gocco in spectrum

I'm really sad about the demise of the Gocco printer, this little Japanese system got me into screenprinting way back in 2007. It was actually the simultaneous discovery of Gocco and Etsy that set me on the road to my Flower Press business, and blogging, and all the wonderful rest of it, way back then.

My twin boys had gone off to preschool that year, and I suddenly had time to get back into some creative work. I'd finished the horticulture studies I'd been doing while they were little (my little spot of brain space after having three kids in three years!) And I was feeling the need to make again. So when I saw the Gocco it was love.

I'm a big fan of printing in its many forms, and the idea of being able to produce and print my own screens at home was, and is, a revelation. These days I'm still working on making my own screens and printing them, but its a much bigger more complex production than with the Gocco!

Riso the company that make Goccos shut down ink and bulb production in 2008, and while there are stockpiles of materials still available, it doesn't look like an alternative supply will come along any time soon. It seems like the end of Gocco style printing.

In today's Sydney Morning Herald there's an article in the Design section of Spectrum (with a picture of me!) about the Gocco story with comments from Karena Colquhoun (Magic Jelly), ghostpatrol and me. Its a nice acknowledgement of the Gocco phenomenon, and I'm pleased to have helped celebrate it before its gone.You can read it here.

That's me with my little PG-11 printer in the photo. I still have some supplies, hidden away, but I'm loathe to use them, and sad to think about the end of this much loved art.

I still sell some Gocco prints and digital copies of Goccos like my well loved Ruby Slippers and Teapot prints above in my shop, which I have finally updated. I'm hoping to have some new products and designs in there soon too, and maybe a giveaway so watch this space!

show & tell - alisa coburn

Alisa Coburn's Ink Caravan blog is one of the really beautiful spaces on the interwebs. Its like a coffee table book full of delightful illustration, wonderful photography, vintage images, creative links, crafts and references. I'm always delighted when I notice a new post from Alisa pop up in my Google Reader. She has a great eye and marries images together so beautifully that I'm always entranced by her posts.

Its no wonder then that her pinterest feed is also at the top of my favourites. She's always adding little gems that's she's found around the place, and like me she loves natural forms, vintage illustration, pattern, clothes, fabric, art and design.

Alisa is a talented illustrator and her blog shows her beautiful illustration work made in pencil, watercolour, gouache and ink. She often shares her process, and I love her eye for colour. (I'm really hoping she likes the colour I've chosen for her interview ;-)

She was the deserved winner of the popular choice prize for this year's Umbrella Prints Trimmings challenge for her fabulous folded book made with their beautiful fabrics. It is an amazing piece which I've shown part of below, but worth checking out more closely on her blog.

Alisa joined in with my Big Brooch Swap last year and her foxy brooch (above) was one of my very favourites from the swap We've seen glimpses since of some beautiful gocco prints in the same series that look just as lovely, and so when she (finally) opens her Etsy shop I'll be there at the door peering impatiently in at the window.

On top of all that Alisa is a lovely and thoughtful blogging friend whose encouragement is always generously given. If you haven't been to her place then I really think you should visit. Thank you Alisa for being part of the Show & Tell series.

name
Alisa Coburn
location
Melbourne, Victoria.
blog
http://inkcaravan.com
shop (coming soon... cross my heart!)
flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31899105@N05/
pinterest
http://pinterest.com/alisacoburn

1. Can you give us a short description of your blog/style/work
My blog is a mix of illustration, the stuff that inspires me and daily life.

My style is something I find quite tricky to pin. I think maybe it falls into two camps - one that is quite kid friendly with a vintage feel and the other is inspired by the individual in an emotional relationship with nature.  I love to show movement in things like wind and water and I looove drawing people - faces and personalities are endlessly fascinating.

2. Why blog? How did you start?
I started reading blogs as a breather to life with a new baby and a toddler. I felt overwhelmed and needed parenting tips and a creative escape in bitesize portions. I was blown away to discover the huge creative and incredibly generous blogging community out there. Blogs like hop skip jump and Loobylu, to name just a couple, inspired me and helped me keep some level of sanity - I'll always be grateful for that.

I love blogging - It's the perfect opportunity to play with photography and create stories around snippets of life and is a constant reminder to me to have a point. Plus the friendships I've made are just the best!

3. Family taught/Self-taught/Trained?
I've always been a squiggler - my aunty could always tell which bedroom was mine with her eyes shut because it reeked of coloured pencils. I started out in animation and learnt tonnes on the job - mostly about how to be silly and work silly hours. All good training for life ahead.

I'm also a trained graphic designer, art director and I spent my last 6 fulltime work years before kids as a promo director at the BBC. Illustration has been a part of all of those jobs but I've never actually called myself an illustrator before now. I obviously have a thing for reinventing myself.

4. Workspace - studio or kitchen table?
We currently live in a shoebox flat, so my creative space is a very snug corner of the main living space sandwiched between the girls bedroom door and the kitchen table. The creative mess tidal wave often sweeps across the kitchen table. Needless to say I fantasize about having a proper studio that I don't have to tidy.

5. Blog/Shop name, where does it come from?
I wanted a name that sounded fun and evocative. It took a while to settle on one but I quite like ink caravan. To me it suggests exploration and adventure, maybe an intriguing parade of characters or that wonderful studio space tucked into a forgotten corner of a garden that I pine for.

6. Favourite media to work in?
I mainly work with pencil, ink and watercolour or goauche on paper but I also adore printmaking - I love that it leaves room for happy accidents and imperfections - imperfection is something I'm learning to embrace.

7. Ambitions/future directions/future projects/medium you'd like to try?
Oooh I have heaps of these. One is to fine tune ink caravan as a brand and open an Etsy shop - I've been threatening to for ages. I got quite close to opening the virtual doors but then realised I really didn't have enough variety of stock. I've been busy dreaming up some new ideas to remedy that. I'd love to do another children's book, a printing workshop would be lovely, more working with collage in fabric and felt, some animation... and... and... and... !

8. Are you neat and organised or, ahem, creatively messy?
My deskspace is usually a very good reflection of my headspace. Too neat isn't healthy, it may mean that the creative anxiety levels are raging, but too messy can mean I'm totally lost, adrift in too many half finished thoughts. I think pretty and tidy-ish is a good place to be.

9. Favourite handmade, handcrafted item you own not made by you.
Oh that's tricky! There's no way I could pick just one. The handknitted woollens we were given for our babies by Mark's mum, the needle felted pond with mother duck and ducklings given to the girls by a clever aunty, plus so many lovely things that have come to live with me through blogland.

10. Favourite food/recipe?
I looove breakfast! Scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, full english, pancakes, coffee... all of it. Preferably consumed on a lazy morning in the best relaxed cafes around the world every Sunday for the rest of my life. Ahhhh!

11. Favourite colour?
I used to be able to answer this question with 'greenish blues' but now I tend to think more in terms of combinations and have fallen in love with so many others. In fact I'm pretty sure there isn't a colour out there that can't be made dazzling in the right combination. I wonder which colour Susie will give my banner. : )

12. Star sign?
Aquarius

13. Favourite place, landscape (not necessarily Australian)?
Someplace with a view of the sea or being up high where I can see the whole sky. Most of the landscapes I've loved are intertwined with the thrill of travelling - Early morning mist falling down the cliffs into the sea at Santorini, The sparkling Cinque Terre coast, The green parks of London in summer and the colours in the Scottish Highlands. I just don't think I've settled on my ideal yet.

14. Any tricks for juggling life/work/family with creative pursuits?
Not convinced I'm all that good with this one, I was hoping you might know some. I'm just grateful for having a supportive partner.

15. Favourite artists, artisans, crafters?
This is just a drop in an ocean of incredible talent but artists... Paul Klee, the lithographs of Henri Toulouse Lautrec and Édouard Vuillard, Modigliani; Edward Ardizzone, Japanese woodblock prints, Laura Carlin, Carson Ellis, Raquel Aparicio, Isabelle Arsenault, Violeta Lopiz...

16. Your favourite thing you've made/written/done.
I'm really proud to have worked with Alison Johns on the children's book 'Amelia has Cancer' it is a valuable resource that was sorely needed for newly diagnosed children.

17. Three words to describe yourself?
Optimistic, chatty, playful.

18. What do you like to do besides creating?
Playing with my kids, making things for my kids, visiting places with rich history, cruising museums and galleries, watching vintage films and animation, reading children's picture books, having coffee with buddies, pinning, baking...

gocco to giclee

Sadly Riso, the makers of Gocco, stopped making and distributing Gocco printers and bulbs back in December 2008. And while I have a small stockpile of inks, bulbs and masters the days are really numbered for this lovely format. I'm hoping someone will develop a similar system that has the same wonderful results as Gocco printing but the reality is that they haven't yet. So to keep producing my prints I need to start switching them over to another printing method.

Recently I've been experimenting with scanning, papers and printing to produce Giclee versions, and I've been delighted with the results. Excitingly a new six colour Epson printer and some Archival Epson Matte Paper has given me prints that are almost indistinguishable from the original gocco print (see second pic) - they have all the colour, detail and texture of the original. On top of that the prints are much more consistently printed than the Gocco prints.

This favourite Teapot print, for example is quite hard to print well in any numbers which is one reason it has been out of stock for so long in the shop, in fact I'm embarrassed to say its been a year since the last print sold. I'm happy to say that this popular print is back now. To celebrate I'm selling it for a while at the discounted price of $10!

In the meantime I am going to hang on to my stash of gocco supplies and will keep them for printing original new work. I have a new print planned, too long on the drawing board, which you're going to love... I will give you just one hint, its another in the shoe series, to keep all those Ruby Slippers company. And the Ruby Slippers themselves are the next print that will make the change to giclee printing. Watch out for the discount when I introduce them soon.

Completely off the subject, check out this amazing video of the world's fastest knitter, I stumbled across it the other day when I was checking some continental knitting vids. A-mazing!

And be sure to be back here bright and early on Tuesday for this month's installment of Show & Tell. I'm formatting it at the moment and I know you're going to love it!

tea towel rainbow

Yesterday I snapped this pic of my full range of tea towels stretched out in rainbow formation. It makes me happy to see all the colours I've used in the past year. Not so practical perhaps to be printing so many different colours, but I love the range and its been fun to experiment.

I haven't listed the teal towels yet (5 and 6 in the picture), but expect to see them in the shop when I return from our time away. I'll be gone a week, wish us luck with the weather gods. Back with photos late next week.

I'm hoping to get a bit more organised then (!?) and list more stock for Christmas. I found some block printed towels cleaning up yesterday that will appear finally and I'm going to get some more cards in store in individual packs. So if you've been after a Teapot or Ruby Slippers card you can buy them in singles or sets.

I think this post is 297 and I've written one that will post while I'm away, 298. Come back next week for 299 and 300 and I'll have that promised giveaway!

heaven

I've spoken about my friend Melissa Wastney and her beautiful work before, most recently in my post on embroidery love. I just adore her beautiful blog tinyhappy and the work she creates. Of course I'm not alone, Melissa's amazingly creative eye and authentic, simple and observant life as documented on her blog, and the way she expresses it through her beautiful work, are much admired.
And she is the sweetest person too, but you knew that :-)


A while ago we decided to make a swap and recently our parcels passed over the sea somewhere between Australia and New Zealand. Melissa posted a lovely piece about the parcel I sent, and promptly whipped up a fantastic pillow with the barkcloth I have been hoarding for nearly a year! I'm good at stash but she has inspired me to start sewing.

Yesterday I arrived home to an exciting brown paper parcel in my letterbox.
I opened it and Wow!
Look at all the beautiful things she has sent me. I am so very very spoilt.
And you know what. Her pieces are even more beautiful in person, if that is possible.
I'll stop talking now and just show you the pictures.
You can see for yourself what beautiful gifts she's sent me.


The funniest thing is that I was wearing a necklace I made last year at my daughter's art party whose colours matched the Marimekko bag that Melissa sent exactly (see above).
The jasmine embroidery purse is something I've admired before, I think its so clever how she's shown the colour gradation in the flower buds.
And the brooch is just perfect, I'm wearing it today and loving it.
Thank you Melissa :-)

dandelion

I was missing my camera even more today as I tried to get a good pic of my new Gocco print. Here it is, my new design - dandelion. I'm really happy with the way it came out, I love the graphic simplicity, the limey green of the leaves and the way the dandelion seems to be waving goodbye to the little seed as it floats away. You may recognise it as this design is based on one I drew originally for Illustration Friday.
The print is in the shop now.

printing

It has been so long since I dusted off the Gocco printer and made some art, I kinda forgot how to do it! Luckily I soon got back in the rhythm and today managed to print an edition of a very simple design that I've been thinking about for a while.
Frustratingly I can't show you yet. My camera is at the camera doctor. After five years and 42,000+ photos (and that's just the ones that I still have!) the exposure unit has given up the fight. I'm thinking seriously about buying a new one... in fact if the one I wanted wasn't soo expensive I would have done it already. Without a camera I feel a bit like I'm missing a limb, especially with the spring garden starting to bloom.
If I can get some good pictures out of our point and shoot I'll post some pics soon. In the meantime, the photo is a hint. The print is two colour and I hope to have it in the shop next week along with the new stock of tea towels, I can't wait to see what you think of the new colours - might be a giveaway ahead, It was August last year I started selling tea towels, and that's as good an excuse as any!

Modish giveaway

How exciting, the lovely Jena at Modish is hosting a giveaway for Valentine's Day including some Flower Press goodies - a White Filigree tea towel on unbleached linen, a Filigree Gocco print and two Ruby Slippers cards.
Also included are two pieces from Lexy Art, a talented Brisbane artists who makes the most amazing board mounted prints.
So what are you waiting for?! Go and leave a comment and be in the running for this bag of goodies on Valentine's Day :-)

illustrator experiments

I never really learnt to use Adobe Illustrator (I used to be a Freehand girl). I keep meaning to get a book and learn properly but for now I just huff and bluff and muddle my way through things, trying to get the effect I want. Sometimes though this means I fluke some interesting effects.
If you look closely at this image Illustrator has sort of split the line work and made a really cool skeleton effect with the lines. I've been working on this little jam jar of weeds for a gocco print and now I'm not sure whether I don't prefer it in this form. Mmmm?

Printsy!

I've recently become a fully fledged member of Printsy, an Etsy team dedicated to printmaking and printmakers. There are some amaaaaazing people in the group and I am very proud to be counted amongst its members.
Printsy has a blog featuring great interviews with Prinsty members and a Flickr group showing some of the wonderful work being made by Prinsters. They discuss technique and inspiration and show their work and method. Printsy members have also been making some wonderful Etsy Treasuries of Printsy art. I happily happened across this new one made by urbanbird tonight. A lovely surprise to see my Ruby Slippers in such fantastic company.
Here is another great Printsy treasury, this one made the front page. I love the colours and it shows the great depth of talent in this group.

yart sale

I've joined the Yart Sale on Etsy. Yay!
Quite a few Etsy sellers have joined together to offer discounted items for the week June 11-20. I've made a new listing offering some of my cards for $2.50 each and I'm not charging additional postage for the time of the sale. Also if you buy four cards I'll throw in the fifth one free. CRazy BaRgains :-) In my shop now.

creature comforts

Wow, what a lovely surprise! Reading through my favourite blogs this morning and there are my Love gocco cards on the lovely Creature Comforts blog!! Poor old brain goes - click click click, I know those cards - wow - they're mine, hooray!!
Thanks to Ez for featuring these cards in her gold and white feature, I love this blog, it is on my must read list, really inspiring, lots of clever ideas and exquisite images collected and curated so beautifully. I love all her choices here but particularly the teapot and cup set with the shadow tree pattern below.
My sister in law recently chose these cards to give a young couple getting married this weekend, she thinks its the perfect message and the perfect colours for a romantic wedding.

ruby slippers print

I've been wanting to print my Ruby Slippers as a signed print for a while now and finally the other day I made a few. I am going to frame one of these for my wall.

chrysanthemum gocco

I've been thinking about this print for ages - I first made the drawing last year. Originally I printed it out with my laser, playing around with colours and cardstocks.
I just loved it on this golden yellow card that I had some offcuts of and it seemed to really suit the image so, the other day I tracked the stock down and bought some in readiness. Another great bonus of this card is that it is 100% recycled, acid free and has a great handmade look with random flecks of blue and brown.
Then I just waited till I had time and space to print. Which of course never happened!
So the other day, late in the afternoon I grabbed the bull by the horns and pulled out my gocco, cleared a space and printed the white layer. I love the way this makes the black stand out. The only problem is that white is the hardest ink colour to use, in my experience. It fades out once it dries and this time it seemed to be quite thick and wouldn't print evenly.
Eventually I got enough prints made, I had to pump the Gocco a few times each print to make sure I had even coverage. Sometimes I think you have to vary your printing style to suit the screen.
The next evening, same thing, about 5pm I cleared our dining table and printed the black screen. This time the exposure was perfect and the black ink a breeze to use. I printed a few different colourways. Next time I print this design I think I might vary the first colour, play around with some pinks and greens and print on white card.

Anyway I'm really happy with my happy Chrysanthemums, they make me smile with their little arms out wide, doing a happy dance. I've framed this print and I'm going to hang it near my desk, when I get time!

This print will go up on the Etsy shop later today.

shop order!

Lots of fun last night packaging up an order for a shop that's opening soon - my first shop order! I love the way things look all neatly packaged, very satisfying.

PG-11 Gocco registration tutorial

I always love tutorials which explain techniques and tools, so with that in mind I thought I'd post this tute, for all those new Gocco converts out there trying to work out how to use the registration features of the PG-11, and for the people trying to work out which machine to buy.
These photos are from my first try at two colour printing. I'd only exposed one screen before this!

In this first photo I have printed the first colour, ruby red for the body of the shoes, and I've exposed and inked up the second colour screen (of a black outline). Clicking in the registration plate I then print an image of my screen on it. (Rumour has it you can remove the blue protective film but I haven't been brave enough yet!)

Once I have the second colour image printed on the registration plate I can slide a printed card beneath the clear plate and try and align it with the second colour. (I'm using misprints so that any mistakes aren't a problem.)

You can see the locking mechanism (the two black knobs below the printing plate) are in the unlocked, down position and I can then move the printing plate (the cushioned platform the prints sit on) around to align the second colour over the first. It is the first colour printed card that moves around to align, not the second colour.
Once I'm happy with the registration I lock these knobs by putting them in the up postion, remove the blue plastic registration plate and start printing.
The photo below shows the final result from my second printing, once I got the hang of it this was such a quick and easy job. These Ruby Slippers cards have been really popular but I have a few left in my Etsy Shop. If anyone has questions, suggestions or corrections just leave a comment below and I'll respond.

Filigree front page

Such a beautiful treasury, I was actually admiring it and about to click on the purse at the top when I noticed my print! I am definitely going to have my ears pierced again so that I can wear some of the beautiful earrings on Etsy, like these beautiful glass flowers by Cassie from shopclementine.

Etsy Find of the Day 8th Feb!

Wow, I hadn't even heard of Find of the Day till someone contacted me about this. Thanks Helen from creatinginthedark for helping me enjoy my 15 minutes of fame. (p.s. I have altered the email a bit, it was much longer so I couldn't fit the whole thing.)
Lovely to be among all the tea drinkers too.

Teapot print

I've been thinking about this idea for a print for quite a while and finally got a design I really liked. So Friday night after great success with my LOVE print I decided to keep going and print this.
Of course that meant one failed bulb and two ruined screens later I was almost ready to give up when the third screen came out well. Still, another trouble, some paper stuck to the screen down the bottom. I cleaned this up with gocco cleaner and a paper towel and eventually things started working.
I think what I learnt from this is not to screen back large areas. They work best as 100% colour. This one I printed at 60lpi and 300dpi. I'm not sure if this lower resolution helps as I haven't tried higher.

Ruby Slippers, reprinted 27/11

It went really well this time. I love the army ranks of shoes.