I got a big second wind for prints after the printmaking enthusiasm during the drawing session on September 15th at the North Fourth Art Center:
QUICKER PRINT TURNAROUND!!!
Henry Morales carved a portrait of the model in linoleum, and we printed it before the session was over:
The linocut portrait of the model
before printing
that Henry Morales cut during the drawing session
and printed before the session was over!
Before he left, we gave Nicholas Tesluk a print to take home. He modeled for us that night. He is our celebrity model as he worked as a stand in for Walter White in Breaking Bad. That's almost better than drawing Iggy Pop!
We relished two huge print innovations that night to make prints a lot quicker-- Henry Morales' heavy letterpress press, and "Expanded PVC foam" plates from Port Plastics. The letterpress gave us better prints, and made them a lot faster than the Tortilla Press. The PVC foam let Henry abandon the knives and "carve" into the plate using only a ball point pen.
The "Expanded PVC" plate that Henry Morales drew on
using only a ball point pen --
he tinted it black,
but it would have been easier to draw into a white PVC plate
Using the industrial letterpress
was as easy as using a credit card machine
In the future I would like to get a more heavy duty press, like an A4 Woodzilla (printing area 8.5 x 11.7 inches), or even make our own -- DIY Letterpress Proofing Press/Etching Press.
Moreover we can have printmaking PVC workshops, where people draw into the 6x6 inch "Expanded PVC foam" with only a ball point pen, and we print from those plates on a letterpress. It's getting harder to find the 8x8 inch frames at Walmart, but they can be ordered on Amazon, and I also found them at Michaels' for three times the cost.
The idea is to make printmaking even more Quick and Portable!
CODY KAMROWSKI
Cody signing his latest 8x8 inch print
FAKE AI PRINTS!
I made a print and a video with the AI creation below:
No human directly involved,
image created with AI
and laser engraved into linoleum
"Windows BMP" file imported
into the laser cutter
Midjourney gave me four variations and I chose to make a linocut print from the last one:
Midjourney prompt:
"Linocut of artist"
I laser engraved the fourth and last result with the laser cutter at Quelab. Note the horizontal lines outside the portrait -- which were not in the file I sent to the laser cutter. Some of the lines printed, giving an effect that we liked, maybe because these artifacts made the print look less AI and more "handmade":
Maybe there was a "scan gap" value
that added the horizontal lines
to the laser engraved linocut
The original file
did not have these horizontal lines
Later I created an AI hand, continuing my Maya blog post series -- Maya Style, More Maya, Maya Abstract:
Laser engraved Mayan hand
into a linoleum
Second variations of the Midjourney prompt:
"Mayan glyphs of a hand in coloring book style"
The cleaned up image
preparing for the laser cutter
T-Shirts
Rich wanted to print his linocut on a t-shirt, so he brought in some red fabric printing ink:
Henry, Rich and Rich's wife
printing a t-shirt for his grandson
The first print on a t-shirt
of a dinosaur head
Hand printing on a t-shirt
using an Iron Frog baren,
worked just fine
Next time we will try the Skateboard Press:
I noticed that Rich brought in the Speedball TISSU Fabric printing ink, which apparently is an oil based ink that can be cleaned up with soap and water. The oil based ink would not dry immediately on the printing block, which is HUGE!
Speedball TISSU Fabric ink
is oil based
but water washable
There was a stiff sheet of plastic inside the shirt
(though cardboard works too)
The final red dinosaur linocut print
on a child's t-shirt
Rich printed another image
on a t-shirt
We are about to do some silk screening at Quelab, and I would like to also do some silk screening during the drawing sessions at North Fourth Art Center as well.
AFTERWARD
The printmaking giants --
Henry Morales and Cody Kamrowski,
carry Henry's press out to his car
The next day (September 16), Mexican Independence Day, Henry and I went to Santa Fe:
Henry Morales cutting
at fashionable Iconik Coffee on Lena Street
in Santa Fe
Henry carved on my bad figure
while in Santa Fe
improving the image immensely
Altered by AI
We went to the Thoma Foundation Art Vault in Santa Fe and were mesmerized by their digital art installations (like the AES+F – INVERSO MUNDUS cat):
Henry Morales at the Art Vault in Santa Fe
experiencing the art camera installation by
Henry Morales became part of
Henry Morales walking into the Gerald Peters Gallery
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