JcSparks.com

I haven’t posted much on the blog of late, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. Besides all the cooking I’ve been doing (trying to take advantage of the last few farmer’s markets of the season–they end in October around here), I’ve been occupied with coordinating a printmaking exchange for Baren Forum and finishing up my Tweedy Aran Cardi, which is virtually complete.

I signed up for Baren Exchange #29 back in April. It was an oban-sized themed exchange centering on The Nude, a venerable, rich—and sometimes imposing— subject for artists, evocative of heroism, vulnerability, and everything in between. As you might guess, I signed on hoping Jeremy would collaborate with me on this exchange, and he did so, to the extent that he let me use some of his life drawings and oil sketches as the basis for my designs. Because of the popularity of this particular subject with artists, there were enough participants for two exchanges, the official Baren exchange #29, and a Baren salon de refuse, #29a. I signed up to participate in both exchanges, so I did two different prints.

The first one, entitled “Neapolitan Man” is based on an oil sketch Jeremy did for a class and did not have an opportunity to complete. You may remember it from this post. My version is a 4-color reductive woodcut; I tried to keep the feel of this print loose and painterly to evoke the tone of Jeremy’s original sketch. Sorry for the bad photo…

For the second print, I wanted another standing figure to complement the first one, so I chose a female figure done in a very linear black-and-white woodcut with a bit of chine colle for color and a sense of space. Again, the figure is based on one of Jeremy’s old drawings, here. At Jeremy’s suggestion, I called this print “Veiled Reference” because the chine colle background serendipitously reminded me of women changing clothes behind a screen or curtain, like the “walls of Jericho” in It Happened One Night. I am participating in one more nude figure print exchange, and I think I am going to expand on that idea for that print.

Somewhere along the way, I also found myself agreeing to be the coordinator for the official Baren exchange, which just means that all the participating artists mailed their sets of prints to me, and I collated the sets so that everyone got one of everyone else’s prints, and mailed them back to each artist. It was a lot of work, and our house was full of partially collated sets of prints and packing materials for over a month while I waited for stragglers to turn in their prints, but the experience was certainly a worthwhile one. Besides getting to see all the prints sooner than everyone else, it was really great to feel that I was contributing something back to the forum, which has been such a useful resource for me (not to mention a source of many wonderful print exchanges that I have been honored to participate in). Everyone that participates in a print exchange should be a coordinator at least once, for the sake of empathy, if nothing else.

Moving on to knitting content, despite my sorry lack of progress photos, I have been working steadily away at my Tweedy Aran Cardigan, and am very happy with how it is coming out. As I mentioned earlier, it’s a bit of a slow knit due to the slubby yarn and proliferation of twisted and cabled stitches. Since my last post, I completed both fronts, worked the shoulder seams with a three-needle bind-off, and knit the collar. I finished off the sleeves after what seemed like an eternity of twisted rib, and completed the seaming. All it needs to be complete are some good buttons (and maybe a grograin ribbon band, since the front edges are very flippy). Since we’re renting a car this weekend to take the ferrets to the vet for their annual exams and booster shots, I’m hoping to talk Jeremy into stopping by a fabric store or something. Photos forthcoming once I get those buttons…

So here is my belated update, seven posts with one blow… ready for an awful lot of photos and rambling?

1. Parisian Flan

Week before last, the day before the plague struck the library, we had a potluck to celebrate the departure of our graduating student workers. In retrospect, we really just threw a party for the flu bug, but we had all the best intentions going in. My contribution was a Parisian flan, a lovely custard pie with deceptively few ingredients that come together in 8 or 9 short hours. It set beautifully, and tasted pretty good, but other than the wonderful (if a bit temperamental) crust, it is probably not something I would make again.

2. Happy little basil plant

Three weeks ago there was a plant sale at Bush Park, and I brought home a hardy lavender plant, a tri-colored sage, and a little basil plant. The first two went right in the herb garden, but the basil made me paranoid, because although I purchased two or three basil plants last summer, I was unable to get them to do anything but wilt and die. I decided to keep my new basil indoors for the time being, living on my narrow kitchen windowsill (so I would remember to water it) and going outside on the front porch on warm, sunny days. Miracle of miracles, it grew and thrived, and is now twice the size it was when I brought it home. I am so happy with its progress that I named it Presto the Happy Basil Plant (because its growth is magical and it will one day turn into pesto), and talk to it every day as I move it in and out of doors. I think this means it is time for Jeremy to come home so I can start holding two-sided conversations again.

3. Printed bookmarks

My mom commissioned a printed bookmark to give as gifts to folks at her school, and here is the finished product. It is just a simple little linocut, about 2.5×9″, printed in black oil-based ink on Rives lightweight paper, and handpainted with watercolors for a little additional visual interest.

4. Curlicue

I finished the Curlicue coverlet while I was recovering from the scourge; even knitting was almost too exhausting, but I drew upon unforeseen reservoirs of strength and knit up the last two sections. Sorry about the folded photo; I need to come up with a good place to photograph it where I can get high up enough to capture the whole thing. Plus, it still needs blocking and ends woven in. I doubt it will block out perfectly, but I am still quite happy with the way it turned out, and also the fact that I have at least a third of the last skein leftover to make an accompanying baby hat or something.

5. Socks and more socks

I finished two pairs of socks since my last knitting post: the Spey Valley socks for my grandpa, and the pair of socks for my aunt. I’m quite pleased with both. The Trekking tweed is lovely and entirely camera-proof; I ended up abandoning the Chutes-N-Ladders pattern and doing a simple garter rib on #1 needles, and I like the effect, simple but elegant. The Spey Valley pattern is a nice one that I would certainly consider doing again, perhaps in a solid color to better show off the textured band at the top. Each sock used just shy of 1 skein of the Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, which did some funky pooling stuff, but not entirely to its detriment, I think.

With the remaining skein and two bits of LL, I dared myself to knit a pair of socks for me. Since I have such small feet, I thought I could at least squeeze a pair of ankle socks from it. I carefully divided the skein into two equal balls (no mean feat for someone lacking swift, ball winder, and scale; guess we’ll see how well I managed it soon…), and cast on for a toe-up sock. Here is what I ended up with from one half-skein ball:

A perfect little ankle sock based on the Child’s French Sock pattern in Knitting Vintage Socks. I needed the socks to be toe-up rather than cuff-down to allow the maximum cuff length for my yardage. Although I immediately considered my standard short-row non-pattern, I really preferred the way the sock looked with the side lace motifs flowing into the gusset; so, I opted for the reverse heel-flap method in Sensational Knitted Socks, adjusting for my stitch count. It was a nice change of pace, and I think came out well, though I’ll still use the short-row method as my default pattern. I decided to put the lace motifs (which are of course reversed) only on the sides, leaving the more simple texture pattern on the instep. I turned out to have just enough for a nice little ankle sock, with a bit left over to assuage my paranoia for its mate. Altogether a success… now if I can just remember what I did for the second sock…

6. Fancy clothes

In preparation for the upcoming event, I did a bit of shopping these past few weeks. The weekend before I got sick, I spent something like 8 hours trekking around Salem from Value Village to the mall, most of that time with a backpack full of library books on my back (don’t ask). I had great success, and spent more money than I probably should have, partly because I had to keep returning to the mall… really, I HAD to!

The first image is the beautiful dress I am going to wear to Jeremy’s graduation, barring blizzard conditions. It was part of the reason I had to keep coming back to the mall, because Nordstrom’s didn’t have it in my size and had to order it in for me. The second pic is the skirt I got just in case the smaller size dress didn’t fit me after all, and which turned out to cost more than the dress. The shell with it is another reason I kept coming back to the mall: it cost $50 the day I bought the skirt, so I refused to even try it on, but when I went back to pick up my dress, it was 50% off so I had to get it. A few days later I went back and got the matching cardigan, which turned out to be 65% off by that point. It’s so nice to see clothes that fit my (pear-shaped) body type at last!

7. NYC this week

Finally, as if y’all didn’t know, I will be going to New York later this week for Jeremy’s graduation and diploma show. I can hardly wait to bring him back home and know he won’t be going anywhere in a few months. So if the blog is quiet, that is probably why.

Title: Bagboy
Medium: linocut with chine colle
Size: 8×10 image size, 10×15 paper size
Materials: Daniel Smith oil-based relief ink on cream Stonehenge and bisque Canson Mi-Teintes paper
Edition Size: 34

I’ve finally finished off the last set of prints for exchange. This piece is for the Pets (Factual or Fantastical) Exchange through PrintmakingLinks. I’ve been working on it for quite a while, and have struggled with both concept and execution. I ended up doing a chine colle linocut, which means there is an additional piece of paper pasted onto the print as it is put through the press. In this case I ended up using a brown Canson Mi-Teintes paper, because it was all I had access to in the right colors. Ideally, the collaged paper should be much thinner, so I had to deal with some serious buckling issues.

In any case, it was a good learning experience all around, and the finished prints (when they came out right) look pretty decent, I think. It is definitely worth experimenting with some more.

Title: Reflections of an Oregon Winter
Medium: relief (woodcut and linocut)
Size: 3×3.5 image size, 4×6 paper size
Materials: Daniel Smith oil-based relief ink on gray Magnani Pescia paper
Edition Size: 70 (+ 6 AP)

Yesterday I finished my mini-print edition for this year’s Southern Summer Northern Winter Exchange through Print Australia. This is a 2-plate relief print done with a wood block and ghost-printed lino block, and is very representative of winter in Oregon. Actually, it is based on a view of my back porch on New Year’s Eve 2004.

This is another print that was difficult to photograph. The water ripples are semi-transparent because of the ghosting, and extend beyond the edges of the brown woodcut plate. I am satisfied with the way this little print turned out. Now on to the next print….

Title: Rockwell Kent
Medium: Resingrave engraving
Size: 4X6 image size, 10×15 paper size
Materials: Daniel Smith oil-based relief ink on white Lenox 100 paper
Edition Size: 32 (+ 4 AP)

Here is the finished Rockwell Kent portrait engraving. I realize this image looks exactly like the one of the block, in reverse… I promise it is a photo of the print itself, though. Maybe Jeremy can take a better photo when he gets his impression in the mail.

I’m quite happy with the finished product, despite the “noise” in the white spaces of the print, caused by having only a small round graver with which to clear them out. I toned it down to what I consider an acceptable level of noise by cleaning those areas with a Q-tip each time I printed… a bit of a pain. Before I do another engraving, I will make sure to purchase a larger graver at McClain’s.

Since finishing the engraving on Saturday, I have made some headway on two other editions. For the first, a mini-print for a Print Australia solstice exchange, I printed the first state (of 2 to 3 total) last night. For the other, an image of Ajax playing in a paper bag, I purchased and cut enough brown Canson Mi-Teintes paper for a chine colle edition. Tonight I plan to cut the whites from the colle paper with a razor, and continue carving the accompanying lino block.

Earlier in the week I mentioned that I am wrapping up work on three more print editions for exchanges. (Well, maybe “wrapping up” is a bit optimistic at this point, but I am working fast and furious on all three editions.) I’m happy enough with one of them now that I don’t mind sharing a bit about it.

This photo is of an almost completed plate, and just needs a few adjustments before I can print the edition. It is an engraving done on Resingrave (a plastic resin matrix mounted on a wood substrate, which simulates more expensive endgrain woodblocks). I am greatly enjoying learning how to engrave, using the burins my grandmother gave me a few years back. The graphic, linear nature of this medium, most commonly printed in black and white, appeals to my sense of detail. I can say almost with certainty that this will not be my only engraving.

The exchange’s theme is “Tribute to a Most Influential Printmaker.” I chose to do a portrait of Rockwell Kent, an American painter and printmaker most active in the 1920’s and 1930’s. I have for some time admired the clean, bold lines of his black and white wood engravings. Although his work has not influenced my past prints, I anticipate that his style will spill into my future engravings, as it inspired me to overcome my concerns about engraving for the first time.

If I am happy with my future proofs, I may well print the edition this evening. More photos to come (and I apologize for the poor quality of the image above; the lighting was just not sufficient).

After finishing off my Roosters for the new year, I ignored my printing responsibilities for several weeks to hang out with Jeremy. Finally last week, I got on the ball and printed off a small lino block I had initially carved last summer. The finished product, a reduction in four states, took 2 evenings and a morning to complete, so I felt quite productive. And I think the print came out rather well, to boot. The title isn’t the most exciting, but it’s better than my working title, “Cat in a Crate.”

Title: Juxtaposition I
Medium: reductive ghost linocut
Size: 4X6 image size, 5×7 paper size
Materials: Daniel Smith oil-based relief inks on cream Rives BFK
Edition Size: 15 (+7 sacrificial proofs)

This edition was made for an exchange through Print Zero Studios, though it needed a few extra days to dry, and was consequently sent a bit late. It all worked out, though, and I am on to the next sets of prints for two more exchanges. More to come on those in the next week or two.

The Year of the Rooster is rapidly approaching, and I have spent this past week working on a linocut for the annual Baren Forum New Year’s Card Exchange. This will be my first year participating, and I am already having fun getting little printed treasures in the mail every so often.

I chose to base my image on a rooster silhouette of my grandmother’s. She is a very talented artist herself, and a year or two ago gave me some plastic templates she created for blind embossing. One was a rooster’s profile, and I knew right away I wanted to use it for my print. Unfortunately, it is too large for the card exchange, so I shrunk the image on a copier and used that silhouette as the basis for my plates.

I’m always interested in experimenting, so I originally thought I would do a ghost-carbon thing, but it didn’t give the effect I wanted with my plates, so I adjusted the plan. (I still plan to give the ghost-carbon thing another shot for Print Australia’s SSNW—Southern Summer Norther Winter—Mini-Print Exchange, so I’ll describe the process then if it works out.) One plate was the basic silhouette of the rooster, the other a detail plate of feathers and texture. I ended up printing the detail plate in green first, which looks kind of neat and abstracted. Now I am blind embossing the silhouette over that for a subtle textural outline that you only see from certain angles.

The prints are still damp enough to transfer a bit of pigment to the blind emboss plate, and when I cleaned it by printing off onto scrap paper last night, I really liked the effect. So I’m doing some incidental ghost prints as a separate edition during the blind emboss. Actually, it might be fun to try a little series of animal silhouettes using this technique.

It was a bit beyond the camera’s ability to capture the embossing, so you’ll just have to take my word for that one. At any rate, here is the completed print.

Over the past weekend I buckled down and finished the print I posted about several weeks ago, which I have decided to call “Pause.” It turned out alright, though I did not get as strong an effect with the second layer of stipples as I had hoped. The second color is an opaque light purple, printed as a ghost so that it would allow a bit more of the umber to come through.

I will post this to the Sparks Gallery when I have a chance; in the meantime, here are the vital bits:

Title: Pause
Medium: 2-color woodcut, cherry block
Size: 5×8 image size, 7.5×10 paper size (chuban)
Materials: Daniel Smith oil-based relief inks on white Magnani Pescia paper
Techniques: light-over-dark, ghost printing

The image doesn’t do the piece justice as far as the stipple details and woodgrain. I am mostly pleased with the look of the hair and shirt; not so much with the face, though it could have been worse. At any rate, it is nice to have that piece finished, and mailed off for exchange, so I can move on to the next projects.

–Julie

I don’t think I have posted any info about my printmaking efforts since starting this blog. This past week or two I began work on a new woodcut for a print exchange, and decided to take a few pictures along the way.

First I choose a design and work it up on paper. In recent months I have started doing Xerox transfers to put the design on the block: basically I make a fresh Xerox, and tape it facedown to the block. Then I moisten a cotton ball with oil of wintergreen, lift the paper from the block and wipe down the back side of the Xerox with the oily cotton. The paper darkens, and there is a bit of shine on the copy side where the toner is activated; then I place the paper firmly on the block, cover it with scrap paper, and run it through the press. The Xerox toner transfers to the block, leaving a reversed image on the block, so that the final print looks like my original image.

I then go back over the Xerox with a Sharpie to emphasize the lines, as I do reduction plates and the toner fades a bit after the first printing. In this case, I also used a white pencil to mark out the highlights on the block, to strengthen the design in my mind. Then I carve.

Once I felt good about the placement of the white highlights, I test-printed, cut a bit more, and printed the first color of my edition, in this case burnt umber. You can see in the printed image that I used a stippling technique for this print, made with an etching needle. It was my first experience with stippling, and I was afraid the little holes would get flooded with ink as I printed, but they showed up very nicely.

This woodcut is going to be a light-over-dark reduction print, so I am currently carving from the block all the places that will remain umber; the rest of the print will be a yet-to-be-determined midtone. I’ll post another photo when it is finished, sometime before the end of the month.