Some very special cakes, or at least cakes on an upcoming very special day, are about to spring into existence in the world, in Asheville, in our family. What better occasion on which to send some lowly violets into apotheosis?  Anyway, it was easier than I thought, should anyone ever need to know how this feat was accomplished … making certain your violets are violets and not some inedible flower, pick them. Rinse them. Dry them. Stir up an egg white (yard eggs are much more likely to be free of the sorts of bad things that sometimes live in eggs). Paint each petal back and front with egg white. Not too hard actually; the petals curve around the brush in a nice way on the back. Sprinkle each side liberally with granulated sugar. Dry on wax paper. store CAREFULLY under paper towels in a container. Place on cakes. Throw rice or birdseed but definitely your hat in the air! Remember to get a hat.

My art show is still up at NC Stage Co. in Asheville through Feb 7 so if you’re downtown … stop by from 12-5 M-F.  It’s been way more successful than I imagined. Lots of good feedback and sales, which means I’m flush with paper and ink again.  I guess that means I need to get this stuff out there somehow.  Hmmm.

Bought this Speedball Model B block printing press for about $70. I have a bunch of Speedy-Cut soft blocks which aren’t printing as well by hand as they used to.  I was hoping that the even pressure of a press-type-thing would help resuscitate them for a while. I usually use a rolling pin and/or a baren.  At the end of the little photo reel you’ll see some before and after prints.  The ‘after’ prints are the flat ones with out all of the noise holes.  I think it’s worth it. Too, it’ll make it easier on my wrist, so that’s good. I’ve read a lot of negative reviews of this press, but sometimes I wonder if people on the interweb don’t just get a little full of themselves.

And yet. After spending hours leaning over a desk height table cutting envelope shapes from butcher paper my back had some severe words for me, so, with some of my not so ill gotten gains after MY SUCCESSFUL ART SHOW! I bought a nice bit of table top and, with some sawing help from my youngest, built a table to work at standing up. In the photo it stands next to the small screen printing table I built years ago which still works great.

If you look at the picture you can see how simply they are put together. The table top is 2 inches larger than the frame all around. A few 2x4s and a table top and a bottom shelf and some nails and Bob’s your uncle. My kids actually have an Uncle Bob, so that’s always been an especially gratifying phrase in our house.  Anyway 4 legs, 4 each of a length and a width of the table top minus 4 inches. The shelf is going to be the sitting on the bottom wide boards but will not be as long as the long 4 boards. I added a couple of small 2x4s between the shelf and lower board to forstall the saggishness.

Super easy and even stands pretty well if not perfectly square. Really, isn’t forcing something to be perfectly square a bit  of a moral grey area?

Anyone out there have experience with a diy printing press? For block prints, mainly.  I’m thinking of making one with a bottle jack that you use to lift your car when you have a flat. There are some good plans out there, but I’d like to talk to a human about it.

I have about a dozen Block and Screen Prints on display at the NC Stage Company in Asheville through mid November. I rolled a big butcher paper stripe on the wall and tacked the prints on top of it. Super cheap and easy and it looks nice too. Come see or visit the ‘opening’ on 11/3 at 6-7pm!

Made these last week from those great Speedy Cut blocks. Old office equipment. Looks great and lasts more than a month.  Anyway, who doesn’t like pencil sharpeners? They’re on my etsy site.

Relearning how to develop a new emulsion. This was hand painted onto positives then developed with two 150 watt photofloods for about 5 minutes. The Diazo instruction sheet estimated 45 minutes. Go figure.

Anyway, a 3 color grolsch bottle. May add a dark grey shadow. Who knows.

Beer city and all that.