studio workshops

Yesterday's Thermofax studio workshop was a lot of fun and while two of the participants had never made or printed with thermofax screens they had a wonderful time and got some great results. I think I put a curse on the machine when my studio mate asked the other day, "what happens if it breaks?" I answered "it won't break."  Do you think she was trying to tell me something?

 Yesterday, it was creaking and then not shutting off and then burning through some screens. ARGH.  I opened it up and saw that one of the lever tabs was crooked, as was the way the cover fitted. I had the feeling it had been dropped or someone had tried to use it and not known how. Hmmm...

After a few manipulations and some straightening out, it worked fine - but I am a bit freaked out.

The five people (my limit in a studio workshop) spent the entire morning making screens from the images they had brought with them!  Then, they printed in the afternoon. Three, including Debbie Bein, had taken this class before and had requested a rerun.  Patricia and Shirley also work on paper and create wonderful books. Pat has one in her right hand because she is using the screens on paper and cloth at the same time. I absolutely love her blog - it always makes me smile.

Here is a quilt she made from whole cloth she had printed with Thermofax screens from her last workhsop with me, plus some stamping and other things.

 Shirley, testing out her screens to see if they really work. Yes, they do! She is taking a life drawing class and doing a lot of sketching, so she made many of her sketches into screens and printed them on cloth. They are varied and wonderful and I wish I had taken more pictures of them.

She also tested one out on a series of tags - and while they were drying, I took these pictures.

I love the idea of using screens on tags after you've printed with them - I may just steal this idea.  Patricia, Shirley, and Benedicte all do the tag thing.  Here are two souvenir tags -- one from Pat and one from Benedicte.  They are printed on both sides...would make great bookmarks!

Debbie Bein and her friend Kate were also there but left earlier than the others because Debbie was not feeling well and she was the driver. Debbie just made screens and will print at home; she had to conserve her strength for a big trip coming up.  She would not let me take any pictures of her, but here is Kate with the last thing she printed for the day with her new screens.

Benedicte looks happy even doing the fiddly stuff - taping the screens.

The three friends at the end of a day that started around 8:30 and ended after 4:00.  They went home with lots of screens, great prints, and much inspiration for new work.

The joy of teaching in my studio is that classes can run longer than they normally do when I travel because i live only 15 min from the studio.  There is lots of individual attention, a sense of camaraderie, and good light -- especially in winter.

**I am planning some more workshops for the fall and winter, since I have the first break from traveling in ages and actually need to be home.  I will post my schedule soon.   Check the pages link at the top right of this page. 

isn't it pretty?

Ha ha - I feel like one those sellers on e-bay. Except that I'm not selling this Thermofax, I just bought it. Last week I took it to Brooklyn to be overhauled; this morning I drove in to pick it up. It's nice and clean and shiny, has a new belt, a couple of new switches, and has been calibrated to make a perfect screen. At least it made a perfect screen when I tested it at George's workshop. When I made one at home I saw that next time I will need to adjust the temp a tiny bit to make it a little lighter.
This machine is quite a bit heavier than the one I already own; 43 lbs vs. 27 lbs. The later ones weigh less. Since this one is so heavy, i decided i had better keep it on the first floor instead of the lower level because there was no way Marty could carry it down. This, of course, led to another major cleaning-out and reorganizing of my STUFF so i could keep the machine where I previously had my antique thread cabinet. But I digress...

Here I am, peeling the film away from the photocopy of a picture I had taken of a cracked slate sidewalk.(Sorry the picture is a little blurry).Of course, I had to test it out immediately - so I made a duct tape frame, reached for the paint, and tried to see if i could improve this piece of fabric.Here is the result.It's getting there. I don't know where there is, but I am sure I will find out.

street art splasher

Remember this? When I was in NY a couple of weeks ago, I took a picture of a mailbox that somebody had dripped paint all over. The mailbox was right outside the art gallery I had just left, but I didn't connect the dots. I just thought it would make a great screen. It did.

However, 10 days after I shot this picture, an article appeared in the NY Times about the protesters who were throwing paint over street art to protest the fact that street art in NY has gone commercial. Huh? Today there was another article saying that the protesters are just throwing paint blobs, handbills, and stinkbombs at street art and galleries without having any real focus for their campaign. It's not clear what they are trying to do. The mailbox must have been a trial run.
I took the screen with me over the weekend and at one point, demo'd how to print with a Thermofax . Here is the result.

On another note, here is my demo piece for the soy wax. I used these items because they are rather graphic illustrations of what you can do, but I think this piece looks too much like others I have printed. Can I get out from under myself?

One more picture I forgot to post. This is what happens when you try to open a plastic container full of dye that has been sitting in the sun and has created a vacuum. Fortunately, I was wearing my oldest, paint-splattered Birks. Don't try this at home. This morning, in my nice hot shower at 78 Sullivan, I gave myself a Reduran pedicure and most of it is gone. Never a dull moment