The case of the case

A little something for my Baren friends

I am coordinating Barenforum.org's Exchange #72 and decided to make some glorified paper holders for my fellow printmakers. This way all the prints are nice and neat in a "keepable" folio. Why not?!

Incidentally coordinating an exchange is most exciting and probably a lot of work but the good kind of work. The coordinator gets to see all the images first hand and often gets extra prints and cool cards and notes along with the prints. 

Anyhow, here is the case construction in pictures for anyone who wants to make their own. I got the design from a book-binding book I own (one of many) and modified it to hold the 30 prints of this exchange.

neat linen paper

start out with clean sheet

a couple of prototypes

winning design cut in matboard
serves as a template

31 times cut along the border

cut pattern

few folds with a bone folder

folding

all ready to glue

I buy glue by the gallon!

some inserts to stiffen up the folder

covered up in matching paper

burnishing with bone folder

back finished

another insert for the front flap

brushed glue with sponge brush

folded and burnished

inner pocket for the prints

final touch!

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Back to the Ghost Town

The Red Barn (Part I)

Once upon a time (2008) I went to Rhyolite, a most fascinating Nevada ghost town. My quest was to complete a residency kindly offered by the Goldwell Open Air Museum. The setting was the Red Barn, a spacious studio set amid silence and ghosts in the town of Rhyolite, just East of Beatty Nevada, home to the Museum.

Orienting myself with a compass
I built with native rock at basecamp

Sanding my precious cherry blocks (en plein air)
by the Red Barn

Every day I would set off in one cardinal direction, sketching along the way directly on one of 20 little blocks. I would walk one, two, perhaps three miles off into the desert, mountains, washes and canyons and at the furthest point, look back to the amazing Red Barn.

A Simple Formula

My quest was to portray (in woodcuts of course!) the Red Barn as the Center of the Universe and so I ended up with four larger woodcuts (24x30 inches), four smaller (12x24 inches) and twenty tiny ones (4x6 inches). The larger four are views FROM the Red Barn looking out toward the four cardinal points, the smaller four are views OF the Red Barn, each from a natural "window" located at the four cardinal points. The tiny woodcuts recorded random observations along my walks. 

Sketching the South
old ice house by my shoulder

Inside the "studio" sketching larger blocks
from reference photos

The eight larger blocks

Tiny Observations

And so I have (finally, finally!) begun carving the smaller woodcuts. There is a narrative too; I wrote a diary of my musings as I walked and later in the perfect silence of the desert nights. Once I have all the woodcuts carved and prints printed, a book will come together...this year, I'm feeling it!

Here are some of the sketches, 5 East, 5 West, 5 North and 5 South, for a total of 20 4x6 inch blocks.

The West, looking toward some of the ghost town

The North and the mysterious open mines

An old post office, looking at the red barn through
the window

Two of the medium "windows" blocks 24" x 12"
Left Red Barn Viewed from the North
Right Red Barn Viewed from the East

Top Bank building in Rhyolite at dusk
Bottom View of Rhyolite from the South

More to come as wood chips fly.

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Ink can trick...with duct tape, of course!

Keeping ink fresh

Always a bummer to start out your printing day by having to carefully remove the anti-skin paper from your ink can only to find skin on your ink anyway. For one thing, those flimsy waxed papers aren't big enough, ever, for the can, ever, ever. So ink skins along the edges.

fresh ink, sniff sniff....aaaahhh

And for another thing, the ink seems to skin anyway right under the paper and the top layer sticks to the bottom of the anti-skin paper. Either way ink is lost every time.

Then I proceed to remove the tiny bits of dried up ink from the sides of the can. Takes some time to get the darned clean glob of ink nicely spread on my slab.

the dog, always oblivious to my genius

Two solutions:

 I started using a disc of foamboard, cut precisely to the inside diameter of the can. I press the disc firmly against the ink and leave a threaded piece of string to easily lift the foamboard disc. Works okay and I can scrape the underside of the foamboard disc with my ink knife so as not to waste a precious drop. Since I frame my own works, scraps of foamboard are a-plenty.

But now I use that marvel of material that should be a staple in everyone's home, backpack, purse, vehicle, bicycle...yes, friends, now you can use DUCT TAPE to prevent your ink from skinning in the can. Easier to cut than foamboard and with the advantage that you can let it "ride" up the sides of the can to prevent ink from drying there. Here is a video on my YouTube Channel and still pictures at the bottom.

Still pictures follow

double layer of duct tape, sticky side to sticky side

mark the size of the can with the top

cut along the edges, leave two "ears" for picking up

pick up by ears

awesome, no skin on my ink!

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All in the Details

Proofing

Confession! I'm not much of a proofer...when it comes to woodcuts, that is. But wood engravings are a bit more demanding, capriciously so. Wood engravings (not mine in particular) have tiny little lines that fool the viewer into thinking they see shading. Fooling the viewer is what art is all about, by the way.

So I am looking at this Creatures of the Night (or maybe In the Still of the Ni-ight...) with a magnifying lamp and all I see are little hash-marks, squares, lines everywhere...and what I see when I back up is a night scene with a cat and a lamp-post and an iron gate. Funny, that.

First set of proofs

First proofs on newsprint paper,
building up the ink slowly

Proof on clear plastic, I'll tell you why in a sec

Proofs, block and the clear plastic proof by the block

Nifty Secret Trick

Apparently nobody says "nifty" anymore...when proofing woodcuts and wood engravings I have gotten into the habit of printing a proof on clear plastic, any cheap clear plastic will do. I have a bunch of transparencies from the ancient times when people did presentations using projection screens, so I use them. Then I slap the plastic ink-side down on a piece of paper.

What this proof on clear plastic does is provide me an exact copy of the print, reversed so it matches the block. That way I don't have to think "oh that area is too dark, I have to reverse in my head and find it in the block". I just look at the clear plastic pasted onto a paper and I can see exactly how the print looks, reversed. Told you... nifty!

Second Set of Proofs

Slightly more carved, especially in the lighter areas,
around the cat, some bush edges more defined

Proof on better paper, getting there!
Still some tweaking to do

Second set of proofs on the actual paper that the print will be printed on. I am using two sets of paper, a fine printing paper from Daniel Smith (not producing paper anymore), and a paper called Superfine. The Daniel Smith paper is slightly grainier with a very slight tooth, which will give the print a slightly softer look. Superfine is a paper meant for letterpress book printing, very smooth, slightly ivory, really beautiful. The smoother surface shows every tiny detail with a minimum of ink, perfect for wood engravings.

Tomorrow, final tweaks and some press printing. So far I'm liking the results but there are some rough areas to clean up still. A wise man (James Pink) once said that the final details from the time you think you are done until you are actually done, can make all the difference in an artwork. Something like that. 

I'm using a tiny etching press, most appropriate for a tiny wood engraving. Blankets, newsprint, ink, rollers, pressure...I set up everything late this evening so I could get right down to biznezz first thing in the morning. 

Part trois yet to come!

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A little wood engraving

New wood engraving

Out of this picture...

...a wood engraving is born!

We take the pibble-dog walking every night (and every day, and every morning...sigh) and it is now duskish-to-dark right after dinner time. I caught this feral en route to our feeders, no doubt, resting peacefully in front of my neighbor's gate. Cool, huh?

I thought so...so much that a print started rummaging through my scatter-brain. That's pretty much how they ALL start, in case you wonder.

Here is my work in progress. As you can see, I flipped the image and accommodated for the elongated paper size. Aside from that, the process of drawing simplifies the details and the process of carving even more so. What is left is the gist of the image, translated to woodcut-speak or in this case, a wood engraving. 

I am using http://www.imcclains.com/ Resingrave. Resingrave is a synthetic resin plate made specifically for wood engraving. Takes ink well, gives very detailed prints. Only drawback is sometimes the edges of a carved line can crumble a bit under a larger tool's pressure so caution is needed when clearing out large areas.

More progress, some proofs and perhaps some paper notes next post, next week.

Engraving on Resingrave, resting on home-made leather support
Also shown some tools, a sharpening stone, and honing plate
So far, so cool... 

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Lemon tree, very pretty...for wood engraving!

Lemonwood for Engraving

Ah, I bet most of you don't know that song?

Lemon tree, very pretty
and the lemon flower is sweet
but the fruit of the poor lemon
is impossible to eat

And I bet you din't know lemon wood is perfect for wood engraving? Wood engraving requires very tight grained wood, very smoothly finished and it is engraved, rather than carved, with hard-tiped tools that also engrave metal.
I just received a perfect batch of tiny blocks from Paul Bendall in the UK, who is a block maker of Lemonwood engraving blocks a former block maker to T N Lawrence and sons London.
Paul's Ebay shop: http://stores.ebay.com/Dab-hand-print

Tiny engraving lemonwood blocks, just in from the UK

Printing a wood engraving is much like printing a woodcut except it demands less ink, more pressure and a smoother paper. I have also found them to be "pickier" about everything during the inking process.

My personal wood engraving "arsenal"
patiently waiting their next project,
neatly arranged on a magnetic tool holder

Traditionally, wood engravings are smaller and more detailed than woodcuts and fine lines carved parallel to each other can very much mimic "shading" as in a pen & ink drawing. I have engraved end-grain maple (the most common), boxwood, end-grain walnut, end-grain cherry, Corian and Resingrave, the latter two being synthetic resin products.

A picture is worth a thousand fine lines...this was engraved on Corian (the counter-top stuff) which allows for infinite detail.

following the light
entrance to the Valley of Fire, my fav NV state park

Tempe Festival of the Arts!

Still a ways off, December 2-4, 2016 normal hours finally! 10am - 5:30pm daily.

Got my booth, PERFECT location! #1355 on Mill Avenue, between 6th and 7th

Here is the link:

http://www.tempefestivalofthearts.com/

Last time I was in Tempe

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Some Festival Trivia

The Festival Life for Me

Upcoming! http://www.bellevuearts.org/fair/

As the story goes, I had a real job once! Armed with a Masters in Exercise Physiology and a lot of energy, I managed health education programs for a large insurance company and later for a rehabilitation facility. Then I started making art seriously and found myself enamored with the process of creating something from nothing. I struggled to take the leap into full time art because I liked helping people fix their aching backs, quit smoking, lose weight and manage lifestyle diseases. But I eventually couldn't stop myself from diving head first into the art world.

Once in art, I found that the "art scene" wasn't really my cup of tea so I kept finding ways to make myself fit in. Calls for entries helped build a nice resume of exhibits both in US and abroad; groups kept me motivated and involved with other printmakers. Then one fateful day, I entered into an art festival, a small local affair. I showed my artwork on clunky easels made with plywood; I shaded myself with an umbrella; I didn't sell hardly anything...but I was hopelessly hooked.

My "brag-wall" with mementos and awards from festivals

That was 1998, fast forward to now and I am planning a 1000-mile drive to Bellevue, Washington to participate in one of the most coveted art festivals in the West US. I have an indoor and outdoor setup, a modified truck to carry my wares and a trailer just in case I take off on a blissful two-festival run sometime again. The "good" festivals are few and far between and are competitive to enter so I am happy to travel wherever the collectors like to shop.

Kings Mountain Festival, California, they let you camp in your booth!

• Thus far I have participated in some 200 festivals
• Longest drive to a festival was 1300 miles one-way
• Income lowest was $142, highest $12K
• Longest festival 7 straight days, 10 hours each day
• Worst experience in Scottsdale, Arizona, festival cut short one day, overcome by rain and wind, got caught in a desert flash flood on the return trip
• Best experience in Colorado, a two-festival trip (Breckenridge and Castle Rock); between the festivals I stayed in a State Park campground where I was the sole happy camper aside from deer, elk, bunnies, birds and other forest dwellers

Sleepy booths in Fountain Hills Arizona

The Road Awaits

One of my favorite things about the chaotic festival life is traveling and seeing the great scenery go by. Desert, forest, mountains, farms, cities, rivers and railroad tracks...I become mesmerized by the getting there and the variety of things and people along the way. The first anxiety of a festival is getting to the destination in one piece with all my artwork and setup intact. Road travel is like a meditation, I love driving; I marvel at the fact that there is pavement between almost any two points in this vast country.
For my European friends, Vegas to Bellevue is about the distance from Barcelona, Spain to Hamburg, Germany, give or take a click.
Bellevue, Washington, here I come!

I took my Mami to a show and we took this pic in Nevada

Upcoming! http://www.bellevuearts.org/fair/

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