Learning to Mat and Frame

"Nest", monotype chine-colle on buff-colored paper, 12"x 12" framed

After four semesters of printmaking classes, three classes a week, I have a stack of art prints that's getting ridiculously large. It gives me a vague feeling of waste as they accumulate, ignored. So a while back I decided to actively attack the problem. I have given many away to family and friends, but trying to sell them concerns me because I don't want to lose any of the joy I feel doing it simply for the love of it, as a hobby.

Recently, though, an artist-friend invited me to join her and other artists exhibiting art at a charity auction/gala tomorrow night, selling our art for the cause. I think it's a good way to begin minimizing the stack of art. So I had to learn how to mat and frame, and make various other paper items describing the art. I thought getting ready for this event would be a simple matter, but let me tell you, it was harrrd! I had to rely heavily on my friends for their help and advice.

My brain is fatigued, but not as fatigued as my feet will be at the end of six hours tomorrow night. Yet I really do believe it will be a great experience for me personally, and I hope we'll all raise some funds for the charity.

Arf Arf! I framed old "Rascal" to match the "Nest".

Today: Being Female

Today it's all about being female. This lavendar image is made from a woodcut I carved out and printed on teal-colored Japanese paper that was very fibrous. The teal paper with the lavendar image was adhered to heavy, white printmaking paper and run through an etching press. The process is called a woodcut chine-colle print.

I wasn't trying to carve the shape of a woman. I just started carving in a swirling and curvy way, and before I knew it, there was the image of a woman. Except for the very top, but then I realized perhaps she has raised her arms. I have made several prints of this in different color combinations, as well as black on white paper.

Abstract Woman, 12x6", woodcut chine-colle

Below is a pen and ink drawing the way I personally like to do them -- like doodling but with thought as to the design. This one has a couple doves hiding among the leaves, flowers and other shapes. Click on the image if you'd like to see it better.

Doves and Leaves, c. 5x5", pen & ink on paper

Ponte Vecchio, Firenze: Drypoint

Thank you BDP (yeah, you eBay printmakers know her if you think about it!) for letting me use your photograph of Florence, Italy's Ponte Vecchio for this drypoint, which I watercolored (ironically). What is a drypoint? Why am I asking you? ha ha I beveled the edges of a 6" x 8" sheet of Lexan and etched or scratched, really, the lines of this image into it with pointed tools. Then I inked the plate (yuck, a laborious and dirty process) and printed it using an etching press. I liked the print at that stage (all lines), but it looks better with watercolor.

But alas, this plate is losing its burrs and I can't get much more out of it. While Lexan and acrylics are easier to etch than traditional copper and zinc, they don't hold their burrs as well under the pressure of the etching press. The burrs are the line edges that actually print; when they're gone, the lines may print but the character of the print is gone.

P.S. OK you world travelers, what's wrong with this image? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, you smartypantses. If you know the answer, go ahead, make your comment below. A gold star for everyone that gets it right. But don't play if you can't be nice. I'm sensitive.

Paper with Newspaper Clippings

I bought the most interesting handmade paper from Phoenix Art Supply (.com)* in vivid red with small pieces of printed text in it! I used it for the linocut above --you can see one of the clippings near her right temple. By operator error, the rest of the clippings were covered up by the black ink. Oops. Anyway, when a piece of paper is used on top of the support page, it's called Chine-Colle, pronounced shin collay, meaning paper and glue, basically.



Above is another linocut using Phoenix's handmade paper with a blue and aqua pattern. Again, I'm not showing the paper off well, but it really is pretty. I'm actually listing a print from the Weathervane series for sale, believe it or not, on ebay for charity - the Arthritis National Research Foundation.

*I have no connection to Phoenix Art Supply (http://www.phoenixartsupply.com) except I have bought lots of lovely (and crazy) handmade paper from them online. They have unusually helpful and friendly customer service by Judy L., who even sent me a Thank You note after my first purchase. And I didn't spend that much; she's just sincere about her job.

Statue of Mary Drypoint with Chine-Colle

Thank you to my sister-in-law Kathy, an excellent photographer) for allowing me to use her photograph of a lovely statue of Mary, from which I made this drypoint etching with chine-colle paper (the blue, tissue-like background). The image is about 4x6".

Chine-collé drypoint engraving

I adore paper and have ever since I was a kid browsing stationery stores with my mom. So it just naturally follows that I'd go overboard when ordering pretty decorative papers for printmaking, for my Chine-collé prints. I already had several sheets of handmade paper, but not the thin, almost tissue-like paper preferred in Chine-collé printmaking (from the French meaning, loosely, "paper with glue").
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(Above is a 6"x9" drypoint chine-colle engraving of the Arles River,

printed on BFK Rives printmaking paper)

"Chine-collé" prints add a layer of color to what would usually be a black and white print. It might also add a texture and/or pattern; here the paper has stringy inclusions like the white streak seen in the foreground above the windows and the uneven sky. The paper is a blended two-tone, from yellow down to brown.

Here's the how-to: Brush glue all over one side of your Chine-collé paper, ink your engraved plate, and place it face up on the press bed. Place the Chine-collé paper on the inked plate, glue side up, then place the heavier printmaking paper on top of that, and print. When you pull the print, the tissue paper will have adhered to the printmaking paper, and the inked image will appear on the tissue paper! Got it?

Thanks to BDP for the photograph on which this print is based, and looking forward to "borrowing" photographs from Rome!