We’re Getting Closer…

I was able to complete two more blocks this week and have just five more to go.  These specific images were printed very well and I am excited about their results!  The wood seems to be lending itself perfectly to the darker images and they are coming out very mysterious.  I am very happy in the way the blocks are coming out and I hopefully will have printed all of them by next weekend.  I am at a bit of a standstill right now because the one place where I can purchase photolithography plates is all out.  I am waiting for a shipment to come in next Tuesday and will start cranking them out as soon as they arrive. 

For now I plan to explore the ways in which I can hang my images on the wall in the gallery by either drilling a hole in the back for a nail or carving a horizontal line.  I wanted to wait to figure out these issues until the images were completely printed because if I were to mess up I could always use the back of the block. 

This coming weekend I will also work on a small website for my IP Thesis and I will definitely be attending Seth’s explanation of how to create a website next week.  I am feeling the pressure to get these blocks done so not having any more plates is making me a little antsy, but maybe it is a good idea to take a step back for a while and work on other issues I may have later.

One side note, I originally planned on having 13 blocks in my show, but some images will probably not make it into the final presentation.  Therefore, I am also going to think more about the layout and the possible number of blocks that will be displayed. 

Off to Print!

 Spring break was the perfect amount of time to relax and contemplate the coming weeks.  I was able to come up with a timeline so I will be on schedule and have time to work out any kinks that present themselves at the end of March before my show.  I was able to print five blocks thus far, although all of them may not be in the show.  I really enjoy the images with more stark contrast and a lot of black areas.  After yesterday’s critique that I felt that a majority of people were drawn to the darker images as well and I plan to work to create more contrast in future blocks by applying more ink to areas.  It was also helpful to learn yesterday that the areas where I touched up the ink with India ink weren’t too apparent.  I was originally worried that they were too noticeable and would take away from the piece. 

Printing is going smoothly and I hope that my pace continues.  I originally planned to have thirteen blocks in my show, but I’m glad that I set the number so high as some of the images don’t look great after they’ve been printed.  Mostly lighter images with a lot of light don’t translate so well because there is a loss of important information.  Hopefully, by the end of the process I will have at least 10 images that I feel are ready to go in the show. 

I plan to print as much as I can basically until I am finished as well as touch up images with India ink.  I also have to start worrying about how the images will actually hang on the wall and I believe I am leaning towards attaching something to the back like a picture hook or something of the sort. 

I really like how the images are turning out and even the surprise of the oil drying in a rainbow pattern doesn’t bother me.  I’m curious to see whether this will happen in the others or what other surprises will happen before my opening. 

Off to print! 

This print will most likely not be in the show because the image is too light and is not working well.

Off to the Beach

            It’s finally spring break and I’m actually feeling pretty good about the status of my project.  I was able to make a lot of headway this week and I plan on being very productive over the break.  I have finished two prints of my wood blocks on the wood that was finally delivered.  I am very happy with the way the first one came out and am less thrilled with the second.  The second one printed to lightly on the wood and I may decide to print it on the back of the second block.  There is also the possibility of fixing it with sumi ink, which I discovered yesterday.  This will make my life a lot easier as it dries the same color as the black ink and will help me fix small mistakes from printing.

            I was also able to print two new pictures on Mylar and plan to make the plates and print those over break.  By the time we have our critique next Thursday I hope to have at least five blocks to show next to one another to see if the project is ultimately working well.  I talked to Mark Nelson about where the blocks should hang and I we both agreed that the audience will need a large amount of space to see the project as a whole.  Therefore, my ideal space would be in Slusser, the viewer could then see the project close up and from far away.  In my opinion both the blocks look better from a distance and I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing.

            I am looking forward to this break, to getting out of the cold, but I am also looking forward to finally making large strides in my project.  We only have a few weeks left and I have a lot to do so from now on I will be in overdrive.  So far things are running smoothly and I just hope that they continue on this path (knock on wood). 

            Hope everyone has a great break and I’m sorry that there are no images, but I am no longer in Ann Arbor and can’t take them.  I will try and update my blog as soon as possible to show you one of the finished blocks.

Developing

        

    I will be in New Orleans this weekend interviewing and I thought that in order to get ahead I would concentrate on making my photolitho plates for the coming week.  The large 16 x 20 blocks will not be arriving until today or tomorrow and so I will be unable to print on them until the beginning of next week.  I am pretty sure of the way in which this should be done.  I have checked the pressure on the etching press using a scrap piece of wood and will only need to shellac them after the printing is done so I am all set.  I am very excited to begin printing on the blocks and start experimenting with this new process.  I am happy with how the plates themselves were exposed and I think that they will hold the ink very nicely. 

            This week I was also fortunate enough to meet Jenny Schmid, a very respected printmaker who happened to go to undergrad at the University of Michigan.  She was a visiting artist for Endi’s print class and I was able to talk to her for a long time about her process of creating photolithos.  She was very interesting to talk to and I learned a lot about the mixing of inks and rolling up my plates.  It was also nice to talk to someone who focuses mainly on photolithography and is really excited about it and its possibities.

The Pathetic end of Machismo
Jenny Schmid

            I have finished two plates that are going to be printed when the blocks arrive.  I printed one of these plates in a light blue on Rives BFK in order to see whether color would be an option.  I choose the blue color because everyone seemed to be attracted to the images on the plates themselves and I thought this would be a nice compromise.  It was the first time that I worked with mixing litho inks and I’m glad Amanda was there to help because I would have never known to included magnesium carbonate.  This made the ink a lot less greasy and actually made the rolling up of the plate much easier.  I really like how the prints turned out and I’m glad even if they are just for my own collection.

           

           I plan to print on the blocks as soon as they arrive and I hope to have a couple done by the beginning of spring break. 

(30 hours)

Finally

This week was a very important week in the life of my project.  I was able to pin down important specifications, order my final wood, and actually articulate my final piece.  I have been really lost the past few weeks trying to figure out exactly what to do for my project and how to let go of the woodcut idea.  I was disappointed that I was no longer working in the medium that I was so comfortable in, but somehow I had a break through last weekend.  I was thinking about photolithography and the possibilities of printing on wood and I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to be proud of what I put on the gallery wall at the end of the semester, I had to make a decision. 

So this week was dedicated to making important choices.  First, I experimented with printing a photolitho plate on wood.  Ana told me that the only way that this was possible was to use the etching press, when normally you would use the lithography press.  It was a very fun day figuring out how this would all work out and in the end, I’m happy to say that the print on the wood came out very nicely.  After realizing that printing on wood was possible, I ordered fourteen 16”x20” pieces of birch plywood that I plan on printing my final pieces on for the show. 

I then turned to mapping out the layout of my show, which pieces would fit where on the wall, from at what height they would hang, and how far apart they would be from one another.  I did a quick sketch of them on illustrator just to see how much room I would actually need. 

For the rest of the week, I then proceeded to start printing my photolitho plates.  It has been an interesting process and after talking to Amanda yesterday, I am considering playing with blocking out pieces of my images while exposing them. 

I look forward to continue exposing my plates and my blocks should come by next Thursday!  Finally, I am on my way to completing my senior thesis.

PS Possible Postcard Image

The back would read Play: Lost Memories of a Childhood

The Beginning of the End...

This week was really devoted to my exploration of photographs.  Last week, I decided that I was interested in learning the techniques of photolithography and the possibilities of the medium. The first step was to stat with a solid base.

I began sorting through all of the photographs that I had taken of my building blocks when I was at home in New York.  I played with the lightness, contrast, cropping, possibility of color and the size of each image.

 I figured the best way to go about this process, is to create as many photographic images as I can, and then see the amount of photographs I will actually be able to reproduce by the deadline that is fast approaching. 

I also began to look into the idea of printing on wood and am going to discuss this possibility with Ana further, when I go to purchase paper and plates from her today. 

I seem to be really drawn to the images that have the highest contrast and I hope that I can transfer them well enough into the medium of photolithography.

This weekend I plan to make at least three photolitho plates and hopefully print some proofs of each.  I would like to have a solid amount of work by the end of next week because I feel as if I am starting from nowhere, which I am.  I am excited to begin working and always enjoy printing in the studio. 

Blocked Photos

This weeks critique came at a perfect time for me.  I was at a crossroads and really needed some help deciding which way I should start to take my final project.  After completing two photolitho plates of my photographs and a larger drawing, I was glad that I could get feedback on which medium was more successful.

The group seemed to think that the photolitho was the better way to go and I do agree.  I really like the photographs that I took of my building blocks an think that they are very expressive.  My issues with it seemed to have only sprung up because of my lack of knowledge in the area.  Amanda suggested that I expose the plate using different lumens and I didn’t actually know that was possible.  I am excited to start exploring this other side of printing making, as all of my other work has mainly been done using woodblocks.

I would still like to incorporate some element of wood or a surprising material because I feel that photolithography lacks something and I would like to push my photographs further.  I do like the idea of using different colors and different exposures and I plan to look up different artists that have experimented with this medium.

This past week I completed two photolithos plates, as I mentioned before, and printed them on top of each other.  I wanted to see whether a subtle color underneath created a nicer contrast and was happy with the results in only one of the pieces.  I think that the other photograph (of the arch way) was over exposed and too light and unsuccessful.  Janie also told me that I should try and draw a large scale drawing of one of the photographs, split up in the way that I wanted them to be displayed.  I really enjoyed working and drawing because I haven’t been able to work with pencil and charcoal recently.  I liked the drawing but felt that it was not as successful as the photographs themselves. 

(16 hours)

This coming weekend and week I hope to explore the different possibilities of photolithography.  I will look at artists that have used this medium in different ways and will talk to Amanda about the different possibilities.  I am excited to start to learn more about this printmaking technique.  I hope to also look into printing on some kind of thin wood and seeing how that will translate.