Light - key block for second in this stray dog series

This is the unfinished key block for Light, the second in my current stray dog series (Peace, Light, Love). I am carving the key blocks for this series in cherry. I like working in cherry because it is solid wood rather than plywood and it is less apt to chip. It also has a beautiful, almost waxy surface. The downside is that cherry is very hard wood compared to shina, so carving takes at least three times longer and makes my arm sore. This block is a reworking of white paws. Because the image takes up most of the piece of wood, I am going to have to get creative when I carve the kento. My plan is to place another piece of wood alongside this one and carve the kento across the bottom of both pieces and along the side of the additional piece.

 

Etsy Promotional Gift

I love bookmarks. Maybe it’s because I am a librarian. Anyway, when I recently bought something on Etsy I got this fun, cool, little, free-gift bookmark that I treasure almost as much as the item I bought. So I decided to make some promotional bookmarks myself to give away with items that I sell on Etsy. I combined this idea with Annie Bissett’s great idea of recycling imperfect prints into business cards. I printed out my Etsy web address on a label, stuck it to the back of a print and cut it out with one of those diecutting craft tools. Then punched a hole in the top and threaded a ribbon through. Perhaps I will no longer feel so bad when one of my prints doesn’t come out just so.

 

Turning Art into Food

Once again the Saline Picture Frame Co. helping to raise money for the Food Gatherers by holding the Circle of Art auction. It’s a great way to purchase some wonderful art pieces and feel good about helping those in need. To date the Circle of Art raised over $40,000 for Food Gatherers. All of the works are 9 x 11″ or smaller and two dimensional work is matted by the Saline Picture Frame Gallery. You can bid online at http://www.salinepictureframe.com/showroom/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=368 or come to the final auction at the Circle of Art party on May 18th from 12:00-5:00pm at Saline Picture Frame Co. I have two pieces up for bid, White Paws and David’s Tree.

 

A couple of new prints

Here are a couple of new prints I have been working on.

This one is a simple one block print done on handmade Indian paper that I bought in Pune at the Handmade Paper Institute.

And here is a guy from the Handmade Paper Institute giving me a demo of paper marbling. We went to the H.M.P.I. not knowing what we would find and the people who worked there were very generous gave us a personal tour. It was fascinating. They made the paper from recycled rags and discarded books.

---

Here is a test print of another print I am working on. This was going to be the second white paws print, but I added a boarder with the sanskrit word for peace. I like the way this one is working better than the first white paws, so I will be redoing the first print in this style. There will be three prints in all for this series - Peace, Light, and Love (this one might change). These happen to be the names of my husband and his two brothers (Prashant, Pradeep, and Prem). I hope they don’t mind.

 

White Paws I - finished woodblock print

White Paws I is a four-block moku hanga print that depicts an Indian stray dog that I met during my travels to India. Many majestic strays wander the streets of Pune looking for a bit of food or some cool shade. These strays embody the often difficult, but beautiful world of India. I am planning to create two more prints in this series of White Paws.

 

Using wax paper rubbings to help with print alignment

I am currently working on a four-block print and having issues getting all four blocks to line up properly. To help guide my carving of the blocks I used the method of pasting down the key block printed on thin paper. This works fairly well, however, I believe that the paper stretched somewhat causing slight misalignment. I had heard about using crayon rubbings to see how blocks lined up, but it never worked that well for me.

I have lots of wax paper laying around because I use it between my printing paper and baren for smooth rubbing and to keep moisture from getting on the baren. I decided to try putting the wax paper directly on the block and rubbing it with the baren. It makes a surprisingly clear image of the block, including the kento, and the best thing about it is that it is somewhat transparent so you can then place it over the corresponding blocks to see how it is lining up. Keep in mind that I did this after I had carved all of the blocks and had already inked them so I could see the wax paper lines distinctly on the darkened block. I’m not sure how well it would work on a fresh, unstained block, but I suppose a fresh block could easily be washed with a color to help see the lines.

That said, I am still having issues lining things up. I think it now has to do with carved and re-carved kentos that have gotten messy, plus some of those other random things (see 50 things that can go wrong). I’m looking forward to starting fresh with my next print. I have to say though that I love the way this block looks - maybe even more than the print (that wouldn’t be the first time).

 

When a circle is not really a circle

To answer Patti Phare-Camp’s question asking if the sun in the Talkative Tortoise print was chine colle, I decided to show you. As you can see from the block, it is not chine colle, but rather printed. I was startled to carve this block and see how un-round the sun actually looks. I’m still amazed to see how the key block completed the circle!

 

Fairy Tale Print “Talkative Tortoise” - Finished

The moral of the fairy tale “The Talkative Tortoise” can be summarize in a quote by Robert Newton Peck:

“Never miss a chance to keep your mouth shut.”

Unbeknownst to me it was perhaps the lesson I was supposed to learn when I opened my big mouth and said, “sure, I’ll join the fairy tale print exchange,” even though I had no experience printing a run anywhere near 30 prints. Thus, the reason I haven’t blogged in so long - not because I haven’t been making prints, but because that’s all I’ve been doing. But don’t be mistaken in thinking that I regret being a part of this exchange. True it was an excruciating and expensive couple of months, with three key blocks and over half of the prints rejected. I felt like I was in graduate school again. And my final prints are still not to my complete satisfaction. That said, however, the experience and confidence that I have gained have been worth the ride. I’ll try to convey some of this here in the coming weeks. For now, here is the print. I still have a few more details to attend to, but this baby is in the mail tomorrow!

 

Latest Dog Print - more lessons learned

Happy new year to everyone.

I’ve been back working on my India stray dog series. I am working on three simultaneously - all of a beautiful dog with distinct white paws that I met outside of a restaurant in Pune. Here is a snapshot of the keyblock and a test print on copy paper.

I carved this on shina plywood, which is not the best material for making the key block (i.e. the black line block) because it can chip when carving out thin lines. I bought some Quick Wood, which worked pretty well at mending some of those chipped spots. I think I may be ready to move on to carving my key blocks in cherry which is more suitable for detailed carving. I used a Sharpie marker to draw on the key block and I really liked the way it helped me see the thickness of my lines better when carving, allowing me to create what I hope is a more sensitive line.

I also ordered a new carving tool - the bullnose chisel. I didn’t think this tool would be all that useful, but have found it to be invaluable. I use it almost as much as my hangi to (knife). I have been using a shallow u-gouge for clearing areas, but the bullnose chisel clears a lot more efficiently. Here is a photo of it. This is actually photographed upside down so you can see the bevel. It is used with the bevel side toward the wood.

I’m learning to have a lighter hand with the baren. As you can see in the test print there are some thick edges in the shadow areas. I found that a lighter hand on the baren eliminates these and makes for a more uniform printed area.

The most important lesson that I am beginning to take to heart in this process is patience and learning to trust my intuition.

 

Why knitting has made me a better printmaker

I taught myself to knit a couple of years ago. Although it was quite frustrating at first, I persevered because I had this idealized vision of myself calmly creating with my needles whilst traveling, attending soccer games, watching TV, or in conjunction with any number of the more mundane human activities. Now as I am quietly pulling my hair out printmaking, I am finding some interesting parallels between these two learning experiences.

My fairytale print isn’t going well, and I haven’t even gotten to the printing stage. I made the block too big, carved in the wrong direction to the grain, recarved again on a piece of shina plywood that wasn’t glued up properly, and overall I’m not feeling very happy about the piece. But looking back on some of my early knitting projects, I remembered having to frog (unravel) some easy things, like a garter stitch scarf, five or six times in the beginning until things started to roll. Even though my conscious brain knew how to do the stitches, I need to train my unconscious body.  Slowly my knitting improved and my hands secretly learned moves that my brain still knows nothing about. Now, as I work on a complex cabled sweater, the needles dance – no frogs. I am starting to achieve that creative, meditative state in knitting that I dreamed about. So I am holding that experience in mind as I struggle with the wood.

I see other similarities in these two processes. Both take a big time commitment and a lot of faith because, as a beginner, one can’t really tell what a piece is going to look like until the very end. That said, people never realize how much time and effort it takes to create something in either of these mediums. I learned early on to only give knitted pieces to other knitters.

But the truest lesson of all I have learned from knitting and printmaking is discovering the wonderful communities of supportive fellow artists that exist out there. People from all over the globe have helped me with joy in their hearts – many without even knowing they were doing it. That lesson goes beyond learning a craft and into the realm of learning about life.