11.22.2009

the process


(color tests while mixing up big batches of ink)

First of all I need to thank everyone for the well wishes and congratulations from last week. They really warmed my heart! And with that comes apologies to everyone I haven't yet responded to. I will, I promise. My life has been, shall we say—full lately. Illnesses, root canals, deadlines and other assorted dramas have gotten in the way of my organized and thoughtful fall production schedule. For some reason I thought that this year would be the one where I would finally have enough stock made ahead of time so that I wouldn't have to scramble at the last minute. Umm, maybe next year....

On friday, I packed up a big (and heavy) box of goodies to send to Craftland. And have since discovered some muscles I didn't know I had, thanks to the mad dash to the post office 10 blocks away with an awkward 15 lb. box. Ok. I'm a wuss. But, I'm super jealous of Providence peeps who get to actually visit Craftland. If you are anywhere nearby, you should definitely check it out. It's like a magical craft fair that lasts the almost the entire month of December. They have a store too, more here.

I'm experimenting with screenprinting some of my designs. I'll let you know how it goes. I love the maple seed pod tea towels, but boy are they a bitch to print in large quantities. Each pod is printed individually, 9 per towel. Hopefully the screen will work out. I'm a little sad about moving in this direction (if it works out) because I love the imperfections in block printing, the prints always feel so alive to me. They are never exactly the same. We'll see. I think with screenprinting by hand there will be some imperfections too. God, I am such an irrational perfectionist, obsessing about levels of imperfectness. Let's move on.

On monday, November 30th, you can find me at:

LAUNDRY NIGHT – CURATED MARKET, CAKE WALK AND ESOTERICA AT THE WASHETERIA


1 – 9PM

OPEN HOUSE GALLERY

201 MULBERRY STREET AT SPRING

NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10012


More info on that coming soon, mark your calendars!

2 comments:

Pawling Print Studio said...

Not used to commenting on blogs, but we just spent a few months with some painful screenprinting trial and error that we wouldn't wish on anyone. We started out with art store brands - Speedball, Blick, etc. but kept running into problems. We spent days watching youtube videos and couldn't figure out what we were doing wrong. Finally we caved and bought this http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/site/799934/product/1003. It comes with 6 hrs of super cheesy, invaluable informational videos and has everything you could possibly need to start. We also got a light-safe yellow bulb http://www.silkscreeningsupplies.com/site/799934/product/3012 which I thought was superfluous at first, but is now my best friend. Good luck! Imperfect perfection is NOT irrational!

Tania said...

Hi there- I am also just starting to dabble with screenprinting for the same reason as you...trying for a little more efficiency. Anyhow, I LOVE block printing and am a little nervous about the screen printing process but think it may be time to at least give it a go. Let me know how it works out for you! :-)