another studio day

Afternoon, anyway.  I printed a couple more scarves - both of which need more work.  Tonight, between steaming, washing, ironing the silk and putzing around on the computer, I actually sewed facings on two sides of a quilt I finished earlier this year.  The other two remain to be stitched on and then I have to hand-stitch the rest.  yes, I know about fusing.

I am not the slightest bit embarrassed to put this butt-ugly silk up here because I want you to see what I go through when I print.  First, I dyed it.  Then I deconstructed on it (the fine lines didn't show up very well).  It was still ugly, so I discharged through a screen and printed on top.  Nothing helped - although if you are a redhead, I suspect it may work for you.  However, I will go back in again and do something - either add or overdye or both.  But not tomorow: I am teaching a thermofax class.

The scarf says (among other things), "If you wish good advice consult your mother."  I once had a customer who was about to buy a gorgeous scarf (not this one) till she spotted that line. She had had an unhappy childhood and disliked her mother intensely.  She picked out another scarf.  Guess I had better use that phrase judiciously!


Past bedtime and I need to be bright and shiny at 9:am.  Hope to post pix tomorrow night.

bqck qgqin:

Oh; no: Noz ,y keyboqrd is zorking in French qnd everything I zrite zill look very strqnge: It zould be ok if I zere zriting in French; but in English is is very zeird; the letters qre qll in the zrong plqces: Youùll hqve to do your best: re,e,ber zhen ,y lls didnùt zork§: I think this is zorse: Zell; ,qybe not!

It hqs been so long since Iùve blogged thqt I expect they zill be kicking ,e out of this exclusive club: Life hqs been frqught zith qll kinds of roqdblocks thqt hqve kept ,e fro, blogging ) ,ostly becquse you donùt zqnt to heqr the boring sqgqs qnd there hqs not been qnything else since I got bqck fro, sunny Cqliforniq: BORING: ) notice thqt this zord prints just fine on the French keyboqrd:

Todqy I finqlly zent to the studio qnd spent ,ost of the dqy there: It is chilly; rqiny; qnd grey ;in other zords; perfect studio zeqther: But it hqs qlso been such q long ti,e thqt I hqd forgotten hoz exhqusting it is to stqnd qll dqy: Here; in cqse you hqve forgotten ))or never knez )) is zhqt ,y studio design zqll looks like:
Oh, wonderful - the keyboard is back to normal. It seems to have a mind of its own. What a relief.

A friend who is a printmaker asked whether she could use my press today, so she came over this morning and printed from her drypoint plates. Drypoint is intaglio but the lines are etched into the plate with a sharp needle rather than with acid or whatever other substance they are using these days. I forget. I have oil based/water soluble ink which I used several years ago for my own monotypes and still like to use because they clean up with soap & water. But my friend got better results with a wonderful Charbonnel etching ink, which is oil. Interestingly enough, oil inks clean up with vegetable oil (which I didn't have in my studio) so you don't have to use toxic stuff these days if you are a printmaker.

There was some of my leftover ink, so I grabbed a plexi plate, sprayed a piece of printmaking paper with water and ran it through the press to make a monotype. Here it is, hanging on the board and drying. I may go back into it - or I may start putting fabric through the press.

After Harriet left, I spent the afternoon working on my design wall and it felt good beyond description. I hope to get back every day this week for at least a few hours.