Have Press, Will Print

I’ve been holding off on my most exciting news, but wanted to get the events of July fully documented before moving on to August.  Somehow, in the meantime, August is practically gone!  Blink.  So, without further ado… as of a couple weeks ago, I am the proud owner of my very first etching press.  This very press is now installed, albeit somewhat precariously, in my garage studio.

test prints

Stop the Presses!  What does this mean?  It means that now I have at my disposal the means to make monoprints, relief prints, collagraphs, and drypoint prints in my own space, on my own time.  After years of borrowing, begging, or renting other people’s studios and equipment, I now have the beginnings of my own.  Hooray!  At this point I’m just getting my feet wet with tweaking the press settings to suit my needs, figuring out how to best set the space up, finding the right work tables, and creating good light, but I’m well on the way.  This tool is a key piece for creating the art for a big  project that I’m in the middle of at the moment, but I’ll save that description for later.

Here are a couple photos of a linoleum cut I’m working on:

two colors

...on handmade paper

So this is where you’ll find me working– between the washer & dryer, bicycles, cardboard boxes (empty and full of miscellaneous), and whatever else finds its way into the garage.  I suppose the magic of a studio is that it can look like anything–from Alexander Calder’s barn full of wires and junk, to Georgia O’ Keefe’s spare adobes with unbelievable views– and almost anything can come out of one.  We’ll see what I do with my garage/printmaking studio!