Lordie! 600 prints 1200 miles (x2) Happy at Home!!!

I have done a lot of crazy things in my life but this one has to be around the top 10...maybe top 5!!! Drive 1200 miles with 5 blocks and 600 sheets of paper with the plan of getting blocks on print in 3 days. What a fantastic and totally undoable plan!!!
But wait...

Day one seemed very long and I confess after it had passed I wondered how far we could get. We were working about as far as our bodies could withstand and yet still a big chunk of prints to print.
Well, we ate so I thought maybe if we don't eat tomorrow...nah, we didn't go that far.

Day One we probably put in around almost 8 good hours but we were bound and determined to top that on Day Two. We met for breakfast nearby, loaded up with fuel (calories, I mean) and headed off to the Atelier Meridian, in the midst of downtown Portland, Oregon. At the end of the day we had collectively printed around (exactly) 144 prints.

Day One also entailed setting up the presses, getting the "system" tweaked so that three printmakers could work on each press, pressure just right, packing material just so, ink about there, and so on. All fell into place and we went into production mode.

Day Two we had decided (ordered with no exceptions and no whining) to meet for a hearty breakfast early. We began printing around 8:30 AM and I believed we washed our hands for the last time at around 7:00 PM. By the end of the day, we had 266 prints pulled, a true marathon of a day!!! Our grand total was now 410 and in my mind, no way in you-know-where that we would be able to finish the next day. Bodies were sore and bruises appeared but our resolved and good humor never left us.
A well earned full plate of blackened salmon was the highlight of the day. I can still taste it...

Here are some highlights in photos. I'm still editing the video and will post that next:

Team Barbara, Sharri and son Don

Terry Peart with Sharri LaPierre in background, apparently doing absolutely nothing? whaaaaaaat?

Ah yes, looking like a happy city

Full rack and then some, rack held 36 prints twice, we miscounted at least 6 times

Sir Doug Haug inking da block

Lady Terry Peart pulling a print

CODE 111! At print 111, we finally got Terry to say "perfect!" so every perfect print from then on was "coded" 111

Terry and Barbara miscounting, er, counting I mean, the finished prints.
I have no idea what Sharri is doing...

We took a .057 second break to pull some infamous roller art prints. Soon available on an Etsy store near you!

That's it for today! Day Three blow by blow yet to come. Editing the video so you can see 1/600 prints pulled by each team. Still catching my breath.

Not done yet! Some substitutes and final assembly

Next I had to do some tweaking of a few blocks. Two were missing so I cut substitutes and carved some quick images. There were a few "problem" blocks that I foresaw would stumble the printing process so I did some extra carving on backgrounds or edges or whatever needed to be done without disturbing the owner's image.

After carving all the backgrounds, I went over the flat open areas with a flat chisel to eliminate any burrs that may catch ink. They are not anywhere near perfect but will just have to do as I am out of time before my trip to the printing lands.
Two of the background blocks had broken in a couple of places and I re-glued them together with wood-glue.

Finally, when all was tweaked enough, I lightly glued each large block to a background matt-board and then re-assembled the puzzle over the glue so that everyone sits still and behaves properly during printing. I used Lineco white glue spread with a foam roller for speed and evenness of application. Also this glue remains flexible so that if any blocks have to be propped up from underneath to aid in printing, the flexible glue and matt-board will yield.

Here are the next set of process pictures:

Now on to building the paper-placement jig!

Ready for team printing of the City of the World

Getting ready for printing the City of the World project.

Progress and images:
http://puzzleprints.blogspot.com
and on the website pages
http://1000woodcuts.com/
projects/cityoftheworld/index.html

Coming right up a long drive through desert, mountain and forest; the perfect way to wash away troubles and replenish the energy tank. Then an even longer printing party with an eager and able team of printmakers. This should be fun!

Very close now to the end of this project. I'm looking forward to mailing the prints but already have secretly started thinking about the next image. Guess I never learn my lessons...

All the progress blogged as it happens http://puzzleprints.blogspot.com

Three more yet (I confess I'm out of catchy titles)

Mary Johnson sends her block from Norristown, Pennsylvania USA

Julianne Kershaw from Woombye, Queensland AUSTRALIA writes:

I love crows - & enjoy photographing them – in trees, or as black silhouettes against the sky..

To me they’re outsiders – fringe dwellers to a certain extent – surviving on road kill & whatever else they can find.

When school’s out the crows come to feast on discarded food scraps – scavenging out of open bins & prying into plastic wrappings & containers to get at anything edible – snatching what they can & flying off with it..

Barbara Carr is from Salisbury, New Hampshire USA writes this:

 When I was first planning a subject for City of the World, I wanted to incorporate a sort of memorial to my younger brother Jack, who died in June.  After working up a bunch of drawings, this went nowhere, so I generalized the idea of “city” in my mind. My all-time favorite city is Rome and I remembered seeing many windows there with laundry hanging out and flowers on the sills. I opted to have a curtain billowing in place of the laundry, which was a little too earthy for what I wanted to show. The result is my vote for optimism and the positive aspect of we humans turning wherever we live into “home.” It turned out, after all, to be a sort of memorial to my brother, who lived in one of my other favorite cities, Cambridge.

Last three on the next post!

The Official MCPP Print Party for the City of the World

Here we go!!!
Everyone that can attend is invited to the great City of the World Print Party. If you live nearby or just want to drop by, bring an apron!!!

WHEN: Wednesday April 11 through Friday April 13, 2012, times TBA

WHERE: Atelier Meridian http://www.ateliermeridian.com/ in Portland Oregon USA

WHO: So far we have Sharri LaPierre, Barbara Mason, Doug Haug and Maria (that's me). Others have inquired, everyone invited.

HOW: However it works out! Everyone responsible for their own transportation and lodging. We will get up early, stay late and work until 600 prints are printed.

We will have two presses available and going at once.
Good to have two people per press, better to have three and anyone extra can just "sub" when arms get tired. There's an inker, a paper layer and a press cranker; three vacant positions per press to be filled on a first come first served basis.
For extra hands there are available positions as block-carvers, prep-engineers, tweakers, lunch-gophers, paper taker-offer-from-the-blockers, cleaner-uppers... just all kinds of fun to be had.

This is Barbara Mason and Maria working in my studio with my old Patrick Press busily printing Puzzle #1 a looooong time ago. Look at all those prints hanging!!!

Don't miss out!