The lettering series can officially be called a series now. The second one is up for sale on Etsy and Artfire.
I found myself dawdling with this one after I got it going two weeks ago. I guess I have commitment issues. But really, I just have so much to do it is hard to find the time when I am in the right frame of mind to work on art. The timing is often just not right.
But with Alex going to her Toddler group every Wednesday that leaves me 2 hours and I should be able to use at least an hour of that to work on art. If I am diligent about it I might even be able to get back to making a piece a week. Not quite the same as the 20+ pieces I would make every week or two back in the day, but these are collages not prints. And my life has changed since then and I accept what comes along with those changes.
Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this piece as there will be more following it. Keep watching!
Showing posts with label gocco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gocco. Show all posts
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Thursday, March 20, 2008
New Love
Hello, it's me. Marissa. I used to fit pretty nicely in an artistic box and I was comfortable with it. I mean, I may have only done printmaking for the past two years but I did do unconventional printmaking. And I really enjoyed going back and doing it again on Wednesday. It felt fresh again now that I have many other things to feed my artistic spirit.
But today (Thursday), I drew a card from my little inspiration deck that said "do the opposite" and this is what I came up with. Yesterday was all about printmaking and today was all about taking an old not quite good enough but still too cool to rip up and turn into various things print into something new. First I painted the sides and attached the print to the gallery wrapped canvas. Took a break to eat lunch and get some blee love and then I got down to it. Honestly not much thought pre-construction went into this piece. I started by putting some papers down and moving them around, cut a few new ones for it and then went about attaching and sealing everything. Finished off with some Sharpie lines before the final topcoat.
I am pleased. Right now the reproduction is listed in my mLeeRedux shop while I work out a price for the original. I'm pretty attached to the original, but at the same time I want to set it free to a loving home so it will be priced significantly higher than the $10 reproduction, but will be a fair price considering how much time, effort and I think skill went into this piece. Until then it will be sitting above my computer desk away from the sun so I can enjoy. I think on a nice day I am going to go outside and use some UV sealant on all of my collages. Don't want those fumes in here, especially with blee around.
Lost is on tonight. We are going to Tivo it so we can skip the commercials, of course!
Goodnight to some, and good morning to others.
But today (Thursday), I drew a card from my little inspiration deck that said "do the opposite" and this is what I came up with. Yesterday was all about printmaking and today was all about taking an old not quite good enough but still too cool to rip up and turn into various things print into something new. First I painted the sides and attached the print to the gallery wrapped canvas. Took a break to eat lunch and get some blee love and then I got down to it. Honestly not much thought pre-construction went into this piece. I started by putting some papers down and moving them around, cut a few new ones for it and then went about attaching and sealing everything. Finished off with some Sharpie lines before the final topcoat.
I am pleased. Right now the reproduction is listed in my mLeeRedux shop while I work out a price for the original. I'm pretty attached to the original, but at the same time I want to set it free to a loving home so it will be priced significantly higher than the $10 reproduction, but will be a fair price considering how much time, effort and I think skill went into this piece. Until then it will be sitting above my computer desk away from the sun so I can enjoy. I think on a nice day I am going to go outside and use some UV sealant on all of my collages. Don't want those fumes in here, especially with blee around.
Lost is on tonight. We are going to Tivo it so we can skip the commercials, of course!
Goodnight to some, and good morning to others.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
And this was just the beginning
My day started off pretty terrible. Worried about my friend (thanks for the supportive words BTW) and then feeling like I got kicked myself not good. I felt like dirt emotionally pretty early on but since blee was being so good instead of wasting away and feeling sorry for myself I dove headfirst into art.
It started with some woodblock printing. The neat thing about this image is that for all these prints I used just one piece of newsprint carefully folded after each run through the press. And then I used that piece of newsprint + one paper towel for cleanup.
Took a break. Went for a walk in the light rain with blee bundled up in our fleece pouch and her raspberry gnome hat by Rachel-Marie and hoofed it to the Library to use the photocopier. Detoured on the way back to 7- Eleven for some Lemonheads.
Gocco time! Printing on the usual bits of dictionary and other book pages, pretty papers and for the first time on top of woodblock prints that weren't ACEOs. These were two that something was missing from and the colorful and whimsical Gocco design really finished them off. I'm really falling head over heels in love with my Gocco printer at this point. Too bad I am out of bulbs now and will have to make an order soon. I think I may delay it a bit to force myself to use the designs I have already burned. And to cut up more of the paper I have printed and in a folder. I'm pretty stocked except for bulbs.
I guess I am proud of myself for using a negative to motivate myself instead of pull me down into a pit like I am known to do. In total I have over twenty new pieces including the ACEOs and not including the printed papers for collage. This is probably the most single productive day I have had since before blee was born.
More rain expected so expect more creation Thursday. Most likely some collage.
Tonight we finally get towatch No Country for Old Men. This is how it is for parents having to wait and wait for things to come out on DVD. We are both huge Cohen brothers fans and it sounds like this one could rival or even surpass Miller's Crossing from years ago.
Have a great evening and an even better Thursday. See you there!*
*I'm a wuss and want to watch it during the day. I had my face buried in the sofa the whole time. Wait until the weekend. Jon is not amused.
It started with some woodblock printing. The neat thing about this image is that for all these prints I used just one piece of newsprint carefully folded after each run through the press. And then I used that piece of newsprint + one paper towel for cleanup.
Took a break. Went for a walk in the light rain with blee bundled up in our fleece pouch and her raspberry gnome hat by Rachel-Marie and hoofed it to the Library to use the photocopier. Detoured on the way back to 7- Eleven for some Lemonheads.
Gocco time! Printing on the usual bits of dictionary and other book pages, pretty papers and for the first time on top of woodblock prints that weren't ACEOs. These were two that something was missing from and the colorful and whimsical Gocco design really finished them off. I'm really falling head over heels in love with my Gocco printer at this point. Too bad I am out of bulbs now and will have to make an order soon. I think I may delay it a bit to force myself to use the designs I have already burned. And to cut up more of the paper I have printed and in a folder. I'm pretty stocked except for bulbs.
I guess I am proud of myself for using a negative to motivate myself instead of pull me down into a pit like I am known to do. In total I have over twenty new pieces including the ACEOs and not including the printed papers for collage. This is probably the most single productive day I have had since before blee was born.
More rain expected so expect more creation Thursday. Most likely some collage.
Tonight we finally get to
Have a great evening and an even better Thursday. See you there!*
*I'm a wuss and want to watch it during the day. I had my face buried in the sofa the whole time. Wait until the weekend. Jon is not amused.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Thank You!
For being so wonderful. Please bear with me while I deal with a teething baby that fusses all day and doesn't sleep well at night. I'm trying hard to keep up with everything and am struggling. Right now my online activities including blogging, Etsy and blog reading are suffering the most. Since I end up wearing her most of the day I generally need to keep moving. I try to catch up on reading blogs at night but am often too fried to comment. I'm a bit of a lurker these days.
I don't know how I pulled it off but I managed to not only print out some thank you cards but I also finally Gocco printed some Moleskines. Sketchbook and graph paper. Didn't intend to do graph paper but Jon got some by mistake and I didn't notice until it was too late. All done while wearing miss blee! except for the new stamp I carved
I hope tonight goes better than last night and that Tuesday is better than Monday. Ugh!
I've also done my first week of cloth diapering during the day. Jon is the night shift so for now this is weekday only but it is going pretty well. It is a lot easier than I thought it would be.
I don't know how I pulled it off but I managed to not only print out some thank you cards but I also finally Gocco printed some Moleskines. Sketchbook and graph paper. Didn't intend to do graph paper but Jon got some by mistake and I didn't notice until it was too late. All done while wearing miss blee! except for the new stamp I carved
I hope tonight goes better than last night and that Tuesday is better than Monday. Ugh!
I've also done my first week of cloth diapering during the day. Jon is the night shift so for now this is weekday only but it is going pretty well. It is a lot easier than I thought it would be.
Monday, March 03, 2008
Repetition - Sewing
Sewing can be very calming as it requires a lot of focus for me. It worked once before and liked it, I just kept forgetting to bring out the needle and thread and do it again. This time I had my composition all laid out without it but something was missing. So I dug around for my monotype printed and drawn bags and cut out a strip from it and then got out some thread and a needle. This time it is on an 8" x 8" gallery wrapped canvas. Once I stitched the strip to the backing woodblock print. From a woodblock print that almost worked but not quite, but I knew I wanted to keep it mostly intact like a stage for the rest of the image to come. Then I got out a brush and some gel medium and got to collaging.
I don't know how I managed to pull this off in between a troubled teething baby, but somehow my drive overcame and I used every moment of peace I had making this. I even did some of the sewing while I had her sleeping in one of the carriers against me. Very carefully of course! All sorts of materials are used in this piece. I'm putting together what I am learning about collage more and more along with the growing collection of sketches on various bits of paper. Some of these sketches get directly collaged, while others get burned onto a Gocco screen and printed so they can be collaged in multiple colors many times.
The day started off pretty rocky as expected after the Sunday night implosion. But it improved over time and ended up being not too bad. Especially for a Monday!
I don't know how I managed to pull this off in between a troubled teething baby, but somehow my drive overcame and I used every moment of peace I had making this. I even did some of the sewing while I had her sleeping in one of the carriers against me. Very carefully of course! All sorts of materials are used in this piece. I'm putting together what I am learning about collage more and more along with the growing collection of sketches on various bits of paper. Some of these sketches get directly collaged, while others get burned onto a Gocco screen and printed so they can be collaged in multiple colors many times.
The day started off pretty rocky as expected after the Sunday night implosion. But it improved over time and ended up being not too bad. Especially for a Monday!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Enjoy Your Extra Day!
I know I am going to make sure that I do! And I hope that you do too. This day only happens every four years. Any of you having a birthday? Also, February being over is a thing to celebrate at the very least.
Looking at these beautiful purchases and gifts that I received tonight makes me realize just how lucky I am. I'm lucky enough to have baby bibs that are so nice they will be passed down instead of tossed aside. Want your own? Check out her shop at Une Petite Etoile. She chooses such beautiful, soft and lush fabrics for little ones that I almost wish I was the baby and not the mom!
No moping. No dwelling. No time wasting, yet allowing myself to relax is important, a tricky balance for sure. No being overly emotional and sensitive. No being angry.
It is supposed to snow here in Boston that night so as long as the day is decent I will be out and about as much as possible. I have some stuff that I need to get shipped out ASAP but lately it hasn't taken much to get us out of the house.
Also, I did some gocco printing today (yay!) and will focus my art on cutting up some of those prints as well as other papers. I was pretty irritated by the Gocco and myself today as I was distracted and wasted four bulbs and those are not cheap. But I still have enough to hold me for awhile.
I'm also going to be sure to get in plenty of snuggles with my best girl. Now I am off to bed as it is past my bedtime and I have a big day tomorrow. See you there. mwah!
Looking at these beautiful purchases and gifts that I received tonight makes me realize just how lucky I am. I'm lucky enough to have baby bibs that are so nice they will be passed down instead of tossed aside. Want your own? Check out her shop at Une Petite Etoile. She chooses such beautiful, soft and lush fabrics for little ones that I almost wish I was the baby and not the mom!
No moping. No dwelling. No time wasting, yet allowing myself to relax is important, a tricky balance for sure. No being overly emotional and sensitive. No being angry.
It is supposed to snow here in Boston that night so as long as the day is decent I will be out and about as much as possible. I have some stuff that I need to get shipped out ASAP but lately it hasn't taken much to get us out of the house.
Also, I did some gocco printing today (yay!) and will focus my art on cutting up some of those prints as well as other papers. I was pretty irritated by the Gocco and myself today as I was distracted and wasted four bulbs and those are not cheap. But I still have enough to hold me for awhile.
I'm also going to be sure to get in plenty of snuggles with my best girl. Now I am off to bed as it is past my bedtime and I have a big day tomorrow. See you there. mwah!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Time?
Where is it going to? Because I seem to be losing all sense of it. I completed this piece on February 21st, five days ago tonight. Yet it feels like it was something I did ages ago.
I'm tired, so very tired. And I am sick with a cold round two just after recovering.
I was waiting to write the perfect post about what went into this piece but life just kept pushing it aside. Now nearly a week later and it still hasn't been written. But I love this piece too much to ignore it and not share it here in my blog. So much of myself went into the creation. Images taken from various sketches, block printing, gocco, collage and even some drawing and painting all dancing together on the stage of the canvas. They work together to hopefully create a vibrant and complex yet well balanced piece. Collage challenges me in a totally new way.
blee is good but very snuggly and needing to be held so she can nap and not get cranky. This is good in the sense that it encourages me to go outside and go on long walks. But creatively it is taking a toll on me. I am just very overwhelmed and can't focus on art or anything related to it. She is nearing six months now and just had her visit with the pediatrician. My little chunk is still under twenty pounds, weighing in at nineteen pounds and one ounce. Not too shabby! I'm pretty impressed with myself for being able to walk around with that kind of weight strapped to my front for multiple hours. My feet give way before my back does.
I hope this post finds you all well. I'm sorry for being so terrible about blogging and keeping my shop updated lately. I don't know what is the matter with me. Writing this has been incredibly difficult tonight. Please bear with me while I sort some things out.
Goodnight and good morning.
I'm tired, so very tired. And I am sick with a cold round two just after recovering.
I was waiting to write the perfect post about what went into this piece but life just kept pushing it aside. Now nearly a week later and it still hasn't been written. But I love this piece too much to ignore it and not share it here in my blog. So much of myself went into the creation. Images taken from various sketches, block printing, gocco, collage and even some drawing and painting all dancing together on the stage of the canvas. They work together to hopefully create a vibrant and complex yet well balanced piece. Collage challenges me in a totally new way.
blee is good but very snuggly and needing to be held so she can nap and not get cranky. This is good in the sense that it encourages me to go outside and go on long walks. But creatively it is taking a toll on me. I am just very overwhelmed and can't focus on art or anything related to it. She is nearing six months now and just had her visit with the pediatrician. My little chunk is still under twenty pounds, weighing in at nineteen pounds and one ounce. Not too shabby! I'm pretty impressed with myself for being able to walk around with that kind of weight strapped to my front for multiple hours. My feet give way before my back does.
I hope this post finds you all well. I'm sorry for being so terrible about blogging and keeping my shop updated lately. I don't know what is the matter with me. Writing this has been incredibly difficult tonight. Please bear with me while I sort some things out.
Goodnight and good morning.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Blast from the (art) past
Good morning and happy Thursday. This weekend can not come soon enough as I am very tired.
Been working hard and stressing myself out per usual. After somehow squeezing Collage #12 in between fussy baby time I need a break. If she napped even for five minutes I was working. I didn't even have lunch. But it was so worth it, as I am really happy with the result. I think I am most proud of how I used the gocco print in a non-traditional way and the stitching as I am most certainly no seamstress. Today I am going to take it easy and make something quick and dirty for the collage challenge. Sometimes those end up being the most interesting.
After my post yesterday I realized that I had neglected to explain what a Gocco is. It is a tabletop screenprinting device from Japan. Originally intended for Japanese schoolchildren it has taken off big time in the indie craft movement, especially with greeting cards and invitations. People do wall art too but the small size can be quite limited and the large model is ridiculously expensive and not all that large. And I am not much of a card maker. I just hope that when blee is old enough that supplies will still be available for us to make cards together. I can't wait to work on art projects with my little buddy! I'm going to give her a little art table that she can draw on as much as she wants just like I had. That is why those fancy kids tables make no sense to me. I don't want something where I will tear my hair out the second she invariably marks it up. No Pottery Barn Kids for this family.
After blee went down around 6pm I knew that I didn't want to make a damn thing, but I still needed to be productive. So I made a mess. That is I started going through junk boxes and tossing some and organizing others. Before I knew it was 11pm and I had to go to bed. But right before this realization I found these four unfinished prints from 2005. They were sitting at the bottom of one of my bins along with some meh ACEOs. It is like looking at something another person made at this point, two years feels like forever ago. So much has changed in my life much less my art. And I think that I have changed too. I'm not sure what I am going to do with them. But I really want to use them to mix the old with the new. Some may just get another layer (or two) printed on them, while others will find their way in collages. All I know is that they are very much a happy discovery. Maybe I will start squirreling stuff away on purpose?
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Gocco, you have my apologies
Dear sweet Gocco machine*, I'm sorry I ever spoke ill of you. You were never an ill device devised by the evil one at all, you just had a mealy old press bed that was keeping you down. Replace that and suddenly using you isn't hard at all, almost like you were designed to be used by Japanese children or something.
I've been goccoing a bit since getting the new bed (old bed pictured on the left after having been scraped off of the plastic base), but nothing I felt the desire to share. I've been using scraps from them in various collages and I will do the same with the ones from yesterday, but these deserve to be more of a focus than a background player. Also, I like the full design enough that I am going to get some black Moleskine cahier notebooks to print it on.
I knew that the bed was bad months ago but didn't act on it because I had talked myself into thinking Gocco wasn't right for me. Basically talked myself into an artistic box where I am a woodblock relief printmaker who can't draw well enough and doesn't like silkscreening. And that the supplies are too much money compared to what I am used to. That if I mess up a small block it is no big deal, but to screw up a screen is a tragedy.
Well, I guess I am more willing to push myself and take some chances these days. Because Gocco is great fun and a useful artistic tool that you will be seeing more from.
*gocco is a portable Japanese silkscreening device originally intended for children, but it has taken off in the arty/ crafty western community recently. Even though it is no longer being sold here and must be imported. Mine is over 20 years old but with a brand new bed. I hope there are stills supplies available for it when blee is old enough to play with it. And that they are cheap enough that I don't have to check her design for goccoworthiness too much.
I've been goccoing a bit since getting the new bed (old bed pictured on the left after having been scraped off of the plastic base), but nothing I felt the desire to share. I've been using scraps from them in various collages and I will do the same with the ones from yesterday, but these deserve to be more of a focus than a background player. Also, I like the full design enough that I am going to get some black Moleskine cahier notebooks to print it on.
I knew that the bed was bad months ago but didn't act on it because I had talked myself into thinking Gocco wasn't right for me. Basically talked myself into an artistic box where I am a woodblock relief printmaker who can't draw well enough and doesn't like silkscreening. And that the supplies are too much money compared to what I am used to. That if I mess up a small block it is no big deal, but to screw up a screen is a tragedy.
Well, I guess I am more willing to push myself and take some chances these days. Because Gocco is great fun and a useful artistic tool that you will be seeing more from.
*gocco is a portable Japanese silkscreening device originally intended for children, but it has taken off in the arty/ crafty western community recently. Even though it is no longer being sold here and must be imported. Mine is over 20 years old but with a brand new bed. I hope there are stills supplies available for it when blee is old enough to play with it. And that they are cheap enough that I don't have to check her design for goccoworthiness too much.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Stamps!
Thanks to everybody that wished me well yesterday. I had a much better night sleeping last night and feel much better this morning as a result. It is a amazing how much more rested one can end up feeling when you don't wake up to puke in the middle of the night!
Anyhow, I am inspired by this gorgeous set of stamps by pinkbathtub and the stamp making photopool on Etsy. Stamping is so similar to what I do yet so different.
The cheap Speedball stamp material I picked up at Michaels sucked just like I feared it would. I made a decent "thank you stamp" but it isn't very crisp and it really does feel like it is about to fall apart if I don't treat it very gently. A corner (that is not part of the design thankfully) already broke off. I knew the pink stuff is better but they didn't have any plus it is so much more expensive I thought I would give this stuff a go. Plus these inspiring and well carved stamps are not pink so maybe it isn't so bad. Found out they are not carved in the white (actually off white) Speedball material but a totally different brand. A brand that Dick Blick has so I picked up one small block of the pink stuff and one small block of this stuff so I can compare.
My replacement gocco supplies came in the mail yesterday so I can get back to experimenting with that. But of course my studio is too much of a mess right now for goccoing. But I will clean it and get back to messing with it because I would like to see it work! If I do ever get it to work I have this thought of combining gocco printing with stamping. I think it could be cool.
Jon is working from home today and is going to come with me to my appointment with the mid-wife. Just a standard visit. He'll get to hear the heartbeat again and that will be cool. It always is.
Yesterday I decided to raise the price of the piece I blogged about. I've never sold a piece that size for more than $15, but I have grown to love it so much that I just won't part with it for less than $20. I was rather nervous about it when I first made it, about the colors that is why I started with such a small piece. But being a bit daring with color paid off and I ended up with some really strong pieces and that is one of them. One thing I am loving about that ginkgo block is how it works so well for so many different sizes of paper. Anything up to 9"x12".
I hope everybody has a lovely weekend. I'm probably not going to post again until tomorrow. I have a lot to do and have been quite tired lately.
Anyhow, I am inspired by this gorgeous set of stamps by pinkbathtub and the stamp making photopool on Etsy. Stamping is so similar to what I do yet so different.
The cheap Speedball stamp material I picked up at Michaels sucked just like I feared it would. I made a decent "thank you stamp" but it isn't very crisp and it really does feel like it is about to fall apart if I don't treat it very gently. A corner (that is not part of the design thankfully) already broke off. I knew the pink stuff is better but they didn't have any plus it is so much more expensive I thought I would give this stuff a go. Plus these inspiring and well carved stamps are not pink so maybe it isn't so bad. Found out they are not carved in the white (actually off white) Speedball material but a totally different brand. A brand that Dick Blick has so I picked up one small block of the pink stuff and one small block of this stuff so I can compare.
My replacement gocco supplies came in the mail yesterday so I can get back to experimenting with that. But of course my studio is too much of a mess right now for goccoing. But I will clean it and get back to messing with it because I would like to see it work! If I do ever get it to work I have this thought of combining gocco printing with stamping. I think it could be cool.
Jon is working from home today and is going to come with me to my appointment with the mid-wife. Just a standard visit. He'll get to hear the heartbeat again and that will be cool. It always is.
Yesterday I decided to raise the price of the piece I blogged about. I've never sold a piece that size for more than $15, but I have grown to love it so much that I just won't part with it for less than $20. I was rather nervous about it when I first made it, about the colors that is why I started with such a small piece. But being a bit daring with color paid off and I ended up with some really strong pieces and that is one of them. One thing I am loving about that ginkgo block is how it works so well for so many different sizes of paper. Anything up to 9"x12".
I hope everybody has a lovely weekend. I'm probably not going to post again until tomorrow. I have a lot to do and have been quite tired lately.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Tea Addiction
I'm a huge fan of tea. One might even call me a tea junkie. Loose leaf and unsweetened tea hot or iced that I brew at home. But this summer I discovered the first bottled tea that isn't sickly sweet and have gone and gotten myself addicted. Honest Tea Peach Oo-la-long is like Peach Snapple without all the nasty high fructose corn syrup and with a real tea taste. It is just lovely. Plus it has Opus from Bloom Country on it! We were in the area of a grocery store that carries it so I popped by to pick up my Opus tea and the case that is covered with the Honest Tea branding was completely empty of any Honest Tea. It had some new brand in it with a cartoon granny labeled sweet tea instead. Sweet tea is evil. Had nearly three times the calories of good old Opus tea. So we went on a hunt for Opus and found him stocked that the Whole Foods in Alston/ Brighton. I bought every single bottle they had in stock. I'm still going to stick to drinking my home brewed unsweetened lychee tea most of the time but this is a nice treat.
I must clean my studio once I finish typing this entry. Yesterday at the library while I was photocoping images for the Gocco I met this nice Latino lady that appears to be some sort of an art agent. And she is very interested in checking out my work. I really can't say much because her accent was so thick I only understood about 50% of what she said to me. I nodded a lot. She seemed very excited to run into somebody that does woodcuts and that made her talk even faster and that did not help. I bet the whole time she was wondering why a nice Latino girl like myself would have a problem understanding her. I live in a Latino area and I have slightly dark skin with dark hair and eyes so people just assume that I am Latino. I'm not and I don't speak a lick of Spanish either.
The goccoing did not go well. I did everything with the photocopy by the book. I gave it some time to dry then I used a hairdryer on it for a few minutes. Used the blue filter and a backing card behind the image. I used the riso bulbs not the flash bulbs from Kmart. It burned, but the burn was just terrible. Only outlines of the image here and there got burned. Realizing that I have tried pretty much every method that is supposed to produce a master and failed I knew it just had to be bad screens. I called the company and they are sending me a new batch of screens and bulbs Priority Mail at no charge. So I am not done yet! I'm just on break for a few days.
Time to tidy up!
And I have nearly twenty packages to mail today. Thankfully many of them are in groups so it won't be quite so bad.
I must clean my studio once I finish typing this entry. Yesterday at the library while I was photocoping images for the Gocco I met this nice Latino lady that appears to be some sort of an art agent. And she is very interested in checking out my work. I really can't say much because her accent was so thick I only understood about 50% of what she said to me. I nodded a lot. She seemed very excited to run into somebody that does woodcuts and that made her talk even faster and that did not help. I bet the whole time she was wondering why a nice Latino girl like myself would have a problem understanding her. I live in a Latino area and I have slightly dark skin with dark hair and eyes so people just assume that I am Latino. I'm not and I don't speak a lick of Spanish either.
The goccoing did not go well. I did everything with the photocopy by the book. I gave it some time to dry then I used a hairdryer on it for a few minutes. Used the blue filter and a backing card behind the image. I used the riso bulbs not the flash bulbs from Kmart. It burned, but the burn was just terrible. Only outlines of the image here and there got burned. Realizing that I have tried pretty much every method that is supposed to produce a master and failed I knew it just had to be bad screens. I called the company and they are sending me a new batch of screens and bulbs Priority Mail at no charge. So I am not done yet! I'm just on break for a few days.
Time to tidy up!
And I have nearly twenty packages to mail today. Thankfully many of them are in groups so it won't be quite so bad.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Hey, what happened to the weekend?
I hope everybody had a great weekend filled with beautiful weather like we had. We messed around the apartment on Saturday and went and saw Ratatouille yesterday afternoon. It was so good, I may have liked it even more than the last Brad Bird Pixar movie "The Incredibles". The theater was filled with kids that laughed hysterically at pretty much anything and I found that quite amusing. The previews were some of the worst I have ever seen, but I could unfortunately see how they could appeal to kids. It is insidious. I suggested that when we take blee to the movies we show up late enough that we miss the previews. But then we might struggle to find seats?
Not much art going on for me this past weekend. I fought with my Gocco machine trying to get it to work and failed miserably . Later today I am going to waddle down to the library so I can make a photocopy of my image and try getting a good burn using that as a master. If that doesn't work I don't know what I am going to do. A couple of people have suggested that my screens might be bad. If that is the case I am so ticked off I just want to get rid of it. I paid money for those screens and getting new ones that may or may not work is a huge hassle. And each time a screen fails to burn bulbs are wasted too. The thing just feels like a bottomless money pit at this point. I bought the supplies in February so I don't even know if I can get a refund at this point.
On Saturday we put together the crib and moved the changer/ dresser into the nursery. The room looks so sweet and I can't wait for it to be finished now! I didn't think we would ever have room but looking at the room cleared out with just the baby furniture in it I realized that a glider chair would fit. So many mom's have told me that having one of those is priceless. So we went out to get it. Jon will put it together for me tomorrow! mmmmmm comfy!
Our inlaws called us twice over the weekend while they were out baby shopping. My mother in law has really gotten into the whole idea of being a grandmother and just loves buying stuff for the baby. Not only is it very nice to not have to buy so much baby stuff, but I find it incredibly sweet seeing how excited she is! Since she doesn't live near us she does what she can to help us out and love the baby. They will be visiting, along with my brother in law and hopefully (crossing fingers) my dad and his family this Thanksgiving. I think all my inlaws have plane tickets and everything already, but of course my father is waiting until the last possible minute. I'm trying to be hopeful but at the same time I don't want to get my hopes up. Too bad because my little sister would get suck a kick out of a new baby and being an aunt. She'll be 8 by the time the baby is born. I don't care if my dad buys anything for the baby I just want them to come visit us.
At the very least it seems that blee is blessed with one very excited and loving set of grandparents!
Not much art going on for me this past weekend. I fought with my Gocco machine trying to get it to work and failed miserably . Later today I am going to waddle down to the library so I can make a photocopy of my image and try getting a good burn using that as a master. If that doesn't work I don't know what I am going to do. A couple of people have suggested that my screens might be bad. If that is the case I am so ticked off I just want to get rid of it. I paid money for those screens and getting new ones that may or may not work is a huge hassle. And each time a screen fails to burn bulbs are wasted too. The thing just feels like a bottomless money pit at this point. I bought the supplies in February so I don't even know if I can get a refund at this point.
On Saturday we put together the crib and moved the changer/ dresser into the nursery. The room looks so sweet and I can't wait for it to be finished now! I didn't think we would ever have room but looking at the room cleared out with just the baby furniture in it I realized that a glider chair would fit. So many mom's have told me that having one of those is priceless. So we went out to get it. Jon will put it together for me tomorrow! mmmmmm comfy!
Our inlaws called us twice over the weekend while they were out baby shopping. My mother in law has really gotten into the whole idea of being a grandmother and just loves buying stuff for the baby. Not only is it very nice to not have to buy so much baby stuff, but I find it incredibly sweet seeing how excited she is! Since she doesn't live near us she does what she can to help us out and love the baby. They will be visiting, along with my brother in law and hopefully (crossing fingers) my dad and his family this Thanksgiving. I think all my inlaws have plane tickets and everything already, but of course my father is waiting until the last possible minute. I'm trying to be hopeful but at the same time I don't want to get my hopes up. Too bad because my little sister would get suck a kick out of a new baby and being an aunt. She'll be 8 by the time the baby is born. I don't care if my dad buys anything for the baby I just want them to come visit us.
At the very least it seems that blee is blessed with one very excited and loving set of grandparents!
Friday, June 29, 2007
the gocco gods hate me
I can't believe it is already Friday! This week sure did go by in a whirlwind. I hope you guys have more exciting plans than the no plans that I have. I'm just going to be hanging around the house with Jon making art when I feel up to it.
I bought a Gocco silkscreening kit for myself for my birthday this February because I found a used one for a killer price. But I was far too sick at the time to actually use it. When I did try using it about a month later my screen failed to burn properly, I got discouraged and put it aside. I would say away but is having it sit under my printing press really away? I just wasn't feeling inspired or motivated to use it and I didn't want to waste the expensive and hard to get supplies.
Then yesterday I got to thinking about it again and thought maybe if I adapted an older design that I knew that I liked I could make it work. Plus according to Heather Jeany who works pretty much only using Gocco I could make masters using black printouts from my HP inkjet. Normally people say only laserjet works but she uses her inkjet all the time with fantastic results. And we have the same printer so it should work for me too.
Well it didn't work for me too. The screen didn't burn at all. On the bright side all I wasted were bulbs and I have a lot more bulbs than I do screens. But for some reason my batch of black ink must not have enough carbon in it. After venting with her on the phone for awhile I remembered that Jon's office has a laser printer. So I sent him a copy of the image at the correct size and asked him to print me out a couple of copies of it. He had to work late but at least I should be goccoing by the next day.
I put the Gocco aside and did some successful but tiring woodblock printing. When he came home the prints were huge. He hadn't unclicked the option to stretch the image to fit the paper so it had indeed stretched the image to fit the paper and is totally useless for me. The gocco is a small machine for making things like greeting cards. I've heard certain pens have enough carbon in them to work but I don't want to risk it and will wait until I can get a good laser print.
This image is a photoshop mockup of what I want the final card to kind of look like. The blank cards I have are an orange called "poppy" of all things and my poppy image will be printed in a sparkly gold ink. Once the cards are dry they will be packaged in a rich chocolate colored envelope. If I ever get this to work I think they will look quite lovely!
I really wish I could work on this today and not wait until tomorrow. I need to find something else artistic to do with myself. If I am feeling brave I may print some more. It hurt like hell doing it yesterday but the rush of creating again felt so good!
Hopefully greeting cards will be appearing in my shop on Monday. Too bad I am totally out of categories and am going to have to be clever to find a way to make a section of them. I may have to kill the neat but disposable favorites section.
I bought a Gocco silkscreening kit for myself for my birthday this February because I found a used one for a killer price. But I was far too sick at the time to actually use it. When I did try using it about a month later my screen failed to burn properly, I got discouraged and put it aside. I would say away but is having it sit under my printing press really away? I just wasn't feeling inspired or motivated to use it and I didn't want to waste the expensive and hard to get supplies.
Then yesterday I got to thinking about it again and thought maybe if I adapted an older design that I knew that I liked I could make it work. Plus according to Heather Jeany who works pretty much only using Gocco I could make masters using black printouts from my HP inkjet. Normally people say only laserjet works but she uses her inkjet all the time with fantastic results. And we have the same printer so it should work for me too.
Well it didn't work for me too. The screen didn't burn at all. On the bright side all I wasted were bulbs and I have a lot more bulbs than I do screens. But for some reason my batch of black ink must not have enough carbon in it. After venting with her on the phone for awhile I remembered that Jon's office has a laser printer. So I sent him a copy of the image at the correct size and asked him to print me out a couple of copies of it. He had to work late but at least I should be goccoing by the next day.
I put the Gocco aside and did some successful but tiring woodblock printing. When he came home the prints were huge. He hadn't unclicked the option to stretch the image to fit the paper so it had indeed stretched the image to fit the paper and is totally useless for me. The gocco is a small machine for making things like greeting cards. I've heard certain pens have enough carbon in them to work but I don't want to risk it and will wait until I can get a good laser print.
This image is a photoshop mockup of what I want the final card to kind of look like. The blank cards I have are an orange called "poppy" of all things and my poppy image will be printed in a sparkly gold ink. Once the cards are dry they will be packaged in a rich chocolate colored envelope. If I ever get this to work I think they will look quite lovely!
I really wish I could work on this today and not wait until tomorrow. I need to find something else artistic to do with myself. If I am feeling brave I may print some more. It hurt like hell doing it yesterday but the rush of creating again felt so good!
Hopefully greeting cards will be appearing in my shop on Monday. Too bad I am totally out of categories and am going to have to be clever to find a way to make a section of them. I may have to kill the neat but disposable favorites section.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Good morning! I hope everybody has a wonderful Friday to start off a great weekend with good weather.
Unfortunatly I have to go to the doctor in a couple of hours to have a cat bite looked at. It is really looking like it may be infected even though I cleaned it off right away with soap and water and then with peroxide later. Kitty has been following me around looking for love but honestly I am so ticked that I don't want anything to do with him for awhile. It really seriously hurt. I was crying so he bit my arm. I was supposed to be heading to NYC today but instead I will be at the doctors. I don't even think I will be able to go next weekend for the Etsy second annivsary party. If I can find a place to stay maybe but I just don't know how up for travel I am at this point in the pregnancy. Especially if I have to take the bus.
Back to what inspired this post. That would be this piece pictured above that I found while wandering around on Flickr last night makes me want to pick up my Gocco and give it a shot. While I see many wonderful Gocco images they have a certain designerly style that really doesn't mesh well with my own style. I'm intimidated by the Gocco to be quite honest. Silkscreening was the only print method in college that I didn't take to. But when I found a used Gocco for a ridiculously low price around my birthday I just couldn't resist.
After I get a few important things done if I have the energy I may just give Gocco another go. My stuff will never be this cute but I like this piece and am inspired by it. Funny how a piece that has so little in common with my work can find a way to inspire me to find my own way to make a certain technique work.
It isn't very likely but since she mailed them on Wednesday there is a possibility that I may get my goodies from Kate in the mail today. Sometimes things from NY come pretty fast. But it is more likely that I will get them tomorrow or Monday.
Unfortunatly I have to go to the doctor in a couple of hours to have a cat bite looked at. It is really looking like it may be infected even though I cleaned it off right away with soap and water and then with peroxide later. Kitty has been following me around looking for love but honestly I am so ticked that I don't want anything to do with him for awhile. It really seriously hurt. I was crying so he bit my arm. I was supposed to be heading to NYC today but instead I will be at the doctors. I don't even think I will be able to go next weekend for the Etsy second annivsary party. If I can find a place to stay maybe but I just don't know how up for travel I am at this point in the pregnancy. Especially if I have to take the bus.
Back to what inspired this post. That would be this piece pictured above that I found while wandering around on Flickr last night makes me want to pick up my Gocco and give it a shot. While I see many wonderful Gocco images they have a certain designerly style that really doesn't mesh well with my own style. I'm intimidated by the Gocco to be quite honest. Silkscreening was the only print method in college that I didn't take to. But when I found a used Gocco for a ridiculously low price around my birthday I just couldn't resist.
After I get a few important things done if I have the energy I may just give Gocco another go. My stuff will never be this cute but I like this piece and am inspired by it. Funny how a piece that has so little in common with my work can find a way to inspire me to find my own way to make a certain technique work.
It isn't very likely but since she mailed them on Wednesday there is a possibility that I may get my goodies from Kate in the mail today. Sometimes things from NY come pretty fast. But it is more likely that I will get them tomorrow or Monday.
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