With the nice weather in full swing and the arrival of the weekend, I was able to start and finish my edition of prints for the Oregon Ink Spot 2010 print exchange. The print I made is based on a drawing I did for the MAFAC Exhibit I had at the beginning of the year, yet added in some background decoration and depth. I really like the way it turned out but it’s not 100% perfect. As to be expected with the first print of the year I suppose, have to brush the dust off from the long winter season.

I tried my best to document the process so without further adieu , here are some pictures:

Finally, one of the songs from the day’s soundtrack:

Like I said, I’m very happy with how they all turned out, and how quickly I was able to print them with very little errors. If I were to do it again, I would thicken up the outline (dark blue) so that more of the fine lines would have printed better. On the screen they looked great but when printed, the ink just didn’t want to squeeze through.

Several things helped me out a ton with this print session: pressure washer, packing tape, mixing knives, and grilling. I look forward to printing a lot more this season. Also, can’t wait to see the prints I get back from this years print exchange.

Over the past few days I have been putting the final touches on my artwork for the upcoming exhibit I have at MAFAC. I’ve also decided to work on the packaging for some postcard packs that I will be selling. Each pack will contain four unique postcards based on some new drawings. I went through PsPrint.com to make use of their 100% recycled paper and soy based inks. I’m very excited to see how they turn out and start assembling the packages.

Also, check out my fine art portfolio page to see images of my past exhibit at Bagels & Brew. I will work on putting up images from my other exhibit at the Whipple Art Gallery and then shortly after that the images from the new exhibit.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve started drawing a lot more and feeling out a lot of ideas I’ve had sitting around. I’ve completed (I think) four new drawings and have another two drawing concepts started; I’m getting pretty excited.

It Feels So Good to be Gone

Also, just last week my family and I took a vacation to Hawaii for the week. It was incredible, I’ve never seen anything like it. I have never flown for a long distance so that alone was fun for me, but getting to a place so distant and different from where I’ve lived my entire life was amazing. I am excited to go back and look forward to seeing even more.

Eyesight to the Blind

The trip has inspired me in many ways and I am looking forward to interpreting those thoughts onto paper for my upcoming exhibit. As of late, I’ve been feeling like everything I come up with is too related to itself, and maybe that’s not a bad thing.

Also, I feel like changing too much of what I enjoy making will make it not my own, and that’s far from what I want. Though, I think the things I saw and experienced will definitely translate to my work which is something I’ve never really felt before. I’ve only known the Midwest so my eyes have surely been opened.

 

Registration Deadline Has Ended?!

I tried a two color print again and this time had much better success than I’ve had before. However, I am still suffering from poor registration and I have to believe the hinges are at fault. Once the screen is inserted the hinges allow it to shift about 1/8″ each way, left and right, creating a total of about 1/4″ error. Some prints may be perfect in registration, others may be off by that small amount. However, the entire print is never completely off, it’s limited to the top or bottom… which is why the hinge skewing the frame is throwing up a red flag.

The Fix

I’m thinking about getting a set of clamps from Diesel Fuel Prints based in Seattle, WA. I trust what these guys sell because I believe they use the products themselves and produce some pretty bitchin’ work.

On a positive note

This is one of my best experiences with color matching and mixing of process inks. I’ve mixed paints and other inks before but I’ve never tried to match a color to an existing color. I was pretty happy with the way they turned out, and I’m glad I mixed plenty of ink and I look forward to when I have a good stockpile of a variety of ink colors.

Over the past couple of weeks I have been setting up my garage studio space and the main part of that was transporting all of the gear I had on campus to the new spot. After the exposure box got moved and turned back on, it wouldn’t work. I called up my friend Mike who helped us build the box from the beginning, and he suggested checking all connections and making sure nothing was loose.

After hours of troubleshooting, we found out that the lamps needed a ground to operate. While most lamps are not directly wired with a ground, they have a metal shielding that houses them. With ours, the lights were mounted on wood with no ground or metal to allow them to function.


To fix the problem, we slipped a piece of tin foil underneath the bulbs and then grounded it, and all lamps lit up. To make it more permanent and elegant, I found a thin tin plate to line the bottom of the box. I decided to take this opportunity to remove all of the sockets and paint the inside white along with the metal plate.

Once the plate was in and a ground was set, all lights fired right up, and faster than ever. We figured there were many conditions that would have allowed the unit to work on campus in a controlled, dry and cool environment vs. the garage.


I was extremely relieved when the work-around turned out to be practically free, and not having to replace a lot of components. I did a test exposure the other night and going with about 6 minutes yields a really crisp stencil.


Also, I have completed the storage unit for cleaned, wet, or emulsion coated screens which will store up to 7 23×31 screens. I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out and hope that it’s as light proof as I hope it is.

More images of the studio to come soon and documentation of the upcoming grand opening party. Live for it!

Work has begun and progress has been made on the Big Time Perfect Club House which is basically my new studio spot in the garage. It’s coming along pretty well and I’m really happy with the way the storage unit is turning out.

I realized that, during college, I had a lot of items which I took for granted: storage space, drying racks, tools, paper, etc. Now that I’ve moved all of my supplies out of the art rooms, I’ve set up shop back at home and have been trying to recreate what I’m missing.


I knew for sure that I needed a storage container for unexposed silk screens and thought about making a drying rack for the prints. Half way through the drying rack project, I realized I had enough room to build a storage box underneath.


I ended up undoing a lot of the work I initially did, but it turned out much better than I expected. All that’s left at this point is to add in a hinged door and sealing the box off from light. I am almost finished with the construction and then it’s on to the big time.