the outcome; something that I'm inclined to do. I'm constantly slowed down by my propensity to focus on the message and perfect execution of a print. I tend to toss out prints that don't meet my high expectations. My goal is to loosen up, throw caution to the wind and focus more on the journey and less on the destination. We'll see how this goes.

Working it Out

Once the proof was dry I experimented with manipulating the print. My goal was to fold the sections flanking the figure in such a way that they could be folded back to reveal the tape measures and at the same time emphasize the idea of being "cinched" in; ribbon was added to hold the folds in place.

It was my intention to work in a 12" square format and have the image bleed off the edges. I thought I had measured correctly but ended up an inch short when the folding was completed. I printed just the tape measure portion of the image and machined stitched it to the right hand edge to make up the difference. This turned out to be one of those happy accidents because the added tape enhanced the composition.

Right now, I'm at a point where I just need to step back and analyze what I have and decide whether or not to continue or chalk it up as an experiment. Although I like the effect of the folding, I'm not completely happy with the way the image printed and I think I will alter the colors a bit. Sometimes I'll try something just to work out the kinks and then end up redoing the entire image. Well see.

Proofing & Experimenting

I finally had a chance to proof the plates I had been working on. My original idea was to create a print that had some dimension to it by folding the finished print in such a way that it added to the image. This is the first proof; the base plate is a collagraph and the intaglio was created on solarplate.

Collagraph Underway

This morning I began working on a collagraph plate for the next print in my laced series. For those of you who are not familiar with collagraphs, they are prints created from plates that have been built up using collage materials. They can have very rich surface textures and the finished prints display an embossed quality. Papers with a lot of surface texture, like sandpaper, print dark and smoother papers and surfaces print light. Of course you can achieve all sorts of in between values by varying surface textures and adhesives. I like to use gesso, modeling past, and acrylic mediums to adhere my elements to the plate and as a means to modify values. I seal the plate before printing with a thin coat of acrylic gloss medium. In this instance, I'm using 4 ply matte board as my base. Any sturdy surface will do but for larger prints I use Masonite as a plate base.

I love the tactile quality of building the plate and the unpredictability of the outcome. The often unexpected results you can achieve when printing can be a welcome surprise. As you can see, it gets pretty messy when you get down to business and I end up with my tools covered in gesso. This is where I really appreciate my granite work surface; I know I'll be able to scrape off the adhesives when I'm done.


This is what I have so far. I'm going to give this a chance to dry before I continue. With collagraphs, it's vital that you really, really glue things down well so the plate holds up during the printing process.

Collagraphs can be printed without ink (as embossings), just surfaced rolled and printed as a relief, inked and wiped as an intaglio plate or a combination of intaglio inking with a surface roll over the higher areas. Lots of options provide a wide range of creative exploration.

Planning Stages

Still have a number of images and ideas rolling around in my head for what I'm presently calling my "Laced" series.

I worked on sketches and images over the weekend and yesterday began to play around with the print size. I worked in a one foot square format for the last piece and would like to do the same with this print. During the planning stages, I got to thinking that it would be interesting to have a print that could actually fold in on itself to create "flaps". Now's it a matter of figuring out the overall width needed to equal 12" when folded.

Karen Kunc Demo

On Thursday, a friend invited me up to her printmaking class at Wheaton College (Norton, Mass) to sit in on a woodcut demo by Karen Kunc. This was a wonderful opportunity to see the artist in action, hear her discuss her techniques and processes and then view her work in the Beard Gallery.

I have always been intrigued by the unique opportunities that the transferred image affords. Over the years, I have researched and worked in a number of processes and never tire of the technical aspects of the various mediums. I welcome the opportunity to see what "tricks of the trade" others have to offer. Fortunately, printmakers are a very generous bunch who love to share their expertise.

Tear, Tear

Didn't get a lot done in the studio this past week. I was slightly derailed by a physical discovery on Monday morning, which lead to various appointments and records gathering. Sometimes things just crop up out of the blue and everything else takes a back seat. As I was organizing some work, to keep busy, I came across a piece I did the last time nature threw me a curve ball. Fortunately all turned out well then and I'm convinced that it will be the same this time.

I titled this print Tear, Tear. It's two plates, a collagraph and a photo intaglio, with chine colle and thread. I loved the fact that the same word "tear" had two different meanings but those definitions seemed to be so linked and appropriate at the time.

OK, So I'm a Magpie

As I was straightening up my studio, I was noticing how many "little" collections have cropped up over the years. I just can't seem to help myself when it comes to picking up or hanging on to stuff. Before I realize it, another collection is born.

I know that I have another container of keys stored away somewhere as well as another box of glasses. There's jars of wishbones, watch parts, and insects and 3 envelopes of moth wings.

As a nod to my love of the Wizard of Oz, I've inadvertently started a collection of hour glasses and if the Tin Man should stop by, well my collection of oil cans would serve him well.

Six antique irons stand ready on a windowsill. They're actually quite useful so I think of them as tools rather than a collection. They're used as weights when gluing collagraphs, collages and books and to hold printing paper in place, on the press bed, when printing multiple plates. I also discovered that two of them spaced just so are perfect when it comes to holding my large roller when I'm in the process of printing.

I've been a Magpie all my life; I can't help it. My collecting tendencies were magnified when I was teaching because I was always looking for interesting things for my students to draw. It was not uncommon for me to drag home some pretty strange things for my classroom and I actually developed quite a reputation for setting up fantastic still life arrangements. (Someone once called me a frustrated window designer.) You can imagine my still-life closet after 35 years of teaching! The kids were often blown away by what awaited them and the best part was that they were inspired and couldn't wait to do some solid observational drawing.

The bottom line is that I need "treasures" around me. I love their forms, colors and textures and find inspiration in objects; not to mention that it makes for an interesting environment. I just need to be mindful of keeping this habit in check.

There's Nothing Like a Good Book

A few years ago my husband made me this wonderful bookshelf. (He's fantastic in the wood shop!) It's composed of 3 vertical and 8 horizontal planks of wood that slide together and interlock like a giant puzzle. There's no mechanical fasteners used and if you need to move the shelf, you just slide it apart. It's a great piece of furniture and a work of art in its own right.

Lately I've been thinking that I need to do a little weeding out before books and magazines take over completely. (I'm a sucker for art books.) I plan on going through everything and pass on volumes I don't need.

This may turn out to be easier said than done.

Finishing Touches

Spent the morning punching holes, tapping in eyelets and lacing thread onto my recent edition.

I wanted (and needed) to get the bits and pieces, tools and whatnot out of the way so I could straighten up before starting a new piece; a clean slate so to speak.

Bound

I just completed "Bound".

I'm happy that I moved the quartet of images from the center of the background and introduced a more random lace pattern. There are two plates. The background plate was inked as an intaglio with a warm yellow and then a surface roll of gray blue ink was applied. The small intaglio plate was inked in a dark blue gray, placed in position, and run through the press.

I finished the print by adding metal eyelets and black cotton twine for lacing. Yellow ocher thread was hand stitched in the central section.

Stepping Back to Move Forward

The piece I'm working on just doesn't seem to be coming together; it's too static. I've decided to experiment with other options so I've cut up some of the proofs and played around with rearranging the background. I ended up making a new negative, on transparent mylar, that is a combination of a printed lace pattern, Stablio pencil, and Graphic Arts water-based ink. After making a new plate, I'm ready to pull some proofs and see what happens.

Sometimes you just have to take a step back to move forward.

Proofing

Got out all the inks and began playing around with color combinations for the new print. Not exactly sure what I'm looking for at this point but a little proofing will help get me started.

The two small center plates are inked and ready to proof. Each plate is slightly different and I'm not yet sure which one I'll settle on.


Here's the first proofs. I like the darker quality of the one on the left so at least I have one decision out of the way.

Tried the plate again but with chine colle. This opens up the possibility of introducing another color.


I inked the background plate than used a large roller to apply a surface color. The smaller plate was inked and positioned in the center of the base plate and both were rolled through the press as one unit. I was happy to see that this worked well and was pleased with how the plates print. However, I'm not happy with the colors at this point so it's back to trying other combinations.

Next Piece

Working on a new print today. Often one piece leads to the next and the last print sparked a few ideas that warranted further investigation. I spent the last few days working on sketches, taking photos and playing out in my mind what I wanted to do. Here are the negatives, ready to be exposed to the plates.


I thought it would be an interesting artistic challenge to break out of the rectangular format, which is usually the norm, and compose within a square. I also like the idea of layering so I plan on stacking one plate on top of another when I print. The main reason I chose to work with Solarplates is that they're thin enough to stack without problems. Here's the plates ready to proof.

Laced

Oh the things we do; fingers laced and tummy in place. Just finished carefully punching holes and adding ribbon to today's print; "Laced".

The print was created using two plates that were inked up separately, stacked together, and then run through the press as one unit. The main plate is a collagraph with the smaller inset image created on copper using ImagON photopolymer film. I used a bookbinding hole punch to create perfect openings for the ribbon and included a couple of small metal eyelets. A pale pink watercolor wash was added to the girdle.

Reverberation

First print of 2010 completed. I added sound waves this morning and was happy with the overall effect. It's been awhile since I've done a serigraph; just had this overwhelming need to do something totally different for a change.

The piece was created for an exhibition entitled ECHO. Like an echo, the repetitive figures appear to resonate off of each other as they participate in some mysterious dance.

Serigraph

I received a call for entries notice from the Center for Contemporary Printmaking (www.contemprints.org) for an upcoming show entitled "ECHO - Repetitive Marks & Images". It sounded like a fun challenge so I decided to do something I haven't done in awhile - a serigraph. I like to use crayons instead of cut stencils to "block out" the the screen so after developing my image, I broke out the Crayolas.

I built the screen the night before so in the morning all I had to do was collect my supplies, mix up some ink and get started.

This is what the print looked like after the first 2 colors had been applied. I began by using crayon to block out the white areas in the image and then printed my first color; a pale gray. The screen was easily cleaned off with water and then more areas of the image were blocked out. I had some Createx color on hand so decided to use that as my ink and I'm printing on Arches 88 paper.

As in any multicolor printing project, accurate registration is a must. I've come up with a system that works great and can be assembled with simple materials. Using a common paper punch, I pop out a few "dots". Next I cut a 1" wide strip of matte board and glue the dots in place with white glue. This strip is taped to the edge of the screen base. I punched holes in the edge of my paper so they correspond to the registration strip. When I'm ready to print, I drop the sheet of paper over the "dots" and I'm guaranteed perfect registration.

My sketch is taped to the screen's base and covered with a sheet of acetate. This allows me to accurately fill in the areas, as the print progresses, while maintaining registration. Since the ink is water based, the acetate protects the sketch during clean-up.

You can see how well the crayon "plugs" up the screen. After I apply each layer of wax, I use a heat gun on a low setting to "set" the wax. This helps it to hold up during the printing process.

The last layer of wax has been applied and the screen is ready for the final color.

Here's the print with the final color. I photographed one of my body prints and reduced it in size using PhotoShop. I liked the repetition of the image and the texture created by using the silkscreen/crayon technique.

New Year; Fresh Start

A full Blue Moon was such a fitting end to 2009. The old adage, "once in a blue moon" came to mind as I reflected on the past year. Too often, that adage applied to my best intentions as procrastination and distractions got in the way. On the other hand, I did manage to gain a little control over the "freedom" of retirement. I created work that I'm happy with, managed to exhibit fairly consistently, and produced a number of good sized editions for exchange portfolios.

So, I optimistically welcome the new year and the opportunity for a fresh start. I'll set realistic goals, reflect and reassess, and move away from a "should have" / "could have" mentality. This year, I'm striving for consistency and balance; a consistent work schedule for my studio practice balanced with time for "play".

I recognize that like the moon, we all go through phases and there's cycles of growth as well as cycles of rest. It's this ebb and flow that makes life interesting and provides opportunities for exciting challenges and enriching change. Happy New Year!

"Ebb & Flow" (collagraph with photointaglio)