Update on the Kindness Puzzle

30 in 70 to go

Tiny blocks are arriving all the time now and the excitement grows in my studio, as if I needed any help! I faithfully record them as they come in and log them into my spreadsheet. Participant information entries are quietly building a book to be sent to everyone as soon as the print is done.

For those of us who don't know what I'm talking about, a puzzle print is in the works called 100 Acts of Kindness. Basically I take five huge blocks, design something, cut them up and send each participating artist a tiny block. Artists carve their block, send it back, I build the puzzle and eventually print the whole thing. Everyone gets prints back with tiny contributions from all over the world. Fun, hard work, entertaining and a great way to spend 2020!

You can follow the play by play on the Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/puzzlewoodcutprints/

Here are the latest contributions:

And more

Stay in touch!

1000woodcuts Website: https://1000woodcuts.com 
1000woodcuts Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts 
Maria's Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/maria.arango.diener 
Maria's Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts 
1000woodcuts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

100 Acts of Kindness starts to build

Big Blocks carved, mounted

I named the big blocks: Fly Now Live Be Free 

I had to name them something for organization's sake and 1-5 or A-E just not creative enough for this wild mind. So now we have a poem, each word in itself congruent with the theme, as well as the whole phrase.

Here some pics of the fixing up and mounting

All the blocks carved with one puzzle piece in place
Marlene Vidibor

After carving, the blocks are matched up
side to side and I make corrections to
the design

After the correction, perfect match!

More puzzle pieces arrive

It will be some time before the "whole" takes shape but some blocks are arriving and I dutifully place them in place. Now that I have backing boards glued to the big blocks, I can permanently level them and glue them in place.

Backing glued

I mark the back of the backing
(will be the bottom) with the shapes of
the empty pieces, this way if a particular
piece gives me printing troubles I can adjust
with easy location

Daryl DePry

August Mezzetta

Stay in touch!

1000woodcuts Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts 
Maria's Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/maria.arango.diener 
Maria's Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts 
1000woodcuts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

Another big block gets cut!

Deliveries across the pond

First, I am hearing that our friends in far away places are now receiving their blocks. With the current state of the world, that is really awesome news so I am very happy. More printmakers around the wide world getting busy and thinking about kindness. Truly amazing!

One more block gets cut

Two down, one to go. Keep up with all the daily progress here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/puzzlewoodcutprints/

I finished the first block last week and now done with the second, or should I say: "Fly and Now are ready to print!"

A little repair job

Today I started on the third block and it was one of those days when I just couldn't be careful enough. So! I take this opportunity to show my method for repairing this particular cherry plywood when the knife takes a slide.
Look for wood fillers that can be "sanded and drilled" after they cure.

One of the areas that needed fixin'
Fortunately, God invented wood filler

This plastic "Wood Dough" is great for
repairs, dries hard and quick

Also needed, a flat or bullnose chisel and
sandpaper

First I carefully "shave" the excess filler
from the offended area

After sanding, I use my magic
marker to re-draw the design. This step
also will show if the cut needs re-filling

Ready to re-cut...CAREFUL! Maria...

Ah, there it is, good as new, never even
know an accident happened

Three types of wood filler that will hold up
to the printing job.
Plastic Wood, Wood Dough and my all
time favorite KwikWood.
The first two can be used right out of the
container. The third needs to be mixed and
kneaded before use but dries and bonds the
hardest of all.

Stay in touch!

1000woodcuts Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts 
Maria's Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/maria.arango.diener 
Maria's Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts 
1000woodcuts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

Artists begin work on Kindness Puzzle

Up to artists now

Carve away!
This is the time when I get to enjoy a bit of a respite while everyone receives their blocks. I did find the time to "un-roughen" and clean up the big blocks. Propped them up and now I will carve the outlines over the next few weeks.

Artists working

These are some of the photos artists have been sending of their sketches and blocks. I am very excited this will be another awesome collection!

See them all and more: https://www.facebook.com/groups/puzzlewoodcutprints/

Connie Brewer's block in quarantine

Nancy Good's sketches, so far she has 8 sketches!

Martha Knox, OBVIOUSLY happy to get her block :-)

Marlene Vidibor got right too it!

Stay in touch!

1000woodcuts Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts 
Maria's Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/maria.arango.diener 
Maria's Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts 
1000woodcuts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

Blocks on the way! Acts of Kindness up to artists now

Chopping

Set up on the grass so I don't have to sweep! 

Foam insulation supports the block,
no clamping required!

All covered up, cherry dust is highly
achoo-able

Block 1 down, 4 to go!

And there they are! All 98 of them...
bit of sanding, bit of cleaning up
and off they go to their temporary
creative homes

And Mailing...

One last trip to the USPS bulk drop off
and all done! for now

Stay in touch!

1000woodcuts Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts 
Maria's Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/maria.arango.diener 
Maria's Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts 
1000woodcuts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

U-turn! And update on Acts of Kindness puzzle

That was quick...

In a nutshell: drove in pouring rain, checked in to hotel, watched Arizona panic, got cancellation notice from the festival, u-turn! drove in pouring rain back home. Wow, just wow.

So moving right along...

Acts of Kindness Update #8: Upgrade! We MUST flow!

Hello everyone! First and foremost, follow all the gory details in our new and improved headquarters:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/puzzlewoodcutprints

Second and most important, making very good progress on transferring the drawing to the blocks. I should be able to mail out in about a week so.

Drawing on the blocks! Soon they will be cut up into puzzle pieces

From 4 blocks to 5 blocks

Propped up and ready to draw

Upgrade

And, as promised in the update header, an upgrade! I was drawing and somehow didn't get enough "elbow room" for everyone's block. Let me explain, the designs for previous puzzles were easily compressible and so I was able to squeeze everyone in. But this time, the butterflies MUST flow out of the hand that frees them. They must! And I can't crunch them up like they are on a traffic jam on the California I-10 trying to get to the beach. No no no, flooowww....

So! I added a big block for a total of five. This means that 1-panel artists will be upgraded to 2-panels and full print artists will be upgraded to 5-panels. Aside from a few more sheets of paper (89 to be exact) and a couple more days of printing, no obstacles that I can see. Mailing weight about the same.

And our butterflies will flow free and unhindered up and up...

That's all for now, onward! Maria

Stay in touch!

1000woodcuts Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts 
Maria's Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/maria.arango.diener 
Maria's Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts 
1000woodcuts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

100 Acts of Kindness: We made it, the fun starts now!

Following your creation: 100 Acts of Kindness

New group in Facebook due to popular request! Join and follow, I will post here too, no worries.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/puzzlewoodcutprints/

Drawings to be transferred past project (City of the World print)

After transferring to blocks

Chop chop...all the pieces gone!

Project funded, now what?

Within the next couple of weeks, some administration takes place through Kickstarter. All the pledges are collected and any bumps and glitches hopefully resolved quickly. We have quite a few non-US participants which delights me to no end, and those payments take a little longer. After two weeks, I will have a final count of artists so I can start chopping the big blocks into that many puzzle pieces.

Meanwhile, back in the studio...

The precious cherry plywood blocks are cut and I am refining the drawing, will print on paper and then transfer to the big blocks. By "transfer" I mean redraw with charcoal stick first, then commit with Sharpie. Photos  very soon as I make progress.

Ways to follow all the fun

I like to post the work in progress in various places to accommodate most if not all. So here are the places you will see photos, videos and a bit of my ramblings:
This Blog: https://1000woodcuts.blogspot.com or http://1000woodcuts.com (redirects to the blog)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts
And of course, right here on Kickstarter I will continue to post updates as I have something new and wonderful to tell you. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1000woodcuts/100-acts-of-human-kindness
That's it for now, I'm getting to work! I am very grateful to all participants and supporters for joining me in the puzzle madness.


Stay in touch!
1000woodcuts Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts 
Maria's Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/maria.arango.diener 
Maria's Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts 
1000woodcuts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

Oh so close! Update #5

Latest news about 100 Acts of Kindness - 4 days left to JOIN US! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1000woodcuts/100-acts-of-human-kindness?ref=7gs7uo

Sketches

First, check out the sketches top of the project main page! Our grand design will be butterflies being released to freedom and flight by a kind hand (or two, yet to decide). Your tiny block may be a butterfly wing, part of the hands, a flower, maybe a swirl in the wind... 3 versions of a possible grand drawing, picture it 6-foot wide by 30 inches tall

I hate marketing...

...but I've been promoting like a mad woman. Direct mail and messaging have been the best producers. So far I've only been kicked out of one Facebook group for excessive posting, LOL! We still have 3 live ads on Facebook and one on Instagram that are getting a ton of clicks into the project and a few are converting. I see a lot of new names and that's a great thing! Lately I have been contacting my best collectors, local galleries and art groups. If just one or two come through, we will be funded very soon!  Still 5 days left and there is usually a spike in procrastinators at the end, so let's keep our fingers crossed at all times. With your other hand, if you have some artist friends on the verge of signing up, give them a gentle reminder to join us quickly. That's it! Hopefully in about a week you will receive a "We're Funded!" email and we will proceed from there. The wood panels are here, by the way! So beautiful, I will begin cutting the panels to size this weekend. Always fearless, Maria

Stay in touch!

1000woodcuts Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts 
Maria's Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/maria.arango.diener 
Maria's Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts 
1000woodcuts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

Sketches for 100 Acts of Human Kindness

Eternally optimistic

We have 81 artists with 8 days to go in 100 Human Kindness collaboration print!

Today I added two new rewards for people who want to help but can't participate and I already started sketching some potential designs which will be 6 foot wide by 30 inches tall. Yes! the entire print is one of them!

It's a race to the finish from here, hopefully my exhausting promoting will get the project filled with happy participants and we go onward and upward. BE A PART OF IT! 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1000woodcuts/100-acts-of-human-kindness?ref=7gs7uo

One hand or two?

That is the question I posed on my Facebook Page and I'm getting some interesting comments! 

Check it out: https://www.facebook.com/maria.arango.diener 

Stay in touch!

1000woodcuts Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts 
Maria's Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/maria.arango.diener 
Maria's Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts 
1000woodcuts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

Project Update #4: 100 Acts of Human Kindness

100 Acts of Human Kindness Thank you everyone for believing, onward and upward! Posted by Maria Arango Diener Feb 19, 2020 Project Page Sign Up: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1000woodcuts/100-acts-of-human-kindness?ref=7gs7uo Thank you, it's working! Thanks to everyone's efforts we are having a very hopeful mini-surge! Getting very close with roughly 12 days to go. Best way to share with your printmaking friends is directly, I'm getting some good results from direct email and messages and I really appreciate all of you enticing your friends into joining us.  I have gone a bit crazy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and my blog but so far I haven't lost any followers due to puzzle-project-indigestion. Also, we have people helping without participating, which is very generous; that's why they call it crowdfunding!  We now have 65 backers and some artist-teams totalling 80 artists. And THAT, my fellow puzzle lovers, is enough for the project to go on whether we make funding or not in Kickstarter. More on that later as if we don't fund through Kickstarter things can get a bit messy. But don't panic! That's MY job, ha! Bottom line...here is the Artist Official Headquarters, bookmark the page and I will direct you there when the time comes. https://1000woodcuts.blogspot.com/p/100-acts-of-kindness.html Onward and Upward Always the optimist, I already bought wood! I had some left over from a past project but I ordered some brand new delicious planks of cherry plywood. For the project, this means we go on! Delicious cherry ply sitting on my brave and hopeful press-bed