Year of Chemistry 2011 - Printmakers Periodic Table Honored

Jenn Schmitt, the originator of our Printmakers Periodic Table of the Elements has sent some exciting news on about the project. Jenn can be contacted about the project at periodictableprints@gmail.com . The Printmaking Periodic Table of the Elements can be seen at the following website: http://azuregackle.com/periodictable/table/ My print is Rutherfordium, an element created in a race between Russia and the US by blasting various elements together at high energies. The stuff of mad scientists!

• The Printmakers Periodic Table is being honored as part of the Year of Chemistry, 2011. The September issue of Chem 13 News magazine features the Printmaking Periodic Table as the centerfold! Their website is http://www.chem13news.uwaterloo.ca/ Copies of the magazine can be obtained by contacting the editor, Jean Hein at jhein@uwaterloo.ca . Each copy is $5 (I guess Canadian). The address to contact for copies of the newsletter is:

Chem 13 news

Department of Chemistry

University of Waterloo

Waterloo, Ontario

N2L 3G1 Canada

• The Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia will be showing the Printmaking Periodic Table at a show called Elemental Matters: Artists Imagine Chemistry. The show celebrates 2011, International Year of Chemistry and features 97 artists' works from all over the globe. The opening is February 4, 2011. The shows should be fabulous, there is a wide variety of techniques and interpretations at play. I hope some of us can get to the shows.

Gelatin Printmaking

When I first moved to my present home I didn't have my press available so underwent printmaking withdrawal.

I started using gelatin plates to make monoprints as I could do this in my kitchen.

Here are some tips:

• Use unflavored gelatin but double the amount of gelatin to water that the package states. You don't need anything but your palm to get good contact of the plate and paper.

• Although Nancy Marculewicz in Making Monoprints Using a Gelatin Plate uses various types of inks, I found that Speedball inexpensive inks with an extender work the best.

• The paper used for Scallops is I think Arches 88 which was the best of the stiffer papers for picking up the ink. Thinner, flexible but strong papers such as mulberry work well for gelatin plate printmaking.

Nautilus is another monoprint and as you can see you can combine gelatin printmaking with other methods such as xerox transfers. Both Scallops and Nautilus are examples of layering of inks, even with Speedball water based inks you can layer colors quite well. Because the ink dries fast you don't have to wait long to add another layer.

Clay Relief Etching - My History

The first clay relief etching I made and printed in 1997 in Linda Neely's workshop in CT is Trumpet Shell. Oil based Graphic Chemical (GC) inks are used, mixed with EZWipe. The plate is printed in color in a single printing. The intaglio is printed with burnt umber GC ink, the relief is a la poupee* with GC oil based inks. The same method was used on my second plate, also created during that first workshop. Scallops. Linda said this wouldn't print well as it had too much "architecture". The plate did print although it did crack under pressure of the press. I think that adds an old world flavor and I love this print. Some people believe that if prints are not identical these should be called monoprints. With new and different materials and printmaking methods the lines between what you call the method and how you number it are blurred. Hope you liked this, more to come in the future! * a la poupee means that the ink is applied to the surface of the etching plate prior to printing.

OMG - Here I Am!!!

I am always two steps back one step forward - now that Twittering (whatever that is) is the latest thing, here I am posting a BLOG.

I hope the US contingent had a great Thanksgiving. OMG (another one) it is December 1st already. This morning the water from yesterday's rain was frozen in pools on the sidewalk. Disheartening. It is hard to believe I didn't move south when I could, but here we are in the frozen tundra for yet another winter season. Ah well, it is beautiful here up on the coast.

Please visit my Photobucket site (see links to right) and poke around. Here is one of my monoprints/chine colle' prints from a Ron Pokrasso workshop Revised Ductwork for Water Treatment: