He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

I entered 5 pieces into the Georgetown Art Hop--Opening Reception Oct. 11, 3-5 pm in case you're local--and I was lucky enough to have 2 accepted. What's funny is the work that was accepted I liked, but I thought the rejects were stronger. These are the ones that made the cut:

Tesla and Crooke's Radiometer, 23 x 12 x 5", mixed media

After Archimedis' Atikythera Mechanism, 30 x 22", collagraph

I've been working on my website for the last few days and the print I had as the welcoming work on the front page is a recent favorite, but my husband insisted I switch it for the one that's there now. This one:

Brahe, Kepler, and Planetary Motion, 20 x 20", monotype, intaglio, mixed media

(Which I should point out was rejected by Art Hop.) I have to admit I no longer take rejection personally, but do find it curious. I would really benefit from a professional critique. One of these days I'll look into that. 

The Big Exhale

I just had my gigantic undertaking--The Tesla Project--end. It was marvelous! It was a whole lotta work but fun nonetheless. And I'm thrilled to report that I'm off on vacation for the next 7 days to the glorious mountains of North Carolina!

Here's the final Tesla piece hanging up in the show:

Picture taken by NJ Weaver

Miscellaneous: 

• I had friend Carolyn Kimball print up my pen and ink drawing of Tesla onto some Tea Towels for me and they look marvelous! They are on my Etsy site in case you need one. 
• Here's a CFE that you may be interested in. It's the Art Hop in Georgetown, Texas. 
• Boomerang--have you heard of this? It's a plugin for Gmail and it's great. You can boomerang emails back to your inbox if they are something that you aren't ready to file but aren't ready to deal with right away--it helps keep your inbox from being overloaded. I may have already mentioned this. If I have, it's only because it's awesome.

I probably won't be posting while in the boonies, so have a great week!

Almost Done with this Beast

Let me be clear--Tesla is not the beast, the assemblage is. It hasn't been too much actual labor, but the what goes where was a dose of mental agony. Granted, it would come and go. I wasn't thinking about the piece 24/7, but whenever I thought of it I would grind my teeth. Glad it's almost out the door, for better or for worse.

Tesla, in process

One problem that stumped me was where to put the battery pack (he has little lights up top). My son suggested a wooden box, but really, where would it go? In a haze of almost wakefullness this morning, I came up with the where. It's being glued right now. You can kinda see it on the right hand side--it's behind and to the side of his name. Whew. I just need to make the lid now. (Yay for power tools that live in the garage and not someplace far away and inaccessible.)

The Tesla Project is happening Saturday! We managed some radio coverage and some print coverage (page 34), which is a relief. One doesn't want to throw a party and have no shows. 

God Bless Tesla

Well, I had a successful first weekend of EAST (East Austin Studio Tour) due to none other than Tesla and all his admirers. I sold dozens of light switches and finger puppets, and several fans. I felt a little guilty as I was counting my earnings and thought, gee, how ironic that I'm profiting off of Tesla when the guy died penniless. At least I'm spreading Tesla Love at an affordable price. ;)

Studio mate Carolyn Kimball and I will be in there again this coming weekend, 11/23-24, from 11-6, 916 Springdale Rd, Ste. 218

I'm lasering more this week in prep for the second weekend of EAST. If you want one,
let me know and I'll put one on hold. Single toggle $10, double $15

5 bucks gets you a Tesla finger puppet and they come in S, M, L, and XL.
I have limited stock. I had no idea they'd be such hot sellers. Go Tesla!

No fan image in my arsenal of pics, but this Tesla print is on blue
card stock with a large wooden craft stick as the handle. $1 each, and
once they run out they are G-O-N-E. 

Here are some shots of our studio during the tour. So clean!! Folks were questioning whether or not we worked there or just used it as a gallery. Ha! They should see the crapola temporarily stacked in my house until the end of EAST when I can bring it all back to the studio.

See the Tesla nook in the corner? This is where all my action was located. You can also see
Carolyn's sweet tea towels, that were also very, very popular. 

Here's the other shot of the room. See the yummy offerings to our guests?
My goodness they put away our stash that we mistakenly thought was
going to cover both weekends. Looks like another Costco trip is on the horizon. 

It would be lovely to see you...

...during E.A.S.T.*! My studio mate Carolyn Kimball and I will be opening our studio during E.A.S.T. (East Austin Studio Tour) and we would be thrilled by a visit! You can find us at Canopy, 216 Springdale Rd, Bldg. 1, Ste. 218 here in Austin. I have a feeling we'll be doing some live printing of Tesla (linocut in process below), or perhaps just noshing on treats and sipping our boxed wine, but either way we'll be ready to answer any questions about our work or on printmaking in general. Hope to see you! E.A.S.T: Nov 16-17, 23-24, from 11 am - 6 pm (I will be arriving around 3 pm on the 17th, but otherwise I'll be in my studio both weekends.) *E.A.S.T. is a super ginormous studio tour and it's advisable to take a took at the online catalog to plot your attack. There are a lot of great studios out there with impressive work. And it's fun! Tesla will be printed on the pages of an old Electrical Engineering book. I'm excited about that! I'll also have these guys--Brahe and Kepler as a nod to my father-in-law the astronomer. I had some fun playing around with silver leaf, especially on Brahe's nose (He lost the real one in a duel. I'm not kidding!). I'll have grackles of course. A year ago I started making these grackles and changed them up a bit by collaging them onto old Austin maps. The grackle part is a 2-color woodcut and all is mounted on 6 x 6" panel. Come, share some of that boxed wine and let Carolyn and I tell you what we've been up to this year.

The Printing of Tesla

I talked all about how I made the plate for Tesla and the Birth of Radio, but not how I printed it. I thought that might be of interest for those of you unfamiliar with the intaglio method. If it is, keep on reading.

1. Tear paper
Traditionally printmaking paper is torn, not cut. An equipped studio has a tear bar, which is basically a heavy and beveled straight edge--a clean ruler can work in a pinch. Firmly hold tear bar where you want your paper torn and pull up a corner of the paper and carefully tear it, making sure the bar doesn't slip. The X that I've marked in pencil on the corner of the paper indicates the back of the sheet. Yep, most printmaking papers have a front and a back--the front has slightly more tooth on it to capture the ink. I'm using Rives BFK and it has a watermark, so the front is easy to figure out.

2. Set the press and make note of registration
I'm using a print guide and that makes registration easy. I've marked the centers on the short and long sides of the paper so I can easily plop it down when ready and reduce any shifting. You can't see the pencil registration marks I've put on the back of my paper, so I've circled them for you. I do this for all the paper in the edition at one time.

3. Soak the paper
Rives BFK and intaglio printing basically requires paper soaking for a nice transfer. Here's my paper in the soaking tray. I'll be soaking it for about 20 mins--about the length of time it'll take for me to ink the plate. After I take the paper out, I blot it and let it sit for about 5 mins to rest, then I'm ready to print. It's important that the paper doesn't have any kind of wet sheen to it. If it does, it needs to be blotted a bit more. Our studio has a rolling pin that can be rolled over the blotter/paper sandwich to try and squeeze out more water.

4. Ink plate with first color
I'm using Mars Black Akua Intaglio. I've had this ink for awhile. I don't remember it arriving from Akua so liquidy, but I'm using it anyway and not changing the viscosity with additives. I've mixed it and have dribbled it over my plate since it's the consistency of honey. I use a daubber for applying the ink to make sure the ink really goes into the deep grooves of the plate.

Here it is all inked up.

5. Wipe the plate
To wipe the black I'm using a "juicy" tarlatan. A tarlatan is like starched cheesecloth and "juicy" refers to the fact that it's wiped several plates and is a little caked with ink. A brand new tarlatan will wipe too well--besides, it seems to be one of the few tarlatans in the studio. Here's my plate post-wipe.

Now it's time to wipe with a sheet of telephone book paper. I carefully use the palm of my hand so the paper just hits the surface of the plate. I like using telephone book paper because it seems to really bring out textures. You can see how it's taken more ink off the surface. To get more ink off I could use a shop towel and wipe the face and eyeballs. I think I'll do that...

6. Roll on additional color
I've simply rolled my green-blue directly onto my inked plate (again, using Akua Intaglio but this time a 3-color mix). There are several different ways to add color, and I'm kinda throwing caution to the wind here since I will be corrupting my ink as I move along the edition. That's OK. I'm going for it. Heck, I'm just happy I'm editioning. I wipe the green-blue with telephone book paper.

7. Print
And admire!

8. Repeat
Repeat for as many prints that will go into the edition. In my case, it'll be 8 on the white paper. I plan on making another 8 someday in a buff colored paper.

Cards Galore!

Here they are! (If you're just now checking in, these will be future trading cards.) The class is over, so I need to cut out the cards and assemble them myself today (big sigh) before our swap tomorrow.









It's true, I'd rather be spending time in my studio doing my own work, but alas, this must be done.

Last week I managed to be in the studio all week! And by all week I mean 3 days. And by 3 days I mean 1/2 days. (12 studio hours being the goal.) I haven't been working on anything earth shattering--still my Tesla puppet theaters--but I'm having the most fun I can possibly having being in that studio. My goal is to move stuff off my shelves so I can move it out my door and then put the stuff still on the floor of my old home studio/future guest room on the shelves of the new studio. Did you follow that? I'm sharing my shelving with my studio mate now so I had to downsize. It's good, because I am now painfully aware of how many materials I have to use up. I just hope I can use them all before I die. Yes, I have that much stuff.

PrintTX Call for Entries Link

© 2012 Cathy Savage, Tesla and His Favorite Things, 20 x 20",
intaglio with collage and hand coloring

I'm gonna enter. I wasn't accepted last year but this is a new year! (I haven't been printing much, so it'll be a stretch. I may have to whip out another Tesla, because of course I haven't editioned him and the ones I printed and framed have sold!! Woo hoo!)

You can find a PDF of the call for entries here. PrintMatters is a fantastic group BTW. If you live in Texas and are serious about printmaking, you need to be part of this organization.

Finger Puppet for the Nerd in Your Life

Tesla Finger Puppets were my biggest sellers at the East Austin Studio Tour. The price was right ($5 for a basic puppet, $6.50 for one with a super magnet so it can hang out on your fridge) and Tesla is cool. If you're needing one for Your Nerd or ahem, Yourself, here's a link to my Etsy site.

Tesla is on the Loose!

© 2012 Cathy Savage, Tesla and His Favorite Things, 20 x 20",
intaglio, lithography, hand coloring, collage

My Tesla print will be in this show until mid Feb, 2013. Come see!

OPENING--The Museum of Printing History
1324 West Clay Street, Houston, TX 77019
October 18, 2012, 6 - 8 pm

He's also at Georgetown Art Hop until October 27th. (The beauty of printmaking--Tesla can be two places at once.) This is a walking tour, and Tesla is in the Georgetown library. 

 

 

 

 

© 2012 Cathy Savage, Two Sides, 22 x 30", collage

 

 

In case you do the walking tour, look out for Two Sides--it's there too!

Attach This to That

I'm on a Make, Repair, Write and Toss kick this week.

Repair

Ring gluing, plus Raleigh's sock puppet
"Mazzy" needed some eye repair action

I heard about the website This to That from artist Beverly Mangham (I mentioned her assemblage workshops the other day in this post) and it's a site about recommended adhesives on various craft projects. We're big fans of epoxy in this house and I like the kind in a plunger where you open both the resin and hardener at the same time and squeeze out equal amounts. I fixed several things today including Raleigh's ring. I'm scratching my head as to why the people that made it in the first place, didn't score the metal and plastic a little bit before gluing the first time. That is gluing 101--give the surface a little bit of a tooth so the glue can hang on.

Make

© 2012 Cathy Savage,
Edison and Tesla Finger Puppets

The kids and I went to MAKEatx yesterday to do some engraving and while we were at it I made an Edison. It was a request from an Etsy buyer. She bought a Tesla too and I can only hope that Tesla will be considered the ultimate hero in her reenactment of the War of the Currents.








Write

© 2012 Cathy Savage, queen linocut on note card

Still writing one card per day! This is the last thing I do though, so it's not the easiest on the list. I'm using these cards that totally bombed on Etsy. Can't win them all.

Toss
I went through my shoes and put 2 pairs in the Goodwill bin. I love shoes but let's face it, I'm most comfortable in meemaw models and I might as well let go of the fantasy that I'll ever where anything else.

Repair, Make, Write, Toss

Repair

Today I fixed this bug net.
Believe me, I was glad to see this big
thing leave my sewing nook.

This is going to be a week of action! We're at Camp Home this week and I told my 10-yr old it was high time he learned how to operate a sewing machine, so we're going to work on a project together. To get ready for this, I sized up my sewing nook which was pretty overloaded with crapola (give me a flat surface in this house and by George I'll fill it with crap). You know what? Cleaning my nook made me feel great! A still have a pile of stuff that needs repairing--patches sewn on, button replaced--so my goal is to repair one project per day for the next 5 days and get that stuff out of my nook forever.









 
Make

Birch Switch plate that now has
Tesla's System of Electric Lighting engraved on it,
courtesy of my Epilog Laser time
at MAKEatx this afternoon.

Why stop at repairing? It would be great to make something--or finish a stalled project--each day for the next 5 days. Sewing? Painting? Carving Erasures? Planting succulents? It can be anything, big or small. This camp-free week we're going to keep busy all week with crafts, mark my words!

Write
Same idea, but tackle one letter, email or phone call that has been put off. Today it was an overdue thank you note. I think the kids will enjoy writing notes/sending drawings to their grandparents and cousins this week. 

Toss
What's a productive week without removing a bit of clutter? One item per day... What'll it be? Cookbook? Skirt that no longer fits? Art supply? (Unlikely, but you never know.) Today I put 6 magazines in the pile to take to the library for the magazine exchange--yes, they were on top of my sewing table.

Wood Putty Fixes Woodcut Error

I wanted to post the results of my wood putty fix the other day. You can barely see the section that I repaired.

Here's a pic of the plate.

© 2012 Cathy Savage, Tesla the Visual Thinker,
laser engraved woodcut, 15 1/2 x 10 1/4"

And here are my prints! This plate was created using the Epilog laser at MAKEatx. The image was from a 1-yr old linocut. I scanned a print (4 x 6), enlarged it, then engraved the image into a piece of shina plywood (McClains has the BEST wood. It printed perfectly opaque in areas where needed.), then inked up and printed as usual. I used Akua Intaglio Mars Black and Arches 88.

Tesla, printed

© 2012 Cathy Savage, Tesla looking as his sultry self,
Photo by Carolyn Kimball.

Here's my laser cut intaglio result from yesterday. Info on the matrix here. I used a variety of wiping techniques on 3 different pieces of paper, just to work out the kinks. Pictured is my best result on Rives Lightweight. I wiped the plate first with phone book paper, then spot wiped Tesla's face with a blue shop paper towel to give it more contrast than the background, then I wiped the face a bit with my bare hand to soften the eye and mustache area. The paper was spritzed with water before printing. OH, I need to point out that the paper almost stuck to the plate. It didn't want to come off, but I pulled it gently and luckily the paper didn't stick. I think next time I'll put the paper in a damp bag for a bit so the fibers soften and don't give me that kind of anxiety. (I used Rives BFK in my other proofs without any sticking, but ran it though a water bath 2x before blotting, so it got more water time.)

© 2012 Cathy Savage, Tesla and the Birth of Radio

I need to lighten the eyes by raising them
with a layer of gel medium plus add some carborundum/gel medium mixture to the mustache. Even though the mustache appears to have "etched" fine, it's a large uniform area and I'm wiping out too much ink as is. I'd like to color the background. I could use another piece of mat board and mark where ink should be removed from a relief roll, and make this a 2-plate print. One awesome thing about the laser cutting machine is that I can get an absolute copy of this with precise Tesla location.

New Laser Results--Coasters

The kids had a day off on Friday so we went on a field trip to MAKEatx and made some coasters. Here they are watching the machine work its magic.















We have etched lines to indicate where I need to manually cut the coasters apart (typically the laser does the etching and cutting but we're using cork and it tends to catch on fire with the cutting, so I'm doing it by hand). Raleigh's image was taken from a scanned pencil drawing.







Wes is really into these martial arts books so he chose the yin yang symbol.

I'm happy to report that all wooden surfaces in our house are protected. Plus, the kids and I had a blast!

 

© Cathy Savage 2012

Wes also lasered Tesla's Electric Magnetic Motor patent drawing on the top of a pinewood derby car and I made a Tesla finger puppet, but grossly underestimated the size. This one would work for a newborn!

Let There be Light!

Lamp is finished! Firefly LED supplied the really cool light with heat sink.










Here's a detail shot without the bell jar.

Sure, I had a little mishap pictured here. But otherwise it was easier than I thought to finish the lamp. The copper piping was purchased at a plumbing store as well as the copper bracket, the L connections were purchased at a refrigeration supply company, and the dremel tool with an awesome rotary blade did the rest.

Come see it for yourself at The Tesla Project on July 9!

You've Got Mail

I've had some fun things come in the mail lately. This little gem was for friend and fellow artist Deborah McLouth's retirement party (you must see her prints--they are incredible). This little invite was very clever. I didn't even show all the pages!

Then last week I had this arrive. Hmm. What is it? Oh, my! A little bundle of goodness. This was from artist Elvia Perrin, another amazing artist. (Again, not all pages were shown--and it was hard to choose which ones to photograph.)

 Me? What am I up to? Oh, just living life in a whirlwind of event planning. You can see the fruits of my labor on the Tesla website, or better yet, come to our event on the 9th. I tried working on my lamp today without much luck. The wood split when I tried to drill holes in the base, so I needed to fix that with some glue and wood putty. Then I built a model for my copper piping (new configuration on the lamp vs what I've posted in the past here) and I'm wondering if the weight of the LED light from Firefly is going to be supported. Turns out their LED light bulb is heavy. This artwork was due on the 24th. Arrgh! Yet I am forging ahead. I think tomorrow will be my day.