Vacation: Days Four & Five (& Six?)
On Thursday, the Wood Engraving class finished up. We spent a good portion of the day printing. In fact, we decided to print an edition of 20 of each of our blocks, so that we could share prints with everyone in the class (including our teacher), and still have extra for ourselves. We had a good mix in our group, some people had completed two blocks, some had completed two. We all ended up with an inpressive portfolio of each others works. Could be handy someday if anyone of us becomes famous, right?
My second block didn’t turn out as good as my first. Not a big surprise there. I’m usually so excited when I start a new technique that my excitement really shows in the piece. By my second try at it, I’m more trying for perfection and my technique suffers. And that wasn’t the only thing that suffers. On Thursday, I actually had to quit carving well before I would have liked, because I could no longer feel my fingers and couldn’t really make a fist (that evening, I couldn’t even open a water bottle with my right hand!). I still got the block printed, but I’ll probably do more work on it to get it to the point where I’m really happy with it. No scans of that one today, as I still consider it a work in progress.
After an evening in my wrist brace, my hand felt much better and I had no problems with it during my second class, “Secret Belgian Binding”. I’ll have to remember that I should only carve for a few hours a day. And I definitely need to learn to use less force.
The Secret Belgian Binding is the first binding I’ve learned with a spine. Up until now, I’ve always made spineless books (har-de-har-har…), with exposed stitching holding the pages together. This new binding is great, though, and I’m so glad to add it to my repertoire. It’s nearly impossible to describe the way it works until you’ve made it or seen one made. But it’s very cool. I’ll post picks of it once I upload them onto the computer. And hey, if you know me and have a present-receiving event coming up (birthday, holiday, etc.), you might just get one as a gift… if I can part with it. I get so attached to the things I make.
Today’s class was “Digital Letterpress”, which runs tomorrow, as well (and yes, today, being Saturday, is not technically vacation; but I’m not at at work, so it’s good enough for me) This class is so exciting I can barely describe it. We are working with Photopolymer plates, which is an extremely versatile and flexible method for making a plate for printing. You can use digital files (output to film or even printed on transparencies) or create artwork directly on film by scratching. It’s capable of very fine details and precision. And so far, it seems much less easy to screw up than a wood engraving. At the very least it takes less time.
This is a proof of my first photopolymer print. Not too shabby, huh?
Tomorrow we’ll make three more plates and do a lot of printing. I’m looking forward to working with the presses more. Afterall, if I can’t figure an easy and not too time-consuming way to print our wedding invitations at home, I’ll probably be renting the equipment at MCBA to do so.
One more day, and then it’s back to the real world for Leora….
