My first art show!

Well I signed up for an art show in Rochester at the Public Market called the "Artist Row". I had no booth no frames and to honest only a few prints run off. So I had a week and a half to get it all together. 

I used 2x3x8' and PVC pipe to make the structure of the walls and my lovey wife sewed up the cheapish canvas drop cloths into panels with loops for the PVC pipe. Boy did it come out looking good. I then made a quick flip display out of some left over scrap wood and we were ready. 

Home made display booth

Here it is set up at the show!

I had to cut off 10 inches at the back to get it to fit. Also had to trim one of the legs by the steel pole on the right but thank goodness for bungies! 

Here is all the framed artwork that I hung in the booth.

Now I'm ready for any indoor show! 

"Brooklyn Bridge transposed". Image size 13 1/4" by 20 1/4"

So I have been working on a woodblock print of the Brooklyn Bridge. Its been a real bear to get done. All those suspension bridge cables.... UGH.

Here is the final proof.

Second proof of "Brooklyn Bridge transposed". Image size 13 1/4" by 20 1/4"

This is the first proof, I added some KwickWood to the suspension area that was blank on the left of the print and added some lines. It really bothered me.

#Brooklyn Bridge #Print #woodblock 

Paper removed with water and scrub brush, and dried with heater. Now you can see why I use gesso on the MDF. Very easy to see the carved lines and were I will have to do some more work.

"Brooklyn Bridge transposed". Image size 13 1/4" by 20 1/4".

Done carving. Remove paper and proof. 

Been working on for two days on "Brooklyn Bridge transposed". Image size 13 1/4" by 20 1/4". I'm now down to the eye and hand numbing bits where all the wires come together.

My new Morgan Line-O-Scribe press. Thanks John!

Last week I went to Canada and picked up a Morgan Line-O-Scribe press!

So my post begging for a cheap proof press worked!

An email showed up from John in Simcoe Ont. Canada. Seems that his Rona store had a Morgan Line-O-Scribe tucked away in a storage closet. He needed to make more room for the accounting files. So we agreed on a price and off I went over the border. 3 hours later we had all the goodies loaded into the Tribute and back home I went. 

Got to the US border and .... no duty required! Hot dang. 

So then I needed to make a table to put everything on since the press came with all the type and everything. One of my friends told me via FB that he had his son's old drafting table that they built and did I want it, else it was going out front with the trash. YIKES! 

So out to Albion NY I went and 2 hours later I had a new project.

Table redone, with a drawer to hold all the type furniture etc. Hot dang now I get to get some more paper and off to printing editions we go. 

Here is the new repurposed drafting table 

Did I say that it came with type?

Here I cut a piece of plywood to fit in the press so that my 1/4 inch woodblocks would fit.

Came with ink and a glass plate and stand. Nifty.

After a bit of adjusting .... I got a great print and they are now consistent .

Homemade woodblock printing press part 4

Well here is a video of the working press.

Then I carried everything upstairs to the studio.

It took me 2 days of trying every trick in the book to find out that the 80 LB cylinders were not heavy enough to do the job.

The test prints were uneven no matter what I did to adjust for more pressure (move the woodblock plates up).

Got even printing results when I used a thin felt blanket, but the print was to light to be usable.

DANG!

Back to the drawing board.

Homemade woodblock printing press part 3

Well here is an update on the homemade press.

I designed all the gears, printed them out. Then tacked them to 3/4 inch plywood, drilled holes and then used my band-saw to cut out the teeth. Also did the Rack Gears (flat ones). Then I attached everything together, centered and aligned.

I had to cut out some circular disks to stop the gears from rolling off the table rack gears.

This all worked really well!

Added a handle and it was ready to try.

Homemade woodblock printing press part 2

Well after breakfast this morning I went and checked the glued in plug and found the glued dry. Time to mix up some concrete!

So I got my sawhorses clear and then laid some 2x4's over them and then put the threaded rod with washers and nut into the plug. I then used some silicone sealant to make sure no concrete leaked out the bottom.

Then I stood up both tubes on the 2x4's and then used some clamps to keep the threaded rod from falling through to the floor.

I got out a five gallon plastic bucket and started mixing up small batches of concrete by hand so that I could control the "stiffness" of the concrete. I did not want it too sloppy because that would be too much water and it would take forever to cure.

Tubes ready to be filled.

 
Here I am getting ready to dump concrete into the first tube. I used a small gardening shovel to get small amounts of the concrete into the tubes.

As the concrete is added I used a small stick to make sure that there were no voids in the concrete and that it was well mixed together. Once the tube was 1/3 filled with concrete I took the clamp off the top of the threaded rod.

Once the tube was filled I trial fitted the remaining end plug and removed a little concrete until the plug fit without any leakage. Then using the remaining washer and 5/8 inch nut I screw it down until it would not go any farther and was quite snug. I then got the square out and using a hammer adjusted the plug until it was square to the sides.  I then did the same to the other tube.

And now we wait till tomorrow when I will start on the gear section of my work.

Homemade woodblock printing press part 1

So I could not find a old proof press or anything else to do my woodblock prints. Time to make my own press,

Here is the idea that I'm going to work from. Here someone used a length of PVC sewer pipe, make wooden caps for the ends. They attached one of the caps added the 5/8ths threaded rod to hold the ends on. They then stood it on end and filled it with concrete for weight, and added the remaining cap and used the threaded rod and nuts and washers to force the remaining cap into place.

I was going to do the same till I realized that I need a printing bed of 2 feet wide and 4 feet long. That will make this design hard to use since you need to use both hands to push the heavy roller back and forth.

My prints need to be much bigger and I will not be able to use both arms. So... I will do a different design using the same principles, but using gears.

First I must create the heavy cylinder. A neighbor hood friend had some 2 plus feet of 6 inch PVC sewer pipe that he gave me in exchange for a print or two when its all done. Using the band-saw I trimmed them up as square as I could. Table saw was useless at this task.

Then using the ends of the tubes I traced out the plugs that will seal the tubes and keep the concrete all in place. With the band-saw set for a 10 degree angle I cut out the plugs.

Trial fit the plugs on both tubes and matched and numbered the ones that fit the best for both tubes.

Purchased 5/8 inch treaded rod with washers and nuts for this project so now time to find the middle of the plugs and then drill a 5/8 inch hole in each of the plugs.

5/8 inch threaded rod

Drilled holes with my cheap drill press

Then using an industrial glue I started to apply glue to one plug for the first tube and then inserted it.

Tapped it down with a hammer till it was snug and then using a carpenters square I made sure that the plug was 90 degrees flush with the long side of the tube.

You have to use a hammer to set the plug snug and make sure everything is square. Now that that was done I needed to dress the glue clean up and wait till the glue hardens for the next step.

Hot rod pickup trucks in Austin. How Texan can you get?

I think I have a new series of woodcut prints for guys coming out when I get home.

Update on some of the prints.

I decided to add some color to two of the plane prints. What do you think?

San Jose Mission in San Antonio

Mission shot at San Jose Mission in San Antonio. 

I'm feeling a woodblock print coming on.

Gone for three weeks down south.

Well I needed to refresh and get away from all the snow. So down south we went!

Did the Whiskey tour. That was fun.

Then down to New Orleans for Easter.

Makers Mark Whiskey tour.

Easter Parade in New Orleans

Our Boo all bling'ed out.