Paper Issue

This is the replacement panel for Mrs. Swift, in its proper place. The values don't match yet, and the paper is a better fit, but I still don't think it is going to work. 

    I am starting to remember why I settled for a piece of paper that was short on one side in the first place. It is because I was on my last bit of an old batch, and the new paper I had didn't match the color of the old.  That's what I'm running into here. I have two options to fix it, so far: one is to try to tint the paper with tea or watercolor, just slightly. This paper is very tough, so it just might stand up to it. The other is to go back to the wonky-sized panel and find a small piece on one edge and hope nobody notices. I've also considered coloring each square in a quilt pattern. But what I'd really like is to have a cohesive graphite drawing in the end. I guess we'll have to see.

 

Missing a pencil

This was pretty good progress, considering I spent a good part of the getting ready for the week. The snag was that I couldn't find a 2B pencil to provide some of the values, so I had to stop short of finishing the job. Still, one step forward is better than no steps at all.

 

These are the first two successful plates, after too many tries at exposure, of the new Dreamer in Training quilt. Sorry they're a little crooked up there! I'm still learning how to wipe them, but the good news is that I finally have an exposure setting that works, in both Photoshop and the lightbox. Now I should be able to scan, burn and print the rest of the drawings with the same settings.

It was a long road figuring out those exposures. Right when I thought I knew what to do, a tube seemed to have burned out in the lightbox. They aren't exactly easy to find, but I did, and after waiting almost a week to get them, the tube still didn't fire up. It turned out that each tube has a starter and one of mine was burned out. I found one in town for less than a dollar. Sigh. The silver lining is that now I know a lot more about my lightbox. And the two plates I burned after this odyssey are fine!

If this ever happens to you, (a tube stops working in your lightbox built by Dan Welden) there is a printmaking supply house in Oregon, called McClain's:

http://www.imcclains.com/ They sell the tubes you need. You can get the starters at Menards. I wish Daniel Smith would carry the tubes. Except now I have a lifetime supply, and the box will probably fall to pieces before I need one again.

Mrs. Swift Learns to Speak Boy

For IF's challenge this week: strings

It might be kind of hard to see, but those are little Lego men tying down Mrs. Swift.

This is the third state of this drawing, done on coquille paper with graphite, 8.5" x 12". I have to start working larger!