Monday, 29 December 2025

PRINTMAKING Techniques and Innovations -- 2025



PRINTMAKING
TECHNIQUES and INNOVATIONS

We developed and discovered some interesting innovations and techniques for printmaking in 2025:

PORTABLE PRESS

Perhaps the biggest innovation was setting up a more portable press.  The FISKARS FUSE SYSTEM is a little heavy, but does have a carrying handle:




EXQUISITE TESSELLATION
PRINTS

The big project of 2025 was continuing the EXQUISITE TESSELLATION Print Project --both small prints and BIG Steamroller Prints:

I figured out how to laser cut several small "hat" linocuts
at the same time

We had the idea of making ceramic tiles from the "hat" tessellation linocuts. So Aaron and I experimented at Quelab with making a mold from my linocut. The idea would then be to make slip castings from the mold or something.  We also considered punching out "hat" shapes from leather hard dried clay, and letting the artists scribe into the clay directly, before cooking in the kiln -- which might be the best approach:

Making a mold from my tessellation linocut

Printmaking -- Bits and Pieces
Chris Bardey made a big EXQUISITE TESSELLATION Print
from his single "hat" tessellation linocut

October 1, 2025
David Brower made a drawing first,
and put that over the stiff foam "hat" tile,
and then pressed through the paper into the tile to make a design


Bandana Tessellation
I hand printed a bandana with the tessellation tiles --
I think I needed to have a cushion under the linocuts to make a better print

PRINT CRUNCH
Professor Karsten Creightney printed my tessellation linocut
on the sleeve of a t-shirt

Remarque Open House 2025
The "hat" linocuts
also printed well on a letterpress

Remarque Open House 2025

Preparing to Exhibit in Juarez
 A scrapbook was the best way to catalog
 and ship the EXQUISITE TESSELLATION Prints


STEAMROLLER TESSELLATION

We continued the collaborative EXQUISITE TESSELLATION Print Project in a big way by making large Steamroller Tessellation Prints during the Southwest Print Fiesta in Silver City on October 12th, 2025:

EXQUISITE TESSELLATION Steamroller Prints


Ellie cutting into the big "hat" linocut

October 7, 2025
Henry Morales finished his big "hat" linocut
for the Steamroller printing


Large and Small EXQUISITE TESSELLATION Print
from the Steamroller


Transporting the Steamroller Prints

REMARQUE OPEN HOUSE -- 
Big Tessellations and Detonography
Later we made big EXQUISITE TESSELLATION Prints
at Remarque Print Workshop in Albuquerque

More Big EXQUISITE TESSELLATION Printing at CNM
Later we also made big EXQUISITE TESSELLATION Prints
at CNM community college on the west side of Albuquerque


Steamroller EXQUISITE TESSELLATIONS
We bought three big sheets of 36x36 inch linoleum
for about $125 from Dick Blick, for the big tessellation linocuts


EXQUISITE STEAMROLLER TESSELLATION Prints
Ethan let us cut down the big linoleum
on his laser cutter

20_inch_hats.LBRN2 (18.22 KB)

EXQUISITE STEAMROLLER TESSELLATION Prints
The big EXQUISITE TESSELLATION linocuts
were 20 inches at the widest part

Revving Up for STEAMROLLER TESSELLATION Printing
The big EXQUISITE TESSELLATION linocuts
were reversed or "mirrored" from the small "hat" linocuts

Southwest Print Fiesta -- Preparation
Adam also laser cut a big EXQUISITE TESSELLATION linocut
on the laser cutter at UNM


QUICK FOAM TESSELLATION

Stiff foam tiles are easier to design, as artists can just gouge them with a ballpoint pen to create relief. So we CNCed Expanded PVC Foam, available at Port Plastics, into tessellation shapes. Then we handed these shapes out at workshops for artists to make quick tessellation prints:

Expanded PVC Foam -- Tessellation Tiles
The regular "hat" tessellation shaped
CNCed from stiff foam

EinStein.SVG (689 KB) -- single tessellation shape

ShopSabre Training
We CNCed other tessellation shapes at Quelab
from the stiff foam

Adric at Quelab gouging a stiff foam tile

Expanded PVC Foam -- Tessellation Tiles
We used ballpoint pens and Craftool ball modeling tools
to gouge into the stiff foam

ATOMIC 66 -- Open House at Quelab
We had a tessellation print workshop
at Quelab during the ATOMIC 66 week

Remarque Re-Opening
Anne holds up one of the stiff foam tiles she designed
at the Remarque Re-Opening in Albuquerque


Quick Prints -- TUNEL GRAFICO
During the TUNEL GRAFICO opening in Juarez
visitors designed their own tessellation prints


Quick Tessellation -- SWPF 2025 -- PART 1
We also gave a tessellation workshop on October 10, 2025
during the Southwest Print Fiesta in Silver City, NM


Expanded PVC Foam -- Tessellation Tiles
We tried to CNC the Expanded PVC Foam 
with a drag knife,
but the regular spinning bit worked better


MAY SUMMARY -- 2025
ALTERNATIVE Tessellations
We made different tessellation shapes online


ALTERNATIVE Tessellations
We CNCed different tessellation shapes

ALTERNATIVE Tessellations
We made different tessellation shapes online

ALTERNATIVE Tessellations
We CNCed different tessellation shapes

ALTERNATIVE Tessellations
We could also print the 6 inch (at the widest)
stiff foam tessellation tile on a Tortilla Press

July 16, 2025
Joe Marshall successfully printed in Tucson
with a German Tortilla Press

June 10, 2025
Ellie scratched into the stiff foam tiles
with etching tools



STYROFOAM PRINTING

Pressing into Styrofoam with ball point pens also works to make relief prints, and is a great way to print with kids:

May 28, 2025
Testing the Styrofoam printmaking method

Styrofoam Printmaking at the Juan Tabo Library --
 with HENRY MORALES
Henry Morales had a Styrofoam printmaking workshop
for kids at the Juan Tabo Library in Albuquerque
on May 31st, 2025

June 3, 2025
Henry used a heavy book press
to print the Styrofoam designs on an apron

June 3, 2025
The Styrofoam discs
printed really well on fabric

July 1, 2025
Barbara Endicott used Styrofoam
to make two colored reduction prints



LASER ETCHING LINOLEUM

At Quelab I can laser engrave into linoleum and make relief prints.  I've been using this method to make prints from AI images based on my drawings:

AI Laser Engraved -- Linocut Prints
Laser engraving one of my AI figures, based on my drawings,
into linoleum to make prints

AI Laser Engraved -- Linocut Prints
The 6x6 inch linocuts
take 30 to 60 minutes to laser engrave

AI Laser Engraved -- Linocut Prints

AI Laser Engraved -- Linocut Prints

June 16, 2025
PRINT EXCHANGE 2025 -- Southwest Print Fiesta
I submitted this laser engraved linocut,
based on my drawings,
to the Southwest Print Fiesta Print Exchange 2025


LASERING SILK SCREENS

We got the idea to laser cut images into silk screens, using metal screen mesh, from Future Forge Makerspace, when we were at the Southwest Print Fiesta 2025:


Laser Cutting an image into Silk Screen for printing
AI imagines laser cutting designs
into silk screens

Experiment -- Laser Cutting into Silk Screen
30 Power and 80 Speed cut right through the emulsion
on the metal mesh, proving that this approach worked

Laser Cutting -- into Metal Silk Screen
Our first image worked nicely
laser cutting an AI rhino into metal mesh silk screen

CULMINATION -- Drawing, AI, Printmaking
My AI figure drawing
successfully laser cut into metal mesh silk screen


PRINTMAKING SURGE
Making silk screen frames from PVC tubes



OTHER TECHNIQUES

We commissioned a "hat" die from the Ukraine on Ebay, with the idea of punching out tessellation tiles from Expanded PVC Foam (because we can't laser cut PVC).  However we haven't found a working hydraulic press, or otherwise, to try this out yet:

April 7, 2025
NOVEMBER SUMMARY -- 2025
We ordered a metal "hat" shaped die from the Ukraine

Expanded PVC Foam -- Tessellation Tiles
The "hat" die was too thick 
to fit in the FISKARS FUSE die cutting system


November 12, 2025
Henry Morales gouged into linoleum and wood
with a Customizer Engraving Pen

PRINT CRUNCH
Ellie found an antique glass doorknob
that works well for hand printing on rice paper

January 22, 2025
Hand printing with the glass door knob

Juarez
In Juarez they were cutting into fake linoleum
with a bent over razor blade taped to a stick

We carved into small soft Speedy Carve blocks to stamp people with temporary tattoos.  We bought the Tattoo Inkpads from Made to Order Stamp & Seal in Albuquerque:

PRINTERS PLANET TAOS 2025 -- Preparation
Temporary Tattoo Ink from Made to Order Stamp & Seal

PRINTERS PLANET TAOS 2025 -- TEMPORARY TATTOOS
Daniel carved wonderful temporary tattoos

May 21, 2025
Ellie bought Mokuhanga brushes
but we haven't perfected the technique

June 10, 2025
Ellie also successfully used
the Ternes Burton registration pins

Printmaking -- Bits and Pieces
We have not tried collagraph technique yet,
however the Wagner wax apparently works well
on Expanded PVC Foam

REMARQUE OPEN HOUSE -- Detonography and Tessellations
Chris Cherry gave us a brass plaque to print
that they had "etched" with Detonography



AUGMENTED REALITY

As we are in the Digital Age, we can enhance linocut prints with Augmented Reality.  At Quelab we slipped NFC tags into the frames, so that viewers can hoover their smart phones over the print and conjure up a 3D AR image:

MARCH SUMMARY -- 2025
Lisa Casuas' tessellation linocut print
enhanced with Augmented Reality

At the CURRENTS Exhibition in Santa Fe, CORRINA ESPINOSA had a great Augmented Reality exhibition.  By scanning just one QR Code (and not downloading any apps), she lead viewers to multiple AR experiences from several framed prints.  Each print acted as a individual "target," delivering a different AR experience when visitors hoovered their phones over the framed prints: 

CURRENTS NEW MEDIA Exhibition in Santa Fe
Multiple AR experiences from several framed printouts,
from scanning only one QR Code

  • I could not figure out how to use the AR program MINDAR to conjure up several AR experiences, using several images as targets, from one web link


MORE


HEAT TRANSFER
We printed an iron-on patch at Quelab
from an AI image I made for printmaking

REMARQUE Moving their PRESSES
Takach Press moved 6 printing presses on June 23, 2025
for Remarque Print Workshop in Albuquerque

Printmaking -- Bits and Pieces
Maybe we need to 3D print 
a portable press

Printmaking -- Bits and Pieces
Someone made a Portable LITHOGRAPHY Press


The HERSTORY PRINTMAKING COLLECTIVE wheat pasted prints of woman all over Albuquerque:

Printmaking -- Bits and Pieces
The HERSTORY COLLECTIVE
wheat pasted Nahalat Shalom in Albuquerque

UNM and Oaxaca Prints in Albuquerque
The HERSTORY COLLECTIVE 
made prints and wheat pasted them all over Albuquerque

PRINTMAKING SURGE
Map of the wheat pasted prints



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