Penelope's Prints

Lino Test

2010-10-26T22:25:00.003-04:00

My first lino print! Actually, my first relief print of any kind. I think it came out alright. I used some heavy printmaking paper since I have a bunch of scraps lying around from last semester. I think thinner paper is supposed to work better for relief printing, but this seemed to work okay (maybe the edges would have been crisper with thinner paper?)

This is a character I've been doodling lately for a series of images titled CONQUER EARTH. I'm designing some other characters and plan to make a series of prints and illustrations around this concept. More details once I've developed it a bit more. I'm hoping for a certain xmas present this winter that will give me access to a print studio so I can make some intaglio prints for the really big ideas. Until then, I'm going to practice with lino.

First Lino cut

2010-10-22T00:24:00.002-04:00

Woah, long time no post. The lack of a printing press in my life is pretty depressing. But here's a lino block I carved tonight! My first one ever! A few years ago my mom took a relief printmaking class, and it just so happened that she had a few pieces of linoleum hidden away in the basement along with the cutting tools. The linoleum seemed a bit...hard...and some of the tools a bit dull, but all things considered I don't think it came out too bad.

The dark stuff on it is just some chalk pastel that I rubbed over the surface to see what it looked like. Unfortunately I don't have any inks so I can't print it tonight. That's another adventure for another day.

Yudu Test

2010-08-02T20:47:00.002-04:00

Trying out the Yudu! The enclosed exposure unit is really cool. I cut out a simple stencil to test it.

[Insert missing steps here]

And here's the print.

Overall, it was easier to use than I expected, given all the negative reviews online. The emulsion sheet adhered to the screen well, although the fan took quite a while to dry the emulsified screen. I wasn't in a hurry so I just left the fan on for a few cycles, but a hair dryer would probably get the job done faster. The 8 minute timer was perfect for exposing the screen and the unexposed areas washed out easily. Since the screens are flat, they're easy to tape off and clean, which I really appreciated. I used regular Speedball ink rather than the Yudu ink and it worked fine. In the future I'll probably add some extender or just be more generous with the amount of ink I use. The print itself turned out really crisp and beautiful.

So, the Yudu is a pretty cool device. Can't wait to use it for some real prints, now that I've done this little test! Many t-shirts to come.

Final Cat Prints

2010-05-18T20:53:00.004-04:00

Still missing an epic title. Another project I should add to my previously posted to-do list is coming up with a title for this piece! I also still want to write a simple story in French to go along with the print. I mean...look at him...he's begging to have his snooty story told.

Edition of 5

Edition of 2

Yay! I'm happy with it and would like to try more multi-plate color work in the future.

Also, thanks to my best buddy Sara King I've discovered the magic of deviantart's portfolio feature. My page is kind of blah right now but I'm going to work on making it into a nice little portfolio: penelopeyocum.daportfolio.com.
I definitely want to make an image to replace to generic "Welcome" thing on the main page.

Oh and...I'm graduating tomorrow! I don't actually feel terribly excited but maybe it'll suddenly hit me tomorrow when I wake up. Or when I'm listening to the commencement speaker. Or when I'm walking up to get my diploma. Hopefully it'll sink in at one of those points.

Summer Goals

2010-05-10T22:04:00.003-04:00

The semester (and my career as an undergrad) is quickly coming to an end. I'm hoping to make lots of prints this summer though, and hopefully take some printmaking classes in the fall if I have time.

Some specific projects I want to complete this summer:
-Two-color gocco prints
-Complete stationary sets (right now I have a bunch of cards printed but no envelopes...need to remedy that!)
-Small hand drawn/printed books--possibly small linocuts.
-SCREEN PRINTING! I really want to get a legit exposure unit set-up and calibrated so I can create screens with the photo emulsion technique.

This summer I'll be working as a Residential Advisor at the Center for Creative Youth at Wesleyan University. I'm looking forward to it, and am hoping to conduct a screen printing workshop for the students. So, before that all begins at the end of June, I'm going to design an image to use in the workshop. Actually creating a screen during a workshop would be a bit too time-consuming I think, so I'm planning on creating the screen ahead of time, then explaining the process during the workshop and letting the students print on their own shirts/bandannas/what ever using the pre-made screen. I'll have my supplies there, so if a few students are really interested in creating their own screens, I can always work with them independently after the workshop.

Part of what I'm looking forward to at CCY is a potential break-through regarding my feelings toward teaching. I've only had experience teaching my peers, so teaching high school students should be an interesting (hopefully enjoyable) challenge. I know I'll be returning to school in the next year or two. But first I need to figure out what I really want to do.

Gestation, Color Separation, and Monotypes

2010-05-07T22:00:00.002-04:00

Woooah big update. I finally scanned a few of my BIG prints. Unfortunately, even though I scanned them in sections and pieced them together in Photoshop, they are slightly cropped because there was just no way to fit all the missing edges onto the scanner.

"Gestation" measures 18"x24" and is printed on cream paper in an edition of 5, with 3 additional unique color prints outside the edition (two printed à la poupée, one with stenciled surface rolls).

à la poupée print

a print from the edition

Today I was super productive and printed my entire multi-plate color edition in one day! I didn't think it could happen, but it did. I just couldn't stop. The prints have to dry overnight but I'm going to check them out tomorrow, clean them up, and sign them. Still need to think of a clever title. But here are my final color separations.

Thalo blue plate (printed first)

Magenta poupée and Orange poupée (bright red mixed with process yellow)

And here is a little kitty...I call him "Le Petit Chat Sur Le Grand Fauteuil":

I've also been working on my Monotype project. Here are two of my favorites:

That's all for now. More soon! In the coming weeks I'll be adding many new prints to my Etsy shop.

Color Proofs

2010-05-04T16:24:00.002-04:00

Last week I did a few color proofs for my multi-plate color print! For these prints, the first plate carried two colors, and the second plate carried one color. The letters at the top of the first plate were inked à la poupée.

(AHHH bad registration)

I love the vibrancy of the third one, and those are the final colors I'll be using. Today I made another proof using the same colors, this time adding more magenta to other areas of the plate by inking both the letters and the chair à la poupée. I also printed it on cream-colored paper, so I'll compare it to the other proofs tomorrow and see if I like that better. Tomorrow I'm planning to do at least one more color proof to experiment with the magenta poupée a bit more, then I'll print the edition!

Also, here's a monotype I did a few weeks ago. This was sort of my concept for the final project, but it's completely different now. I think I've determined that monotype isn't really my "thing" but I'm still pressing forward and working to make my final project as nice as possible.

le chat noir

2010-05-03T22:38:00.005-04:00

On Friday I printed an edition of 18 of the little hypnotic cat. I decided to call him "Le Chat Noir" (The Black Cat). I think his shadow has a mind of its own. I'd like to write a short story/poem to put on the back of each print, but that will have to wait another week or two, after Finals Insanity has ended.

As you can see, I ended up rounding the corners, and I'm happy with how it turned out! I think some of the subtlety in the spitbite wore out (in the sky/horizon), or the blankets/pressure on the press weren't quite right. Regardless, I'm happy with it and it was nice to see that all 18 prints ended up being edition-worthy.

Proper scan coming soon, along with lots of exciting color proofs of my other kitty-print (still in need of a title--suggestions welcome).

Edit 5/4

Here's a scan of "Le Chat Noir"! Lucky 13 :)

Aquatint Progress

2010-04-25T23:29:00.002-04:00

Using hard ground to block out areas that I don't want to aquatint:

After aquatinting and removing the hard ground:

Color separation of the two plates:

(Burnt Umber, Midnight Blue)

These aren't the colors I'm going to end up using, but it's the general palette (one warm, brownish plate, one cool grey-blue plate). I'll also be inking the words at the top of the brown plate à la poupée using a bright red magenta-type color.

Gestation and Aquatint Planning

2010-04-23T22:18:00.002-04:00

Progress on my multi-plate color print (which is...not printed in color yet).

Today I spent a few hours painting hard ground on my plates to block out areas that I don't want to bite for aquatint. I also spent some time figuring out exactly where I want the aquatint tones, which plates they should be on, and how long I should bite different areas. I haven't really done much with aquatint, so this will probably be a challenge for me. Here's to hoping that I don't completely mess it up! Below is a photo of me attempting to plan the tones using ink washes. Aquatint test strip is close at hand for the sake of figuring out how long I would need to bite to get different tones.

I also decided that I will only be making two plates. The third plate would have had so little on it, I decided to switch a few things so I could just put those details on the second plate.

And, finally an update on my big print, titled "Gestation." The below print was created before the plate was finished, so the edition is slightly different. I'll get a photo of it eventually (and the two colored prints I made à la poupée). This print was conveniently tacked up on the wall, so I took the opportunity to photograph it.

Surface roll (dark red/brown) + stenciled surface roll (pink).

I'm a cat, I'm a kitty cat...

2010-04-18T16:43:00.005-04:00

CAAATS! Below is the first proof of my multi-plate color print.

This print is of the first plate, which will end up holding just about all the linework and will serve as the key plate. There are two other plates: one that will primarily consist of aquatint (and spitbite), and the other with the letters that will be at the top (see previous post with sketches). Obviously the idea has changed slightly, but the general layout is the same. Today I did some more etching to add the swirly lines in the background (which are also in my previously posted sketches). I did a more complete drawing of the current layout, but haven't had a chance to scan it.

I haven't used spitbite on any of my plates before, so I decided it might be a good idea to test it out first on a small plate. I doodled up the little guy below and added spitbite to the shadow after biting the linework. There is also a little bit of spitbite in the upper sky part of the image.

Isn't he cute? And hypnotic?

Monotypes of things wearing boots

2010-04-04T12:36:00.005-04:00

We're starting to work on our final projects in Monotype, and I'm slowly but surely figuring out what I want to do. Originally I wanted to create a series of illustrations for Edward Lear's nonsense poem The Scroobious Pip (click to read it at nonsenselit.org). I might still try creating an illustration or two as I imagined them, but I don't think it would be possible for me to finish all 15. So, I'm thinking of doing a more abstract interpretation. When I was thinking of creating the illustrations for the poem, I decided to make all the "animals" into household objects. In Lear's original illustration for the poem, he drew the Scroobious Pip wearing boots. I thought it would be fun to add that detail to the "animals" instead.

I would like to use bio-t transfers in my final prints and create collages using xeroxes and my own drawing directly on the plate. But below are some of my monotypes from last week, just messing around with what the objects might look like.

I'm also thinking of reworking this idea for my final Etching project as well (multi-plate color prints). It would be a lot more precise, so I could get all the details I want. I imagine the etching being less playful than the monotypes. Kind of serious but completely absurd. I want to create a nonsense alphabet as well so I can incorporate made-up words into the piece (maybe with a corresponding translation as the title). I think I'll probably use the chair for my etching piece--something ominous and decadent, with Victorian boots. I like the idea of contrasting nonsense with images that refer to the rigidity of Victorian England (when writers like Lear and Carroll were working). Anyway, concept sketch + some images that I'll probably be using for reference!

(Pink chair...I'm thinking 'No' on that)

Water-Based Media Monotypes

2010-03-22T19:28:00.003-04:00

Both drawn using Crayon d'Ache on a plexi plate!

This week we're starting our final projects. I'm thinking of doing something with nonsense poetry (or just individual nonsense words/phrases) and possibly making a little book...

Stencil Monotypes

2010-03-16T15:40:00.002-04:00

A couple weeks ago we made stencils in Monotype and used them to make prints! I decided to make a coffee cup. Here's the progression of my prints (note increasingly muddy-looking colors--boo!)

By the end of class I'd decided that string was more interesting than my cut-out stencil.

Frustrating days in the print studio

2010-02-23T20:14:00.006-05:00

This is what happens when you accidentally print one proof over another:

I think it actually looks kind of interesting, but that doesn't change the fact that I basically rendered two proofs totally useless. I had to reprint the 2nd state and the 1st is now lost under the stuff I printed over it. Bah!

I did take a photo of my first proof before messing it up, however.

And here is what the plate looked like this past weekend when I was adding more texture to the background--I didn't bite it for very long so I ended up going through the same process today, biting it for 30 minutes this time to create what I hope will be a dark gray, textured background.

I really want to re-do the doll's face, but Jake convinced me not to (for now). I would like to give her a more exaggerated, artificial looking face like a porcelain doll. Her hair also isn't big enough...it looks like she is missing part of her skull or something. Since I'm not very fond of the face, I'm hesitant to add more work to it if I'm going to scrape it all out anyway. I might end up editioning the plate with the current face in tact, then scrape it out and play around with it. Printing the edition won't happen for a few weeks yet...I'm nowhere near happy with how it looks in its current state. Unfortunately I bit the initial line-work for about 50 minutes, so the lines are etched in the plate pretty deep. I've already been doing some scraping and it's a pain trying to get those lines out. Live and learn!

Color Monotypes

2010-02-20T20:18:00.003-05:00

This week in Monotype we had a chance to play around with color. I don't think I work very well in color, but I tried not to worry about it too much. Since using more colors would have involved more clean-up, I pretty much used the same ones throughout the class.

The white parts were just left blank on the plate. Ink applied with a paintbrush. The white flecks were created by flicking mineral spirits onto the plate with a brush.

Ghost of the previous print. I like how soft it is but I think I prefer the first one.

Using a roller to make a gradient effect; mineral spirits splashed on to create little bubble-things; paintbrush and q-tips to add and remove ink.

Next week we're learning how to make monotypes with stencils! Woo!

Intaglio - sugar lift and white ground test plates

2010-02-15T21:27:00.003-05:00

Sugar lift was the first new intaglio technique we learned this semester. Unfortunately my attempt was a failure. I'm sure I will try sugar lift again at some point, but it definitely wasn't worth the effort for this particular attempt. The sugar lift was only supposed to take 20-30 mins to dissolve, and I couldn't get it all off even after spending hours on it.

My white ground test came out much better, and I'm planning on using it for my large plate to create a background texture.

The actual process for both of these techniques is described below along with the recipes.

Sugar lift print

Soaking the plate to dissolve the sugar lift

White ground print

Jake was kind enough to provide recipes for the processes we're using this semester, for future reference. Below you'll find instructions for making sugar lift and white ground.

Sugar Lift (Lift Ground) Recipe

2 cups karo syrup
1 cup india ink mixed with black poster paint, and pink hand soap or a little detergent

Clean the glass and plastic containers well (i.e. remove sticky stuff from around the rim of the glass jar and the plastic squeeze bottles that you will be storing the mixture in). Mix all ingredients well. Test out the mixture on a piece of copper. If it beads up, add more detergent and/or a little bit of water.

Thinning the hard ground that goes over the lift ground:
1 part hard ground
1 part naptha

How to do it:
1. Degrease the plate.
2. Aquatint the plate.
3. Paint the sugar lift on with a brush or apply with a squeeze bottle. Let it dry.
4. Apply hard ground (thinned with naptha) with a clean, wide brush. Let it dry.
5. Soak the plate in warm water in a tray for 20 minutes. Be patient. Allow the sugar lift to break through the ground. Do not scrub. If it doesn't lift, allow a stream of hot water from the spigot to go through the water bath onto the plate.
6. When drawing has lifted, bite to black (10-15 mins), or you may do stepped biting.
7. Clean sticky brushes, squeeze bottle and jar with water. Clean ground off plate after biting and before printing.

White Ground (Soap Ground) Recipe

This is a partial resist technique for ghostly, washy tones.

1 cup titanium white pigment
2 cups Ivory Snow (a type of detergent)
1/2 cup raw linseed oil
1 cup water

Put the titanium pigment on to a glass table top, then add the detergent. Mix them together with an ink knife. Form it into a mound with a little crater in the middle. Slowly drizzle linseed oil slowly into the mixture and mix it thoroughly so you can't see any more oil. Add the rest of the oil a little at a time. Do the same with the water--add a small amount at a time and mix very thoroughly. Put it in a glass jar with a tight lid. Stir before using. Add water if it's too thick.

How to do it:
1. Degrease the plate.
2. Put a spoonful of white ground on a sheet of wax paper. Have some water and a chinese brush handy. Mix white ground so it is a creamy consistency and paint it freely on your plate. Thinner white ground will produce darker greys, thicker amounts with produce lighter grays. You may brush, drip, or splatter the ground.
3. You can build layers of white ground, but you must dry each layer before proceeding by putting it on a warm hotplate. You may remove the ground with a rag or thin it with a spray water bottle at any point.
4. If you want a black line, take the edge of a piece of cardboard or the end of a paintbrush a draw through the ground.
5. Aquatint the plate.
6. Let the plate sit overnight. Otherwise, some of the ground with float off when you bite it.
7. Bite the plate to black (10-15 mins).
8. Clean brushes. Clean ground off plate after biting and before printing.

Trace Monotypes

2010-02-12T21:39:00.004-05:00

Yesterday in Monotype we did our first trace monotypes.

Here's how it works:
1. Using a soft rubber brayer, roll etching ink onto the plate (copper, zinc, plexi-glass, or what ever surface you're using).
2. Gently place a piece of drawing paper over the inked plate.
3. Draw on the paper using any tools you choose, or even just apply pressure with your fingers.
4. The marks you make on the back of the paper will show up on the other side that was in contact with the inked plate.
5. You can now run the plate through the press to create a negative image of the one you drew (since ink was removed from the plate where you drew/applied pressure).

Here are some examples of the print-drawings I made. The negative images that were printed using the press aren't included here, only the positive images. Unfortunately many of my prints turned out very dark, so most of them aren't really worth posting.

This one is silly.

(These were all made on the same plate and are pretty small--about 5 inches square)

Lots of loose, quick drawings. I'm trying not to be a perfectionist in this class.

Intaglio Concept Sketches -- Pregnancy Doll!

2010-02-05T16:41:00.005-05:00

Our first assignment in Intaglio II is to create an 18"x24" plate, printed using one color in an edition of 4 (I'm hoping to do a larger edition if I have time). We'll also be using this same plate to experiment with printing multiple colors on a single plate.

I'm not really used to working large, so the size was initially very intimidating. What do I do with all that space!? However, as I began brainstorming and sketching ideas, the size seemed like less of an issue. Now I'm more worried about practical problems...like how much my arm is probably going to hurt from wiping the plate when it comes time to print. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Anyway, my concept for this print was sparked by the following item in an online exhibition:

Obstetric Doll, 18th Century

Intrigued, I went on a google-quest to find more information which led me to this Pink Tentacle blog entry about Japanese pregnancy dolls.

These things got me thinking about our relationships to objects, how we create and "give birth" to ideas, and how those objects/ideas often outlive their creators. We often imbue our creations and possessions with a sense of life, either by making them an important part of our own lives or by making them recreate certain aspects of life (as is the case with the pregnancy dolls). The object, however, is frozen in time...which I find a particularly interesting aspect of the pregnancy dolls, which depict a biological process that seems so wrapped up in the concept of time. But for the object, it is a permanent state of being.

So, with that in mind, I began drawing. Originally I considered having the pregnancy doll as a central, prominent image on the plate, with a sort of grid in the background of the little baby-busts that you can see in the photo above. I ran into a problem with that idea: I apparently can't draw babies. Specifically, their faces. Try as I might, they continued to look like tiny demon spawn.

Fortunately, I was able to draw some inspiration from the Encyclopaedia Anatomica and came up with an alternative, which I think is more interesting than my grid idea anyway. I'm very attracted to grid-like compositions and need to get away from the habit of putting things in grids.

I put the main components of my composition on different pieces of tracing paper and am currently in the process of trying to figure out how to arrange them on the plate. Still unsure of the final composition, but here are two that I think work quite well:

Or maybe with the doll figure on the right instead of the left.

They're probably a bit difficult to see...but that's the best I could do--it will be more interesting once I actually start working on the plate. I'm pretty excited about it--I think it will be a fun challenge. As one girl in my class said to me as I was drawing, "That's going to be an awesome plate...creepy...but awesome." I hope so!

Tentacle Bird Gocco Prints

2010-01-25T18:09:00.000-05:00

All I have to say is: this is way too much fun...and a dangerously addictive reason for me to acquire tons of awesome paper.

The image is from a sketch I did in my Natural History Drawing class last fall. Yes, it's a real bird--I can't take credit for coming up with the tentacle bird on my own. The drawing was done at the Harvard Natural History Museum and the bird is a Central American Bell-Bird.

Printed on 5"x5" curry colored cards (from Paper Source) in brown ink. Below you can see photos of the process.

Setting up to burn the master. You can see that the photocopy is placed on the grey padded area on the bottom part of the press.

After burning the master, with the original still attached.

Ink!

Setting up for the first "real" print (you can see my test print on the desk to the right).

Success! The paper looks orange in this photo...color in the next photo is more accurate.

And more success! I made a lot more prints than would fit on the rack...they ended up all over my bed and on various flat surfaces around my room.

I printed until the ink began running out. Here you can see a few bare patches.

Last but not least: CLEAN-UP. It wasn't fun, but I think I managed to get it clean. Holding it up to the light shows that the ink has been removed from the design area. I followed the steps on this page, which is part of a very helpful resource database called NEHOC.

I dub this experiment a success! Now where am I supposed to keep all these prints...

Going Gocco!

2010-01-22T23:52:00.000-05:00

Today was very exciting because I am now the proud owner of a Gocco B6 Printer thanks to my friend Lanie! Since supplies are expensive, I've been carefully considering what I want to print. I'm hoping to create lots of cute stationary, recipe cards, and other awesome things including maybe small decorated fabric things like bags and aprons. So many possibilities, and I'm hoping that a bit of searching will lead me to some helpful/inspirational blogs and websites. Anyway, here are some pictures of the gocco!

The gocco and accessories in their box.

Inks and screen cleaner.

Here you can see my roommate posing with the gocco.

Lanie also gave me this little book of images that you can burn onto the screens. Lots of cute images of boars and Chinese characters that I can't read.

We tested out some screens that Lanie had made for her wedding invitations and stored in the fridge. Unfortunately they seemed too old to print and we decided to try burning a new image onto the screen. It wasn't totally successful but we still managed to print part of an old screen just to get an idea of how it works.

It seems like cleaning the screens is going to be the real challenge. I found this website (northwoodstudios.us) that sells gocco supplies, including their own formula of gocco cleaner called Goccogrrl Screen Cleaner. I think I'll give it a try, since the cleaner that comes with the gocco seems messy and expensive to replace.

Here is a video tutorial of how to use the gocco. It looks like these videos are from the 80's or something, and they're accompanied by horrible (read: hilarious) music, but the instructions are very clear and straightforward.

Hopefully I'll be making lots of awesome prints! Updates to come.

Cycle III

2010-01-22T12:10:00.001-05:00

Title: Cycle III
Size: 8"x10"
Medium: Aquatint
Edition of 5 printed in black ink on white paper.

Of the three prints in the Cycle series, this one was the most time consuming to produce. However, it is by far the simplest in terms of concept. The phases of the moon--a grand cycle that can be seen all over Earth and that influences us and our world in more ways than we can imagine. I love how something so enormous can be contained within a neat grid, so deceptively simple.

Despite the straightforwardness of the concept, it was very difficult to create this image on the plate. Also--perhaps you've noticed already--you can see that I made the mistake of creating the image the wrong way. I should have made it backwards on the plate so it would print correctly (with the phases reading from left to right). Instead it reads from right to left. D'oh! Rookie mistake, right there.

I created this plate using aquatint. The plate was aquatinted and bitten to pure black, then areas that I wanted to be lighter were scraped and buffed to smooth out of the surface (producing the light areas that you see in the print). I created the circles by tracing the bottom of a cup and traced the top of the cup for the large full moon in the center. The rest was all scraping and sanding.

Although I like the simplicity of this print both in terms of design and concept, I am still unhappy with many small details. The phases do not smoothly transition into one another, and the edges of some of the crescents are wobbly and not as smooth as I'd like. I definitely want to try my hand at this technique again--at least now I have some idea of what I'm in for.

Cycle II

2010-01-21T13:47:00.000-05:00

Title: Cycle II
Size: 8"x10"
Medium: Soft ground etching on grey paper
Edition of 5

This is definitely my favorite of the Cycle series and I plan on printing one or two more editions on different types of paper and using different ink. Obviously, I was heavily influenced by Ernst Haeckel in the design of this image. However, rather than Haeckel's typical sea-creature and radiolaria imagery, I chose to create a composition out of male and female reproductive organs. Yes, the male organs are there! But they're a bit more difficult to spot than the female bits.

Initially my intention was simply to create a beautiful composition using hidden parts of our anatomy (parts that have an obvious connection to cycles, especially for women). However, as I continued to work on the plate, the imagery took on various meanings. I think it's interesting how the female organs are so prominent and central, with the male organs almost hidden--quite the opposite of how the male/female "duality" is usually perceived. I like that the "duality" is not as present here and that the two are intertwined (as, many would argue, they are in reality). Aside from the uterus and ovaries it is difficult to determine which organs belong to either sex. I chose to emulate Haeckel's compositions because of the fine balance and attention to detail--a beautiful synthesis of scientific and artistic vision. I wanted to display both the aesthetic and biological beauty of these aspects of ourselves.

This plate was created using soft ground, which I had a lot of fun working with. The ground is applied by heating the copper plate and applying a few small dabs (at room temp, it is a thick, wax-like consistency). A roller is then used to distribute the ground in a very thin, even layer across the entire surface of the plate. I did this process three times to create the various layers of the plate (perhaps I will post in-progress images if I scan the proofs).

The first layer was the basic shapes of the organs, with a little bit of detail (drawn through tracing paper directly on the surface of the plate). The plate was then put in a chemical bath so the lines would be etched into the plate. The next layer involved a combination of both hard and soft ground. Soft ground was applied first, then I carefully painted in hard ground to cover the parts where I did not want the texture. I placed a piece of fabric over the entire plate, ran it through the press, and put it in a chemical bath so the texture would be etched into the entire plate except where there was hard ground. The last layer was soft ground again, with the details and darker tones; again, this was drawn on tracing paper with a pencil. The pressure from the pencil through the tracing paper was enough to create a line in the soft ground. One final chemical bath and viola!

I also printed a limited number of these in a purple-toned ink on grey paper, however, I think I prefer this one the most. Nonetheless, I look forward to experimenting with different inks and papers with this plate.

Cycle I

2010-01-19T22:00:00.001-05:00

Title: Cycle I
Size: 10"x8"
Medium: Etching and drypoint in graphite ink on grey paper
Edition of 5

This was the first finished piece I created in Intaglio I last spring. We had to create three finished editions, and I ended up making a series of images about cycles. This image was derived from a display at the Harvard Natural History Museum that showed silk worms, cocoons, and the moth that eventually emerges. I was intrigued by the cyclic arrangement of the display's design and the beauty this imparted on creatures that normally are considered disgusting. The arrangement was austere and almost mystical, and I sought to capture that. Within the image, birth, the process of maturity, and death are all implied but also expand beyond the scope of the picture plane, reaching outward into the viewer's world.

Overall, I thought this print was quite successful--especially as a first attempt! However, I think its most apparent shortcoming is the textures on the cocoons, which could easily be mistaken for...er...something else. Especially since the colors don't help identify the object, the texture was a particularly significant aspect and I don't think I quite managed to capture the fine, soft texture of a silk cocoon.

In terms of process, this image was created on a copper plate with hard ground painted on the surface. After the ground dried, I used etching tools to "draw" the image on the plate's surface. The plate was then immersed in a chemical bath, which eats away at the copper that is exposed through the ground (that is, the parts that were etched away). After I finished etching the plate, I did some finer detail in drypoint (directly etching into the plate to create lines) and used sandpaper to create some texture around the edges.

Appleman Screenprints

2010-01-16T20:43:00.000-05:00

Ok, here are some progress shots of my appleman screen prints. A few weeks ago Louis and I went to New Haven. It was very cold so we didn't do much walking around...mostly jumped between lunch and coffee places to keep warm. While waiting for our lunch I started drawing Louis but it didn't look like him so I turned it into a totally ridiculous looking man. Louis said he looked like a lemon so I made his head lemon shaped. I ended up drawing a bunch of other fruit-people to go with him and appleman resulted from that.

It worked out because appleman was nice and simple, perfect for a test print. I'm considering this my first real attempt at screenprinting, although I've done it once before with absolutely no success. This time was better!

Materials:
-Speedball screen
-Screenfiller
-Magenta + Yellow acrylic Speedball inks
-Watercolor paper
-Squeegee
-Tape for the edges of the screen, front and back

Screen filler (the red stuff), painted on to block out areas not to be printed.

Done with the screen filler. A second layer was applied the next day to cover up any remaining pinholes.

Ink!!

APPLEMAN!!

I decided to add some watercolor afterwards to make him even more disturbing.

First Post

2010-01-16T20:40:00.000-05:00

I'll be using this blog as a place to post finished work, progress shots, and information about my process (including, I hope, many inspiring revelations).

Let there be art!