I Am Having Fun! I Am Doing It Right!

print by Cecilia Hedin

A few weeks ago, a friend emailed me forwarding a request to reprint a postcard-sized print.  I love printing postcards and I love helping someone make something silly and special they love.

drawing on film by Cecilia Hedin

Cecilia Hedin is a designer with drawing skills. She drew the image of the Chickenoseros directly onto film, which I then made into a plastic plate.  To draw onto film, you have to use something sharo to scrape away the emulsion.  And there is no erasing.  It is similar to etching but using a plastic film and then photosenstive material instead of metal, wax and acid.

preparing to print...that is tea not whiskey

printing on the Universal 1

With the plate made and the paper having arrived from the east coast, I set up the press.  I printed both her image and the text (in fluorescent red!) but you will have to wait until I deliver them to her tomorrow to see the final print.  Hopefully it looks close to her orginal.

this is the mess I make (registering the second color

Measure Twice...

This week I suddenly had a sick feeling thinking maybe that when I sent off the files for the miracle plates that were gonna save this months postcard I maybe set the images in the wrong order. I checked the files. Nope. Everything is ok. And then the plate arrived. So tiny. Too tiny. Why didn't I check the image size when I changed the resolution? Why don't I know better?




Meanwhile, I've had plenty of time to post more responses to the Keep Writing project. Including this one from an unknown sender, which makes it mysterious and great. Note the title is Sofa King Queer and has something to do with going out dancing at gay bars. In rainbow colors.

And now I am going out in this:


tropical storm to pick a bunch of basil and make pesto.

Mail Art Blog !

I am ashamed to have sent this lady her zine in a plain envelope.
Check out her blog and send her a postcard!

Where I've Been

In the basement of the Natural History Museum, there is a printshop. I have been arriving first, unlocking the door, wiping the humidity from my arms, turning on the lights and getting to work. I was never the last to leave. I sometimes ate two meals a day on the stainless steel tables, my food tasting slightly of Comet and emulsion. Now the best of what I made rests wrapped in glassine in cardboard, awaiting inspection by my professor. I am going to post some of it here. Then celebrate. This is what I have been doing.
This is something I worked on a few months ago. It is a lithograph printed on hand made paper. The white and yellow are part of the paper and the text is letterpressed. It is about 11x 17 inches and less menacing than the images that came before it. I wanted to make prints that might inspire people.




This is my final project. After breaking a litho stone with the original image (yikes!) I made a screen print of it and printed them on handmade paper. The paper is pale yellow with a watermark pattern and it did not survive the scanner. This is the same image on translucent drafting paper. It is about 12 x 7 inches. Maybe some day I will get a good photo of the watermaked paper for you.



It wouldn't be fair to show you these yet because I have not mailed them but here is number 18 in the Keep Writing series of postcards. This is a silk screened collaboration with Walker Mettling currently of Providence, RI, and former roommate. Read about his future death here:
www.walkerthepedestrian.blogspot.com
If you want to see the postcard in its entirety, you will have to subscribe. For detals and other examples go to www.gutwrench.etsy.com

I've been writing away as if I don't have a project to hang. I will post more photos of other work soon.

Letterpress Exchange

A printer from the Ladies of Letterpress forum has proposed a postcard swap for the summer with the idea of each lady involved printing a postcard of where they are from. Details are here: http://ladiesofletterpress.ning.com/forum/topics/letterpress-swap?
I particiapated in a swap of Old Maid cards with members of this group last summer and it was a lot of fun. Not to mention that I love postcards, writing about where I am from, and where I was all summer.