More Puzzle History: The Great Cairn

The Great Cairn 2008

The Peace Puzzle: Current project open for enrollment! 

http://1000woodcuts.blogspot.com/p/peace-puzzle.html

How to sign up:

Go to: http://tinyurl.com/peacepuzzle

Click on Back this Project green button

Choose a reward and check out

The following project, a couple of years after we recovered from the trauma, was again a Barenforum project called The Great Baren Cairn.

This amazing collection of images was designed as a cairn, basically a pile of rocks traditionally made by travelers as they pass a certain spot on the road. The description I gave participants was this:

In my view, Baren (http://barenforum.org) is much like a cairn, with all sorts of people coming and going and everyone leaving their little stone as a marker, indication, simple "I was here", bit of guidance, pebble of wisdom, and an infinite etcetera. While the last puzzle sought an answer for the question "What is Baren?" the Cairn theme perhaps states "My contribution to Baren" or "How I fit into Baren" or simply, as a traveler might, "this is my footprint" but that's just three of many possible interpretations.

The Great Cairn, as I often referred to the beast, was a three panel print, logically following from the previous two-panel creation.

Project was started May 2006 and finished June 2008. Seventy-four artists participated, still within Barenforum.org membership. Three cherry wood blocks, same size as the previous puzzle were used to print three panels in a vertical format.

The image for The Great Cairn resulted in a more “puzzle-like” feel and the overall composition is indeed great to behold. The vertical format perhaps makes it look a bit more massive than the prior puzzle print and the images of participants representing each “stone” stacked up perfectly within the massive boulders.
And why would I stop there?

The Peace Puzzle: Current project open for enrollment! 

http://1000woodcuts.blogspot.com/p/peace-puzzle.html

How to sign up:

Go to: http://tinyurl.com/peacepuzzle

Click on Back this Project green button

Choose a reward and check out

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

Framing the puzzle prints

Framing dilemmas

So how does an artist frame the monumental puzzle prints?
I have been framing the puzzle prints for our upcoming show at the Sahara West Library Art Gallery from March 13th to May 4th 2014 entitled In Perfect Harmony, courtesy of the Las Vegas/Clark County Library District. And I mean ALL the puzzle prints and ALL the puzzle blocks! Twenty eight delicious pieces in all, representing over 400 artists from all over the world. Amazing.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, framing dilemmas. First decision was to frame each panel separately in order to avoid having to pay dearly for huge unwieldy frames and huge unwieldy foam-board pieces and acrylic for backing and glazing.
Second decision was how to frame them. After exploring several possibilities such as borderless framing clips, wire corners (similar but home-made) and canvas frames. I purchased samples of each and found them not quite appropriate so I decided on simple line standard metal frames.
However I did not want a "border" interfering with the visual of the overall designs, so I explored the offerings in the Nielsen frames line and found a simple minimal metal frame in black, white, silver and German silver tones.
Again, I purchased one of each and placed the frames against the prints. The slightly off-white paper blended perfectly with the warm tones of the German silver frame!

Print on acid-free black foamboard backing
Nielsen German Silver frame ready to be assembled

Since there is no mat, I used a variation of the standard T-hinge
with the hinge folding over the backing board

Back of the board with linen-tape hinge being folded and adhered

Fast forward about 5 days here are all the prints all dressed up and ready for their outing. Next I tackle the blocks!

The very first puzzle print

14 prints ready to party!

This project is funded, in part, by a grant from the Nevada Arts Council, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

New (Old) Projects Published on Website

Website Update Alert

I have been working hard to update my "deprecated" website and now have new galleries and some projects updated! It is slow going but that just shows how long it has been since I polished up my web skills. Grumbling and growling, I'm learning as I go. Deprecated, I have learned, is a word that web design techies use to make us web-amateurs totally miserable. Deprecated sounds scary but really just means that some codes are no longer in use...which is a total lie fabricated in order to preserve the job security of aforementioned web design techies, because old websites still "look" fine on 98% of browsers. But anyhow, I am slowly seeing the beauty of efficient web design, sort of.

Quest 100

One of the first areas that I upgraded was my Quest for 1000 Woodcuts. In the process I seemed to have lost a few woodcuts, but who's counting? Oh wait, I am!
I found a nifty program that makes me efficiently designed galleries so, for now, that's the format I'm going with. I figured in about 20 years deprecation will catch up with me again. Deprecated...hmph...
Anyhow, my website: http://1000woodcuts.com and a direct link to The Quest Galleries: http://1000woodcuts.com/quest/index.html

Updating all those pages reminded me how much I worked in past years and makes me wonder if I will ever pick up the pace again. Sigh. So much to do, so little time.

Projects: The Cairn

And of course, my other "love" are the projects that keep me driving and driven all at once. Some of the projects that continue to tickle my fancy are the Puzzle Prints. I upgraded the second project: The Great Baren Cairn for no good reason except that the old pages seemed better organized and I felt like tackling them just now.

Direct link to the new home of the Cairn:
http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/cairn/index.html

Next puzzle project in the horizon, I have set a secret date to begin already. Meantime, enjoy the new dress on the webpages!

Cairn on the wall

I got this far with the Cairn... The plan is to cover it with plexi mounted with mirror clips when I get permission to climb the heights again.
It looks like Lynita and I had similar ideas, but she is obviously (from the looks of her studio) much better organized than I!

Sharri LaPierre

Cairn 2008

What did you do with YOUR Cairn?

I'm taking my Cairn on the road to show off all my Baren friends to my workshop attendees this next weekend at the Goldwell Open Air Museum.

Should be a nice way to expose new initiates into the woodcut art to a variety of carving styles and, at the same time, smaller image suggestions.

Here is what Lynita Shimizu did with her Cairn! I cracked up...

Check it out at the project page and send me your images of the Cairn, framed, shown, exposed...???

I got my plexiglass and will be sticking mine on the ceiling also; then I can see everyone while I work.

Is everyone ready for the next Great Puzzle Print?

Cairn grows again! Middle block is done, Days 4-6

Well here we go, another three days and another block is printed.



The whole is looking awesome and my studio really stinks now with all these prints hanging, not even the cats want to be in there. My husband opens windows and turns on the fan as soon as he gets home; there is really no appreciation for the delightful perfume of oil based inks...ahhhhhh...



Looking forward to block number 3 and finishing.



Today I ordered the free domestic mailing tubes from the Post Office and bought some for my international friends. Should be able to mail next week if I work through the weekend!

Cairn Update Pictures Day 1 and 2

Oh, here they are! Blogger is alive now...

First picture is the beginning of the bottom block. Something about those prints hanging together that always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.

Second picture is the resulting bottom block, all printed up and proud of itself. The amazing contrast of styles and cutting comes together as if planned. Maybe these collaborations are magic?

For more, see my previous post and visit the website puzzle diary.
http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/cairn/index.html

Tomorrow, more printing...

Baren Rock Pile Grows! Day 1-2

(Well, I tried to add pictures today but Blogger isn't cooperating. Go to the webpage for the illustrated version!)
First block is proofed, printed, hanging, drying...oh joy!
The Great Baren Cairn is now well on its way to being completed.
For those of you who need a refresher, here is the page on my website, soon to be updated with all the gory details:
http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/cairn/index.html

Every good rock pile must start with a solid foundation, so I printed the bottom block first. The "makeready" part of printing these puzzles is a bit complex. Summarized, the process goes something like this:
-level blocks "dry" (without inking) and glue to the backing board to hold steady
-proof and tweak any obvious low blocks or low spots
-proof again
-carve away inked spots not on images, usually backgrounds or edge of blocks
-proof again
-ink the darned thing and get in the "production mode" mood
-repeat to taste until done

Well, one major adjustment I had to make and need to report. The initial plan was to provide every participant with 2 complete sets. Unfortunately these cherry plywood blocks didn't hold up to that. After having to repair several areas several times and watching the edges of some blocks go "soft" on me, I decided there was no possible way to get more prints out of the bottom block. With 79 participants and 96 good prints, this means only one set per participant. Live and learn!

Anyhow, the bottom block is done and I'm progressing to the middle block.