It started with a thumbprint.....

WOW!  It's the middle of July!  How did that happen?  Time does indeed fly when you're enjoying every moment of it.  And this summer has been one of the most delightful in recent memory!

When the summer began, I told myself that it was going to be a summer of experimentation.  No idea or medium or color was off limits.  I also made time for some reading, which has been extremely beneficial!

One book I found was "Drawn to Stitch" by Gwen Hadley.  I've been doing quite a bit of free-form embroidery this summer and incorporating printmaking into it. One of the exercises in the book was to take things found in nature and magnify them - the author used various rock walls and markings found in her native U.K., but I thought a bit differently.  What's the first print most of us make in our lives?  It's an easy one - our fingerprints!

I took this thumbprint and magnified it, like so (I'm still in the process of darkening the whorls in Photoshop for some sun printing):

I then traced this design onto a basswood block - 

After inking and printing the block on my backpack press with Akua ink on a very thin unryu paper, mounting onto a vintage 1939 Wisconsin survey map and having the prints professionally matted by the wonderful folks at Gallery & Frame Shop here in Fond du Lac, this is the final print!  I call it "Tributary", because it reminds me of winding riverways.  You can find it in my shop on melkolstad.com!  :)

I challenge you to take something in your house or backyard and enlarge it - you'll be surprised at the difference it makes!  It's like a whole new object, and it's really fun to play around to get different results. Hooray for experimentation!  :D

APA Wayzgoose, Baby!

wayzgoose (ˈweɪzˌɡuːs) n

1. (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) a works outing made annually by a printing house

[C18: from earlier waygoose, of unknown origin]

Oh my heavens!  I went to my very first wayzgoose this past weekend!  What an amazing experience.  I attended the Amalgamated Printers' Association's wayzgoose right in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, only about 60 miles from me, at the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum!

It was actually a four-day event (Thursday-Sunday), but I only went on Friday and Saturday.  On Friday, I took a wonderful class called "Weaving Type, Structure & Image" with Jessica Spring of Springtide Press in Tacoma and Jen Farrell of Starshaped Press in Chicago.  We created three wonderful projects!  The first was a little collaborative "meander" book, which is printed all on one side and then cut to make pages. There were 8 of us in the class, and we all chose a synonym for "wander", the name of the book. We were free to experiment with about 12 cabinets full of beautiful vintage wood type.  HEAVEN!!  I chose "ramble" as my word, and found a gorgeous type and border for my portion of the book.  Here's the uncut print:

I love how everyone's word is completely different!  We each had to "lock up" our own word, which was a new experience for me.  I had to measure picas and use "furniture", which was thrilling.  I felt like a real printer!  :D  Here is the back of the print, which would become the two "covers" of the book (sorry for the not-so-great photo!):

How cool is it that all of our names are included?  :D  Once we all had our words in place, Jessica measured the final piece and began inking.  As you can see, she did a beautiful two-color process.  Here is the finished book - it turned out SO cool!  What a lovely memento to have from the class!  :D

Our second project was to weave prints we created. Once again, we were given free reign over all of the available wood type!  I played with the letters and numbers, mixing up sizes and fonts for each line of type. Jen Farrell suggested that I experiment with the bottom of the wood blocks, for a fantastic effect.  Here are two of my finished prints, each printed with violet ink but using different paper colors.  The results were SO different!!

I didn't get around to weaving my prints.  Why?  Well, because Jessica wanted us to all take turns printing our book pages on the Vandercook press, just to get a feel for it.  Since most of the people there already own their own Vandercooks, I volunteered to help print the majority of the prints for the books.  I was happy to do it!  I've already done weaving with my prints, so this way others got to experience something they might not otherwise do (these folks are SERIOUS printers).

Our last project was a folding exercise - Jessica and Jen had printed out some great prints and then cut them down to about 6X6" squares.  We then made a little folded piece out of them!  You can see what I mean, here:  

As you probably have guessed, this was an all-day class!  We were all pretty pooped by the end of it.  All of the wonderful folks I met during my class (hi Erin, Nancy, Marjorie, Laurie, Gary, Mary Alice and Carol!) were from somewhere else - Phoenix, Tacoma, Cincinnati, Virginia, Santa Fe, Santa Barbara, CA - and one other Wisconsinite, from La Crosse - so they all stayed overnight.  I went home for the evening, but returned on Saturday for the...drum roll....swap meet and auction.  

It was FANTASTIC!  I bought a lot of wood and metal type, some awesome vintage blocks, some ink, some vintage trays, a couple of wonderful vintage books....and this beautiful little toy press for the ridiculously low price of TWENTY BUCKS!  The description says it's an Elm City toy press and by all accounts, I guess it really works!  I can't wait to try it out!   :D

I also got to meet Michelle Walker, who's the creator of the "Lovers of Letterpress" group on Facebook!  She and her husband George came all the way from Toronto (my fave city in the world!) to be at the event.  We were able to have lunch together and hang out during the auction!  How lovely!  :D

Now that I've got my first wayzgoose under my belt, I can't wait for Hamilton's very own, which is held every November!   But next up:  "Chipboard, Linoleum and other Reproduction Techniques" workshop with Dafi Kuhne this coming Saturday!   :D

What Makes an Edition?

One thing I'm learning about printmakers - they love a good discussion!  I belong to some very active printmaking groups on Facebook and LinkedIn, and the conversations are fantastic!  

Recently, in my "Prints and Printmaking Enthusiasts" group on LinkedIn, someone began a discussion about editions and edition varies.  She asked, "I'm sure this has been covered before but how does one number linocuts that use the same plates but in a completely different colo(u)r?"

I'm so glad this question was asked - if it hadn't been, I would've started the conversation!  As a relative "newbie" printmaker, this is one of those queries that has had me guessing for a while.  Even better - the answers were all over the place!  

A little history - according to Wikipedia (which is by no means complete, but will do for the purpose of this post), an edition is "a number of prints struck from one plate, usually at the same time. This is the meaning covered by this article. This may be a limited edition, with a fixed number of impressions produced on the understanding that no further impressions (copies) will be produced later, or an open edition limited only by the number that can be sold or produced before the plate wears. Most modern artists produce only limited editions, normally signed by the artist in pencil, and numbered as say 67/100 to show the unique number of that impression and the total edition size."

In this definition, it doesn't mention anything about the variations of an edition.  That's why the conversation over at LinkedIn has been so enlightening!  For example - this week I finished an edition of 15 from a rubber print I carved back in October.  I've been stuck with the winter "blahs" lately (we've been hit SO hard this year) that I just wanted to finish something!!  Here is what transpired:

I printed three each of the five colors and then sewed a border around each in a corresponding thread color. I kept the edition to 15, because the "block" is disintegrating and in my opinion, no longer in printable condition.  Part of the issue was the fact that I had to wipe the block after every third print, to prepare for the next color.  I probably would've been able to get far more prints from the block if I had stuck with the original color (brown), but I like giving people a variety and it was really fun to do.  :)

Now, to some purists this would NOT be an edition!  Each color would've been its own edition and should be labeled as such.  And because it's a rubber block and not wood or linoleum, and I used pigment ink, these things may also play a factor as to whether or not it's a "true" edition.  Over on LinkedIn, however, the answers would be as varied as my prints!  Some people stick to the "rules", others don't care one lick.  I guess I'm somewhere in the middle.

To my mind, at least at this stage of the game, I don't think it matters.  I am not a master printmaker (yet), and these are just fun little prints for sale.  Regardless of whether I carve my block in rubber, lino or wood (and I have done all three), I will number my editions for the amount of (good) impressions I've printed, so that the buyer knows that I only did 15 prints total (I've already retired the block for good).  My main concerns are these - whether I enjoyed creating the prints, and hoping that people like what I create.  :)

Coloring my Prints

I have a question for my fellow artists - do you ever feel melancholy at the end of a project?  You're going along, completely enjoying the process, however long that takes (SO nice to not have a strict deadline), and when you find yourself in the final stages of it, you don't want it to end?

That's how I feel with this "Birches" block! :)

I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed working on this particular project!  It's the first edition that I've created specifically for printing on my new S.C.O.P.E. press.  It's the first project where I printed all 10 prints of the edition at once.  And it's the first edition that I've colored!

Oh....the COLORING!! I've been having a BLAST with the coloring!  I hand colored this edition, and so far I have two colorways - the "Birches in Spring"":

And "Birches in Winter".   

For the "Spring" print, I used various shades of green/chartreuse watercolor on watercolor paper, but also collaged tiny bits of real birch bark on some of the trunks!  :)  For the "Winter" print, I just used straight-from-the-pan blue-gray watercolor on block printing paper.  I like them both, because they're so different.  I attempted an "Autumn" print, but it just looked like the forest was on fire.  :D

At some point, I WILL attempt a reductive print.  Honest!  I just have to face my fears, is all.  :)

I can't wait to start my new block!!  I may try a woodcut next.  Stay tuned!  :D

Printing Birches

In my last post, about the meditative properties of carving, I was working on a block which would eventually become a grove of birch trees.  I'm happy to report that it's finished!

Even more exciting - yesterday was Print Day! :D

Because I'm so new at this - or maybe you veteran printmakers feel this way, too - I just marvel at the S-L-O-W process.  I'm used to working on a project, from start to finish, in about 4 hours.  With printmaking, one really must remember to be mindful of every step and to be patient.  I must admit, it's taking some getting used to - but I LOVE it.

Here is the palette I chose for my block - I was surprised by how much the brown blended in with the other colors!

Rolling the ink on the block....

Setting up the block on the press....

VOILA!!  Birch prints!!

I decided to make this an edition of 10.  Here are two of the prints, but I printed the block on all sorts of backgrounds - Gampi tissue, an old business letter, rice paper, etc.  

I'm letting the prints dry today, but tomorrow begins Phase III - coloring and final touches!!  Stay tuned!  :)

Taking the Plunge for The Print Exchange 2014!!

WOWIE!  In my inbox yesterday, I came across an e-mail from Art House Co-op, who runs The Sketchbook Project.  Many of you may be familiar with this project, but did you know that every year they also do a PRINT exchange?!

Because prints weren't even on my radar until about March of last year, I never noticed this awesome challenge before!!  But this year, I'm going to do it.

Here's the gist of it - you create an edition of 12 prints.  Ten are exchanged with other artists who also signed up for the project (the first 500 to sign up get to play).  The other 2 are archived/exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Library!  Here's the Flickr gallery of the prints from last year.  There is a cost of $50 (plus $8 shipping) but the way I look at it, I'm getting 10 original works of art for that 58 bucks!  That's only $5.80 per print!

I'm really excited - and a little terrified - about this project.  This year, the theme is "Let this be a Sign".  I already have some ideas floating around about what I'm going to do, so I need to get those on paper and spend a day or two ruminating.  :)

What do you say, printmakers?  Want to do this with me?  I think you should.  :)  Oh, and if you do want to try it, the promo code for the discount at checkout is CRAFTSTERBUDDIES.  It'll save you around $11!  :D

Let me know in the comments (or on my Facebook page) if you're going to try this!  I'd love to hear from you!  :D