How to Fix Things

I forgot how exhausting sponging can be. Especially when you're trying really hard to do a good job. Sharon and I got going around 8:30 and went until 12:00. That's a solid three and a half hours of Wax-On, Wax-Off. I was glad that I finally got my first round of sponging over with. The bad thing was that I missed a long and rather important demo on the other side called "How to Fix Things".

After sponging, I went home for lunch and turned on the Cardinals game which conveniently started at noon. After the lunch hour was up, I trudged back to Tamarind... only to get there, be overwhelmed with how tired I was and how much I had to do, and turn around and come back home. I hung out on my futon for a bit and watched the rest of the game. Then went back to the studio to face the music. (The Cardinals lost to the Astros AGAIN, by the way.)

At first, it seemed like these counter etching projects were going to be super easy. I mean, all we're really doing is adding more information to a stone or plate we'd already prepared and then printing it. But adding things is a lot harder than it seems and all sorts of problems manifest themselves. Of course, Rodney had this planned out. He knew we would screw it all up. Which is why he was prepared with a crucial demo on "How to Fix things"... which I would miss out on.

My stone was no exception to the failure that was spreading through the studio like head lice in a daycare center. Remember those lovely big black borders I was painting on my stone in the last post? Well... they didn't exactly come out as planned. They showed up, but weren't inking up fully. I had to reinforce the borders with super-greasy-shop-black and then put it to bed for the night. Hopefully, as my stone sleeps with it's blanket of blackness, it will soak some of it in and be more receptive to it next time I roll up. That's the plan anyway.

I'd hoped to work more on things tonight but I was so mentally and physically exhausted that I decided to go home around 5:30pm. I'd been wanting to make the Tortellini with Roasted Red Pepper sauce, but I needed someone to share with. I baited Patrick by offering to let him watch the Brewers-Cubs game at my house. The dinner turned out super-great:



I also made cookies!



Unfortunately, the dinner and the cookies just couldn't overcome the outcome of the baseball game. Milwaukee made it interesting, but with the bases loaded and two outs in the 9th inning, they just couldn't pull it off. The final was Chicago 5, Milwaukee 4. Poor Patrick.



Here are a few more pictures courtesy of Valpuri. She was actually able to get a picture of Mick's face! Something I haven't done yet. You know the top of his head well. Now here's the rest of him (making a funny face, no less):



This is Alex thinking, I wish I had a different printing partner. Why'd I get stuck with this crazy?



And while I do not condone flashing gang signs, it is an inside joke between me and Valpuri... and it must be done.