returning to the snow?

it would appear that none of my photos are loading from the before post. i'll try to remedy this once i get home, but the internet is so miserable here that i'd rather not mess with it now. my flight leaves pretty early tomorrow which involves getting up at 5 AM to make it to the airport. i'm not tired and am considering staying up most of the night. ANYHOW. once i get back in iowa tomorrow i unfortunately have a bunch of actual work-work to do before i can print anything. but i'll post updates soon. i've also been thinking about trying to make a few long stitch books this week too. but we'll see.

astros ball

haven't been working on any projects since i've been in florida, but we went to an astros game today. totally worth the excitement. i'll post a few photos from that in lieu.

poster project part three

i'm beginning to wonder how many runs of this poster i'll have to do. i was at the studio pretty early this morning and added the words 'presiden-tial" and "2008!" i think i'm done using wooden type for this assignment and will use metal type for the rest of the text. i've done a little setting already including all of the roommate's names and some other propaganda-like rhetoric.



as seen here i got blue ink all over the back of my hand. how'd that happen? unfortunately the ink doesn't wash off rather well. fortunately it looks like i've been kicking ass, punching walls and all.

some ideas

i found this image of a vandercook press online and thought i'd post it. this is the type of press that i print from for all of my images.



also, here are two old printing blocks i'm bidding for on ebay. i'm pretty excited and hope that i win both of them. i have some pretty good ideas for prints i could make with the images.

old project

i found this project from last semester in my room just now as i was cleaning.



It's quite similar to the 'definition' project we did this semester, except i followed the guidelines a little more closely. the text is set in metal type and i used a linoleum carving for the ring image. the impression on this print is really even and nice. i think i'll try to replicate that next time i work.

poster project part two

i printed two more additions to the poster today. the words 'borderello' and 'election' in a dark red i mixed and three ornamental stars next to those words. i'm hoping to make this poster as jam packed as possible so i'll probably use a lot more of those stars in the future.

poster project part one

i woke up bright and early today so that i'd be ready to print at my 11 AM- 2 PM time slot. I had to make my negative and then polymer plate before i could do that. We make negatives for smaller projects using transparencies and inverting the photos colors. see here:



then i made a polymer plate. i vowed never to use these after my last printing class. they have a metal backing on them which attachs to a large magnet that rests in the bed of the press. trying to move the plate around is nearly impossible and often results in cutting ones hands.



it was finally time to print. i decided to go with a dark color for the image as i'll be using reds and blues everywhere else in the text. i mixed blue with back for a really dark navy blue color. edging more on the side of black. i used three different paper shades. i think i'm most happy with the brown tone - it gives the poster an antique feel. also the plate didn't print as darkly on that paper giving the image a faded look. anyhow, i've got to figure out what text i'll be using and work on a layout next.

return to work

nothing new recently. i was in st. paul over the weekend and made mosaics with jess. i had never done it before and although quite fun took a bit of force. the kind we worked on are then donated to the city of st. paul and used to decorate planters around downtown. the tiles we used were really thick and cutting down every piece was tiresome. i'll post pictures of our mosaic once i get the photos scanned.

here's some information about the org - it's a pretty interesting and innovative public program.



http://www.mosaiconastick.com/

In the summer of 2006, the Hamline Midway Coalition received a STAR grant through the City of Saint Paul to beautify Snelling Avenue in collaboration with Mosaic on a Stick. The plan was for members of the community to create 170 mosaic medallions (10" in diameter) to cover 10 concrete planters on the Avenue. Anyone can participate (and it doesn't cost anything either!) & people have been happily surprised at the results thus far. At least 75 people (and those are just the ones that we can see and are easy to count) have contributed to the Planter Project in some way since it began in August. The time commitment is small and the payoff is big. Because this is community art in action. People coming together to create art. And in this case, the art that's being created is permanently installed in this neighborhood of living, breathing, working, coffee-drinking people.

or this is a lion book rather

lion book

just finished binding another book. the covers on this one went a lot better in terms of punching the holes and lining everything up properly.

broadside project

the next assignment for my letterpress class is a broadside (poster) containing any text and pictures we want. i played around with adobe illustrator for a while and messed around with some images. i decided that i might make a presidential campaign poster for the house 'elections' going on at the borderello right now. here's a quick mock up of an idea.



disregard how wide it is. when i turned it into a pdf it expanded that way. anyhow, i'd probably make the posters 13X17 or so. not sure yet. i think i'll set the text in wooden type and make a polymer plate for the images.

in the studio

i've been at the letterpress studio for a few hours now and will probably be here pretty late tonight. i started a new project that i'm planning on using for some sort of greeting type card. i've finished setting the type:


and i've proofed it for errors:


disregard that it's backwards. i couldn't get preview to flip it around. and soon to come...printing!




So there is a color difference between the first and second image which doesn't come off very well via photobooth. the first edition was printed in a gold tone, the second in a rust. the star color is the same in both. i think i'll leave the insides blank, but i might add something to the back.

early to rise

i woke up pretty motivated this morning. i finished up my outline, cleaned my room, and figured out what reading i need to do for this week. i started sewing one of the books i prepared on friday. i'll post a few photos throughout the process.



notice my lovely headband. maybe i am in the 7th grade again?



still working.



DONE.

books to come

i had planned to sew a lot of books today and didn't get much done. instead i tried to write an outline for my architecture class and instead got angry about having to write one. who the hell assigns an outline? am i in the 7th grade again?