The Beauty of Engraving

The Beauty of Engraving by I DO Films from Beauty of Engraving on Vimeo.

Engraving is one printmaking process that I have never attempted (although I have done etching which uses similar plates). This really well-made video shows all the presses and heavy machinery at work and is fascinating to watch. So if you ever receive an engraved invitation in the mail, you'll know just how much work went into it.

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Textured Ink

I was working with some scans yesterday, and liked the way the texture of the print comes through on this close up of a coaster. I was working with some hand-lettering and a new custom wedding invitation that I will be sharing soon!

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Old Plates

 

This weekend we hit one of the best yard sales I have ever been to: for $12, I bought three big boxes of old printing plates with the theme "stamps and travel" that were used in the printing of an old stamp collecting catalog. There are little plates from every country, and it looks like they were part of an advertising campaign for stamp collecting from the 1960s.

I tried out a few on the press with really good results. Some have a little dirt caked on them after years of sitting in storage, so a few of the prints didn't come out perfectly. But with a little cleaning and some more printing practice, they'll be ready to go. I've been contemplating working on some travel themed cards, since these blocks are too pretty to stay in storage.

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Two New Additions

This weekend Joe and I drove four hours south to pick up a new addition to the studio that I found on Craigslist: a Chandler and Price letterpress. It was quite an adventure; we borrowed a trailer and drove the GPS's "most direct route" which went through winding back roads and unmarked paths (I think it's time for a new GPS). When we got there, the door needed to come off the studio it was in, and it took us two hours to roll it out and onto the trailer. Then we hauled the one-ton press back over the winding roads, to it's new home in the garage.

With all the orders coming in, it has been impossible to keep up while printing everything by hand. So in order to speed up the process, some of the prints will now be done on a letterpress. First it needs to be cleaned and oiled and it needs new rollers, but once we get it going I can start printing blocks on the press!

And the second new addition: our puppy Luka who we adopted a week before the Stationery Show and likes to sleep in random places:

There's a lot going on here, and I can't wait to get the press all cleaned up and ready to go! I can't even imagine how nice it will be to print 500 cards in a run rather than 50. If you want to see how it works, Elizabeth from Sugarcube Press has a great video here.

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The Printing Press in India

The last time I was in India was four years ago for study abroad during college. At the time I was taking intensive Hindi for three to four hours a day, and left with conversational speaking skills and good reading and writing skills. In the four years in between my two trips, I spent a few hours on Rosetta Stone and flipped through my notes once or twice, but still stepped off the plane in India with an extreme confidence in my Hindi skills. When I opened my mouth to tell the cab driver where we were going, nothing came out. I had forgotten everything without realizing it.

So, the next morning I went to the bookstore to buy the basic Lonely Planet phrasebook and refresh my memory. Talking to people over the last two weeks has helped it come back, but it's still rusty. Surprisingly though, after reading over the alphabet a few times, I started being able to read again and I've been attempting to entertain our guides and rickshaw drivers by reading signs to them.

We walked by this little printing shop one afternoon, and I stopped to translate the sign. It says "Patak Press" I believe, but I couldn't find a translation for "Patak," maybe the name of the family that owns it? Or does it mean "Printing"? I can usually read the signs, but have no idea what they mean. Are there any Hindi speakers reading?

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Printing Tea Towels

I went over to the Torpedo Factory yesterday to work on some tea towels for Arts on Foot, which is coming up in two weeks. I print my cards and coin purses in my studio by hand, but for a large quantity of big pieces, it is much easier to just crank them out on the press. I took a few pictures of the process so you can see how they are made.

I start by ironing all the towels so there are no creases, otherwise the print won't go on smoothly.

I use a rented etching press to make the prints. I would love to have one of my own, and recently saw an ad for one that was in my price range, but getting a five-ton press into my sixth floor apartment would be a huge challenge. Plus, it would take up the remaining five square feet that isn't already filled with prints, so I'll wait until a more appropriate time to buy.

When I'm working at home I use Speedball brand inks because they are easy to work with and relatively odorless. On the press though, I use Graphic Chemical inks which are much thicker and messier but have much richer colors. They also smell really strong and you will get a headache after working with them for a few hours in an unventilated space. The results are great, but if you are working at home I would suggest using something else, your lungs will thank you.

Mixing the right shades of magenta:

The presses are covered in "felts," which are several layers of felt in varying thicknesses. This pads the block while it's going through the press, and you need a layer of paper between the block and the felt to stop the ink from transferring everywhere. The paper gets this fuzzy multiple-exposure print on it after a few runs.

Laying the block down on the tea towel:

Cranking the press:

And a finished tea towel, fresh off the press!

Clean-up is a lot messier with these inks, and you use a special razor blade to get all the ink off the glass. It is one of the most satisfying things in the world.

And that is how the tea towels are made! Much more complicated than printing by hand, but much faster when you are working on large pieces.

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Around the Studio

It's been a busy week of finishing up Stationery Show orders and getting ready for Renegade Brooklyn this weekend. Of course, my body always knows the best time to get sick, so I spent the last two days lying on the couch wrapped in heavy blankets even though it was approximately 100 degrees in our apartment. But I am sitting upright again, and back to work.

There are cards to package, prints to frame, orders to ship and coin purses to sew, so I thought I would share a few photos of what is going on around here. The studio is pretty much at full capacity right now, so I can't wait to start getting the orders out the door. And if you are in New York, there is more on Renegade Brooklyn coming tomorrow, so stay tuned.

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Ink, Ink Everywhere

Yesterday I spent the day at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria using the printing press. I do most of my printing by hand in my apartment, but for the big things like tea towels, they really need to go through a press to come out right. At the Torpedo Factory (and places like it around the country) you can rent out the press for the day and you get to use all their inks, rollers, solvents and all the other expensive materials you need for printmaking. So until I buy a barn to fill with an antique press and hundreds of different inks and supplies, I will be renting.

The new towels are all available right here! Now back to the Christmas cards; the first design is finished, and you'll be able to see all of them by the end of the week (I hope)!

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