P-7: Collaboration I

On Monday we got going on our first collaboration project. For now, we are assigned to work with one of our fellow student printers. I will serve as the Printer for Alex's drawing and I will act as an Artist for Valpuri.

The printer's first responsibility is to meet with the Artist and determine what sort of print they plan to make. They provide a stone that is ready to draw on and also provide the materials that the Artist will work with. Now that we have done our crayon and tusche tests, we have a good idea of what sorts of things work best on our stone. In some cases, limitations might be placed (suggested) if the Printer doesn't think they can pull a technique off.

The Printer will also prepare the paper for the project, which in our case includes calendering. The tremendous pressure of the litho press will cause a paper to stretch out a little bit as it is printed. The stretch of the paper can cause problems and inconsistencies with registration and it can help to calender it before you actually print. To calender the paper, we simply run it through the litho press at 2/3 pressure to smooth and stretch it out.

I got my stone ready for Alex before I went to Saint Louis and on Monday, Valpuri finished graining her stone for me. Tuesday I was on sponging duty all day with Brandon, with the exception of my morning class with Marge. I was exhausted after so much standing and sponging, but I returned to the studio yesterday night to work on my drawing.

Rodney urged us to challenge our Printer without stabbing them in the back. Originally, I was just going to do some crayon and maybe a little shop black for the borders. But Valpuri was practically begging me to give her something difficult... and I obliged.

I decided that I wanted to do a picture of me and Britney Spears. To make it more fun, I decided that it was going to be cut and folded into a stand-up print. Here are a few pictures of the drawing on the stone before Valpuri took over.




The paper will actually extend about four inches on the top and bottom from where the drawing stops. I will cut around the heads with an X-Acto blade and then fold it three places to create something similar to a table tent. Here's a diagram:



After consultation with Rodney (and an eight hour day of sponging), Valpuri set to work on putting the first etch on my drawing.

First, she decided what etches would work best for the drawing and mixed them up. For the stone, we start with an ounce of gum arabic and then add drops of nitric acid to strengthen the etch. Some delicate work will only require straight gum arabic, heavier crayon could need up to twenty drops or more. Here Valpuri has mixed up at least three different etches to use on my drawing (probably a 3 drop, 7 drop and a 10 drop). She also has a giant bottle of gum arabic on hand to "cool things down" if she gets carried away.



Next, she put rosin and talc on the image to help protect it from the etches and to draw the gum in closer to the grease particles:



Finally, she set to work on applying the etches to the stone. She had to work quickly and methodically. Being careful to apply the weakest etches to the delicate parts and the hottest etches to the heavy parts.



The reason that my image is difficult is because of the combinations of materials. I have light tusche washes next to medium crayon drawings next to dark black borders. Not only will it be difficult to etch it perfectly, but it will also be a challenge to roll-up with ink. I hope that Valpuri knows I'm not really trying to sabotage her, but rather make her a better printer. Even though she is already the Best Printer in Santa Claus Village.



Alex started drawing on my stone this afternoon and she should have it finished tomorrow. She was a lot easier on me than I was on Valpuri, but I still think it will be challenging. This project requires us to work around the schedules of both our Artist and our Printer. As a result, there's a lot of down-time for me right now. I spent the afternoon at home preparing paper for my SNAP!!! print and in the evening I went into the studio and pulled my first proof of it. I was pretty excited. Hopefully I'll be able to edition it very soon.