Rich & Juicy

Been doing some botanical transfer prints with my Design 1 students.  Their results were pretty good...never less than interesting.  For myself, it yielded my best prints yet.

The pink is from fresh beets, but it faded dramatically after drying.

Above, preparing a piece of silk.  Below, a very full pot of soup (brake disc for scale).  I had to keep ladling juice out the whole time it percolated.

I have no idea where the green came from (below).

Such juicy results.  The more rusty metal in the pot, the better...more of everything really.

Many delays.

I held off on posting while I wrapped up the bathroom renovation.  Not that there was a lot of studio time available anyway, what with the Fall semester getting under way and all.

At last my schedule has opened up, and I can get some enjoyable work done.  The large loom is ready to be dressed, and a pair of very large weavings with painted warp will be under way soon (after two years of planning and procrastinating).

Many books have been made or are in the making.  Some with papers printed under Velma's tutelage, some printed solo.  Some from joomchi, even.  I'm fond of the stationer's binding.

Above and below, machine-made kozo pages, ogura lace cover, machine-made pre-printed kozo tapes. I like the wrinkles, so they stay.

Below, joomchi pages (good hanji from Paper Connection), cheap kozo tapes.

Lastly, a medium-sized fellow assembled from several odd joomchi samples.

Oh, and the indigo rallied, yielding about a bushel of fresh leaves.

Everything is Awesome.

Dyed some more bundles last week to finish off the silk habatoi I had.  The colors on Thai kozo are way darker wet than they are after drying.

...But the silk loves to take color (below).

Michelle and I ran another batch today, this time on Rives BFK and Arches Cover.  The heavier papers show off more of the color.

I'm going to have my first-years do some of this when we get to the book-making project...along with joomchi and shibori.  I figure since there's no longer a place in the school to practice these sorts of techniques I might as well integrate them into my Design classes.  This is going to be awesome.

Maximum Overdrive

The summer posting schedule has been sparse, but should be moving back to weekly updates.  Home renovations are eating up so much of my time that I'm finally forced to set aside one day a week for "office" work...there is course prep and studio work to take care of, after all.

Also, I willingly gave up a significant portion of the past few weeks taking two amazing workshops.  The first was a contact printing class with Velma Bolyard.  The results were fantastic!  Plus it was so addictive that I had to cram in a day dyeing bundles at home.

Above and below, habatoi ribbon wrapped in Thai kozo...with steel wool, Brazil wood, elderberries, chrysanthemum blossoms, onion skins, and nasturtium blossoms.

That was followed by a four-day workshop with Velma and Aimee that covered the entire process of paper-making, various binding methods, jiseung, and an assortment of paper treatments.  Below is the pile of fresh indigo leaves I shared...unfortunately the conditions weren't optimal for nurturing a fresh-leaf batch.

After the workshop wrapped I was so keyed-up I had to practice a few iterations of the structures we learned.  Below is a slot-and-tab structure in cotton.

Above is a stationer's binding in progress.  Below is the page insert with cloth tapes.  So fun!

There was also the reception for the "Revive & Renew" exhibition at the Morgan.  I sold a small piece on opening night (yay!).  There is a great catalog available, if anyone is interested.  The show includes myself, Aimee, Velma, and other great artists.  It's worth stopping by if you're in the area.  And don't forget...the 2014 CIA Faculty Exhibition opens August 28th!

Abandon Ship...

July has been a ridiculous month.  The basement work is finished (...good).  The bathroom renovation is dangerously behind schedule (...bad).  I had kidney stone surgery (...worse).  And my grandmother passed away (...awful).  My joomchi workshop at the Morgan happened (...better).  I'm taking a workshop this weekend with Velma Bolyard (...great).  And next week I'm in a four day workshop with Velma and Aimee (...awesome).

Here are a few shots of student work (below).  I was in recovery mode, so photography was not at the front of my mind.

And below you will find a very large sheet of joomchi that I made as a demo on sheet-joining.  It's about six feet by nine feet, which is a record for me...but I don't know about the rest of the world...let's just pretend it is.

Also, my indigo plants are being overwhelmed by weeds, and I can't seem to find the time to take care of them (...too many things on my plate at once...).  If anyone is interested, I'm offering a share of the final indigo crop to anybody who can help with the weeding.  It will probably take an entire day...but I will feed you.  And in a couple of months you'll get fresh indigo and some seed!

Sick+Renovations=Suck

The TAA lecture and workshop went great.  Such an enthusiastic bunch of students!  Lots of mark making...

The next workshop is at the Morgan, July 19th & 20th.  Sign up here.  Now back to fighting this summer cold.

Upcoming Events!!!!!

Don't forget that there is an amazing lecture taking place this Friday (June 27th) at 7:00 PM at the Cleveland Museum of Art.  The subject is joomchi, and the speaker is me.

Also, there are a few spaces left for the two-day joomchi workshop (June 28th & 29th)...so reserve your place before it's too late.

If you can't make the workshop this weekend sign up for my joomchi workshop at The Morgan, taking place July 19th & 20th.

If You Are Physically Able To Reserve Train Tickets In Advance For Travel On A Holiday Weekend...Maybe You Should.

The soondae was not as awesome as I remembered, but the spicy squid was great.

Michelle's new favorite pastime...being chased by the surf.

I swear, easily a third of the photos I took are of the coastline.

Amazing color...and ocean-themed iconography.