Storage Idea for Rubber Stamps

Flossy and I conceive some of our finest ideas on the Morning Walk.  

Our move is taking up a bit of my present mental space and on this morning's walk I hit upon a cool plan for storing my smaller soft-cut stamps:

Remember when slides were the currency of the Art World?  (Maybe you don't, and I have just completely dated myself... oh well).  Whatever, I have had this package of slide sleeves since pre-digital camera days! Time to put them to better use.

The pockets hold 2" and smaller stamps perfectly. 

My larger stamps are also organized and ready to move - I will try to remember to take a quick shot of that for you next post.  

Feels good to be 'in control' of at least ONE thing this week!

Lino Cuts

Happy Easter, everyone.  We had lots of extra activities going on through Holy Week here, so I am having a bit of trouble getting myself back on schedule after getting home from traveling.  As a result, this post comes up a day later than my usual Saturday post.

I have the honor to design the poster art for our local Rain Forest Festival this year, and with that in mind, I have been cutting some new stamps.  Have a look:

I begin my stamp cutting process by drawing the image in a sketch book, using a real soft pencil, which facilitates the transfer of the design to the stamp block surface.  (This is a raven, which we have lots and lots of).

  And, with apologies to Nadine, here is a wolf, maybe looking pretty friendly and domesticated.  Once the drawing is complete, I lay it face down on top of the cutting surface of the soft-kut block and rub the back with my bone folder to transfer the image.

Using Speedball linoleum cutting tools and the transferred lines, I carve into the block, removing the rubber where I do not want ink to adhere.  

 After the stamp is cut, I check my work by inking with a black stamp pad and printing on sketch book paper.  Once I like what I've got, I often print the new stamp off on a fresh piece of soft-kut to produce a mirror image.

Here are some test prints of the raven and wolf stamps.  I think the wolf looks a bit fiercer now, do you agree?

Watch out for tricksters!  Tomorrow is April First which is a day to trick and joke your friends in this country.  Do you have April Fools Day where you live? 

Dye Painting Process - Condensed Version

I promised to put together a little explanation of dye painting for Zom.  I hesitate to call this a tutorial, because the process is rather complex (lots of recipes, more than one way to do things, health and safety considerations).  The aim here is to show how I do things in my studio.  Everything I know I learned from Ann Johnston and Jane Dunnewold (oh, and experience).  I urge those interested in pursuing dye painting to read the excellent books available from these two artists, or better yet, take their workshops.

I work on cotton which has been pre-soaked in a soda ash solution.  The soda ash functions as the binding agent, fixing the dye molecules to the fabric. 

Procion MX dye comes as a powder and its dust is toxic to breathe, so use a good filter mask when mixing dye with water to make concentrates.  

I like to make my dye up in squeeze bottles, 1/2 cup at a time.  Dye concentrate lasts months in cool temps, but does loose strength over time.  Once the dye is exposed to soda ash however, it exhausts rapidly – 15 minutes.  I work with small amounts of dye at a time so my brushes which are contaminated with soda ash from the cloth don’t exhaust my dye too fast.  I use little water color palettes to paint out of.

Dye can be thickened for applying with stamps, and to control the flow of color on the cloth.  Prochem makes a dandy print paste which lasts a very long time once you mix it up with water.  Follow the directions on the package.  

Once you have good, thick print paste mixed up, you add dye concentrate at a 50/50 ratio or more.  A plastic fork is the best tool to blend paste with dye.  A consistency like honey is perfect for applying to rubber stamps.  I use a foam brush to pat the thickened dye onto the stamp.

In order to produce good strong color, the dye must be allowed to cure for 24 hours.  The moisture has to be held in the cloth and the room temperature must be above 65 degrees during curing.  To help the water be ‘wetter’, urea is used.  Urea mixed with water is used to thin the dye paste and to lighten values when using un-thickened dye.

Brushes for applying dye should be synthetic only because of the soda ash tends to destroy natural bristle brushes over time.  The best surface to work on is a work table covered with two layers of felt and an old sheet over that.  Plastic is a nuisance underneath your work but you will need it to cover your paintings while they cure.

I hope this is helpful to readers and sparks interest in trying this endlessly fascinating medium.

New Old Stuff

studio window sill and a small assemblage made with found objects

I got out my Procion dye now that the studio is warm enough (barely) to cure it, and I had to have more organza for my wearable art Dragon Gown.  Wonderful to be back pouring pure colors over white cloth again!  Really, really wonderful.

I found a small (12"x18" or so) cloth I had started as a sample in the class I taught last spring and added to it with thickened black dye using my stamps.  The next day I threw it in a container and poured dye and soda ash on it.  I can't wait to get back and rinse it out.

There was time to contemplate the window sill, and think in the studio sketchbook which lead to drawing which lead to cutting a few new stamps.

This week some major stuff is going to be different suddenly.  The Sailor is shipping out.  An old friend is coming back for a visit. There is disturbing news from Other Parts of the World.  I need to stay here, now, not living out there in the future or slogging away in the past.

 

Art will be my Savior.

And the winner is...

Thanks to all who left a comment on my first give away post last week.  The prize will be going to blogger and artist extraordinaire, Zom.  Thanks as well to all of you, new readers and long-time friends, who follow Flossy and I as we trudge the art trail. 

 

Today was extremely cold here again (it's January in Alaska, right?), but in my studio things were cookin'.   I started two new pieces, and bubbled with ideas for more.  It was one of those getting happily lost in the process days.  I am using a commercial batik for one and a commercial quilter's cotton for the base of the other, and applying textile paints with my rubber stamps as well as stencils, screen prints and brushes - creating chaos which I am bringing my own version of order to.  I will stitch this work eventually.

 

Here's a random picture of my work table mid-day.

I want to recommend a smashing read, 'A Game of Thrones'.  I just started the book but find myself thinking about the characters - and the world the author has created - when I am not reading.  What are you reading this month?

Reflections While Shirking

Reflections at year end as we enjoy some quiet days off from the usual routine:

In the studio, fooling around on a piece for the Fiberactions challenge (due on January 15), feeling weary, stuck and empty-headed… 

detail of work in progress: stamping on vintage kimono silk

detail of work in progress: stamping on eco-dyed raw silk

 

This will pass, I know, but it’s uncomfortable as always when beginning to work again after a hiatus.  Others have wisely suggested that at the start of a break, it’s helpful to leave something in progress waiting for you – I wish I had!  Experience tells me that it will be ok, just get in there and make some chaos – the doors to my imagination will fly open again.

 

We have taken some good walks on these afternoons while I am shirking my studio, and I believe this time off will play into the next body of work.

 

 

What is your remedy for being blahhked?

By the way, thank you so much to all who read, comment and follow my blog - I plan to have a give away early in the new year to celebrate my anniversary. 

Making Swatches

The bundles we over-dyed Tuesday were ready for the first layer of stamping when we got to class on Wednesday morning.

 

 

 

 

 

Jane provided some great exercises to facilitate our swatch-making:

Tone on tone with a registered repeat stamped over the entire cloth...

Registered repeat in a complimentary color...

and scattered design elements using both tone on tone and complimentary colors. We also covered a silk screen and some cloth with flour-and-water paste resist.

I did my first successful silk screening with Jane’s encouragement and help.  I was ELATED to find that I love this process of getting an image on cloth, and feel so grateful to have overcome my fear!

Other processes we learned included glue resists, foiling and gold leafing, freezer paper screening, and working with Thermafax screens.

At the end of the day today, our last, we all hung some of our completed – or nearly completed – work on the wall.  This is but a small sample of the terrific work that was produced by our class over the four days.

Art Quilt Tahoe was a truly wonderful experience all around, mentally, spiritually and physically.  What I learned here is going to take my work to whole new places.  Thank you to Jane Dunnewold, and all the great women I met during this memorable week. 

 Cat in her workshop, hard at it.