127 blocks of wood!

Process
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Oh how I wish I was in Chicago right now. And that I could actually go through this amazing book. It is on display at the Field museum. Oh how I miss the museums of Chicago, Boston museums are surprisingly disappointing for the most part.

This book illustrating each printed layer for a Japanese woodblock is on display. It is behind glass of course so one cannot see anything but what is on display here. The artist used 127 separate blocks of wood to create this piece! Uhm, I use five or six max!

*originally found by a Baren Printmaking Forum member

Getting Centered - Priorities

The Quickening
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Happy Monday party people! Well, many of you are probably not really party people, but probably moreso than I am.

On Saturday morning we had our birth class, nothing like natural childbirth (hah) though we did learn some simple breathing techniques that were putting me to sleep during the class. We were the "yes drug us please" class. Sorry but I have too much anxiety already to deal with natural childbirth when I don't have to. The class went really well and I feel very reassured about the process now and even better about our decision to use a NP midwife at the Bringham. The labor and delivery rooms are set up to look like bedrooms with two beds and a crib. We watched a video of a birth and it was like nothing I have ever seen before. So much better than your standard hospital room!

I have to say I got a little bitter because every other woman there seems to be having a problem free pregnancy and during the 7 hour class I was looking at all their ankles and the only one that swelled (just from not being elevated) was mine. And no I do not eat a lot of salty foods. I don't each much at all anymore really. One meal and a few snacks here and there and I am good.

Despite the foot issues and other sorenesses I am feeling quite good. I have such a strong motivation to get things in order that I often am able to just push through the pain and get what needs to be done done! This piece from last Sunday really means a lot to me. I relate to it, I would say it is one of my most personal and powerful pieces to date. I am very proud of it.

Proud of the batch in general. After the panic of nearly losing another piece I took a couple of hours to totally reorganize how I store my work. I'm actually still not completely finished as I would like to have every piece signed ahead of time and I still have some unsigned pieces. But it is tons better. I just wish I had gotten a second refill pack of archival sleeve pages for the presentation case I ordered from Blick. I'm hoping the store may carry the refills, but they probably don't because they don't carry the case. Shipping from them isn't cheap so I would have to wait until I felt that I needed something else and I don't know when that will be. Sure I sell my work at a good pace but I also make a lot too, especially before getting pregnant. Back then it was fairly normal for me to create 30 original pieces in a day or two once every week or two. It is no wonder that I have art coming out of my ears.

I got the bulk of my shipping done finally on Sunday and that lowered my stress level a lot. Still waiting on an echeck to clear and an address correction. But other than that I am good. I spent too much of Sunday making up stickers. 228 stickers to be exact and it was maddening. Jon tried to help me out as best he could and did a good job but when he discovered that one of the rounds had a drop of water on it was ruined and that I needed to print out more to replace it I kinda lost it. We got it done but I had to raise the prices of my stickers because there is a lot more effort to making them than I every imagined and I just can't be having them priced so low that I get so many orders in a week. I can't be carving blocks for the hanga project I want to try if I am busy making stickers. I hang up my cape and resign from being Sticker Girl. Feel free to order them if you wish because I think at the higher prices I am less likely to get so overwhelmed. If I really didn't want to sell them I would have unlisted them, I just want a more fair price for my labor. And they are a lot harder to make than you might think! Apparently the price increase is not too steep since a set sold just last night. I think I am going to wait before putting anymore back up until I have this one made.

Now I can put my focus back on carving that block for hanga. Before blee comes my goal is to have at least one more big printing session. Maybe it will be a hanga experiment or maybe it won't be. Not sure if I can use my oily blocks for the waterbased method.

My final block?

Carving outlines
Originally uploaded by m.Lee

Along with hopefully the other side. And maybe a few small art card and 4"x4" pieces. But carving this piece I realize that there is a good chance that it may be the last block that I carve in awhile. I just can't see myself actually finishing anything of size after this and hopefully the other side. This is an exciting piece for me because I have plans to play around with moku hanga finally! And while some people have told me my old blocks that have been used with oil based inks may work, I think it would be best to have something fresh to try. I finally bit the bullet and did it while ordering a presentation case for my smaller work on the Dick Blick website. I've heard that using Methyl Cellulose in hanga instead of rice paste may not be traditional, but it works well and is a lot easier to deal with since it isn't perishable. They had some and I got it. I also got some hanga appropriate papers that didn't break the bank. I won't start with the $20 a sheet hanga papers! Messing those up would hurt!

Of all the wonderful hanga artists I have come into contact with online through blogs and the Baren forum, Annie Bisset has inspired me to try it more than anybody else. I've really watched he grow with the process. Go from making very attractive work to amazing pieces in such a short time. There are others but she was the first hanga artist I discovered. What is it about me and Annies?

Yesterday was a great day for purging. My husband found a great home for the drafting table and chair that I wanted to get rid of. A guy he knows with three boys that all like to draw took it off our hands last night. Now I have a studio that feels so roomy, but like little relaxing by the window corner won't be mine for long once the Pack n Play comes. Baby goes there! But still, the Pack n Play is about half the size as the desk and hopefully it won't end up covered with clutter like the desk was most days! The shelves can stay but they are a bit of a mess and I need to go through them and clean them up, tossing stuff when necessary.

I'm really feeling lucky and happy to have this space right now. And to be able to have room to share it with the baby soon is very exciting. I give up that corner for her quite willingly.

Another purge was finding a new home for my old digital camera. It is kinda buggy that is why I replaced it, but it works plus this person's boyfriend may be able to work out its bugs. So it is on its way to NYC right now. I am all about getting rid of things! And I am typically such a pack rat!

Happy Wednesday to all! Hope you enjoy it. The weekend will be here before you know it. We have an all day class on the "childbirth experience" on Saturday so that should be interesting!