Paper Storage

• August 31st, 2005 • 2 Comments • how-to, supplies •

I have been hunting for weeks for a suitable solution to my paper storage problem. Most are 8.5″x11″ for running through the printer. There is no room in the ol’ home office for another file cabinet to put them in, and no room on the desk for a stack of unsightly shelves. What to do, what to do? Build your own paper storage unit!1. Go to the office supply store and buy a big box of hanging file folders, enough to accommodate the different number of paper types you have. Me, I got mine off of the clearance table for 50 cents.

2. Go to the hardware store and buy two 4′ lengths of chain. I got mine for 39 cents/foot; not sure what gauge it is but it’s about the same thickness as the 7/8″ brass cup hooks I also purchased for 69 cents. You want to make sure the file folder will hang on the type of chain you buy. (I bought cup hooks to screw into a door. If you want to do this project on a wall, buy wall hooks that are appropriately strong.)

3. Go home. Screw the two cup hooks into the door approximately 11.5″ apart on a horizontal level.

4. Hang chains from cup hooks

5. Fill file folder with paper, and hook the file folder hooks into a link of chain so that the folder hangs evenly. Viola!

It’s so simple, it’s stupid. Now my paper is off the ground, out of my way, and super-organized. I suspect this project could be modified to hold larger projects, provided you put bolts into wall studs to hold the weight.

 

Thinking Out Loud

• August 25th, 2005 • 2 Comments • meandering, supplies, texas •

It’s too hot out! The temperatures the last few weeks have been unbearable in the studio. Last week was so humid, I could turn on the faucet and water would just hang there in the saturated air. This week there have been triple digits all week long. Sadly this means no working in the studio. I’ve brought items to work on up in my apartment but there are too many distractions; television and my computer being the main culprits. In addition, my computer desk is no place to do art! I am one of those people that needs for all items I am using to be spread out so I can see them; there is absolutely no room for this kind of nonsense in our office. The evening brings no relief from the heat or the humidity for that matter.

Lousy heat, why can’t you be cooler? The poor studio is such a mess. My parents recently moved and I acquired several new items, including a table saw and an air compressor. But with this heat I cannot re-arrange the studio to accommodate, or use for that matter, my new toys. How frustrating!

It always seems that the “To-Do” list piles up when one is unable to “Do.” Thus far the agenda includes:

1. organizing sketches from 2004 into some sort of cohesive notebook.
2. case several naked book blocks!
3. paint large painting on new canvas, er, first build frame
4. build structure to house: paper, boards, completed artwork, prints
5. re-arrange studio for actual use

I’d like to spend some time on item #4. Storage is fast becoming a big problem. It’s probably one of the bigger ones I’m facing. What is the best way for me to store accumulated paper, mat boards, illustration boards, finished prints, et cetera? My best plan so far involves constructing a 4′x4′x4′ rolling cube with shelves. If I built it to my ideal specifications, it has the potential to skyrocket to roughly $200. Outch. That’s similar to the price that keeps me from buying pre-made shelves. After some more calculatin’, I discovered that I could shave it down to $130 if I didn’t put my box on wheels. My father suggested creating a sort of “skeleton” of the box, using 1″x2″ boards. This bodes well for the money, but I fear it’s impractical for actual storage. (There’s no protection from flying paint or dust.)

This opens the option for vertical storage, which I loathe: it leaves my boards all bent and warped. I want the cube, as it not only will provide nice flat storage, but also a super-duper-rolling work surface. The only major disadvantage to the cube is it’s weight. I don’t plan on being in the apartment garage forever; lifting that mother into a U-Haul would probably kill me. The cube’s weight quickly increases with the thickness of the board I want to use, another drawback. What’s a girl to do? I have NO idea.

 

Is Bear!

• August 23rd, 2005 • 1 Comments • Uncategorized •

Haha, sweet. I got a drawing onto Conan vs. Bear. I like the concept for this site; there exists a thesis and everyone sends in their concept of that thesis. Granted, I’m not sure many teachers would submit the idea of late night host Conan O’Brien versus a Bear for the final. But aren’t we all versus some kind of bear? Isn’t it nice of Conan to take on that bear for us all? Wouldn’t the world be better if there were more Conans taking on Bears?

Naw, I’m just kidding. It’s just plain good comedy.

 

Cleanliness is next to Rapidographness

• August 9th, 2005 • 7 Comments • cleaning, how-to, pens •

It’s time to clean the ol’ Rapidos again; they’ve been out in the summer heat and have crusted up as they tend to do when it’s hot and dry. So what better way to celebrate the Zen of Cleaning than taking something tiny apart, cleaning it thoroughly then putting it back together only to fill it up with a black staining fluid? Beats me. (Heck, this is the second post on cleaning technical pens.) Paragraphs with a fist (☛) at the end indicate that the picture has a link to a more detailed picture.

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For cleaning, I recommend buying a Rapidograph cleaning kit. You know, the one with cleaning solution and the little bulb. Most of ‘em cost about ten bucks. Steep? Not when you consider how much the pen mechanism itself costs. A cleaning kit is well-worth the investment and can put years on the pen. You should also have on hand: paper towels to set the pen parts out on to dry and to clean; an old toothbrush (Run it through the dishwasher if you’ve used it! Blech!); cotton swabs; a pen key (shoulda come with the pen); some sort of old food container or jar (again, clean); and headphones with some nice trance or soothing music for that extra-meditative experience.

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This pen is a .60; a little larger than the .00 that most folks get. Still, these pens work exactly the same. It’s well-traveled; I took it to Europe and penned my diary whilst there (sounds so romantic!) and draw with it constantly. As a pen-mistress, I am abusive. Look at the dust! Who knows what managed to get up in the well when it was sitting out. Blech. ☛

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First thing to do is take the pen apart. Everything on the Rapidograph unscrews or gently pulls apart; there’s no snapping or difficult pushing. Everyone knows the first twist; you gotta refill the ink well! Twist the black pen top off at the colored band.

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Next, gently pull the inkwell off. Mine was filled with gummy/watered down ink, so I just rinsed it off and added a little pen-cleaning solution and set it aside.

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Remember that little circular thingy that came with the pen? That’s the pen key. It opens a magical world of…not really. It opens the pen and gets down to the icky bits that really need cleaning. Place the key over the point of the pen and gently twist. Keep twisting and one should have…

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…removed the innards from the outer casing. Ewwwww, look at all that crusty build-up! No wonder I haven’t been getting any pen-writin’ action. ☛

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First, a cold-water rinse. Running water is a must, especially if the pen is filled with black ink, otherwise your cleaning water will become black and unclean after the first dip!

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Scrubby scrub! But be gentle; the brush is just to loosen the dirt. If the pen is very dirty, or even dry then just leave it in the cleaning solution for a bit.

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Time for some pumping. The pen top neatly screws into the pump that comes with the cleaning kit.

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Pumped and ready to go! Haha! I have had my pens for a while, so I use two different cleaning solutions. One is my “dirty” jar and one is my “clean” jar. I use the dirty jar to get the big chunks and excess ink off. After a time, cleaning solutions can get pretty scummy, but still work. They just leave a little bit more scum on the pen for the likes of me.

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Take the pump and immerse the pen tip into the solution and gently squeeze. Then, gently release. Patience time! The bulb will slowly fill with cleaning solution; when it’s full gently squeeze the bulb to push out the cleaning solution. It will bubble and carry one, producing all sorts of dirtiness. Repeat, depending on how dirty the pen is. ☛

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That ol’ jar will come in handy. Fill it with clean, cool water and dip the pen tip in and repeat the slow, gentle squeezing.

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The water will be quite dirty. Check out the chunks on the bottom!

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Time for the clean solution! For this one, I like to keep the clean solution clean. Before dipping it in, first squeeze the bulb, then dip it into the solution, sucking up fresh cleaner.

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Repeat the process of blowing out the pen in the tub of water (Make sure you put fresh water in first!). Notice that the water is much cleaner after squeezing the bulb in and out this time.

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Most folks could stop there. Rinse off the pen with water and let it dry. But I ain’t most folks! Take it one step further. Unscrew the pen top from the bulb and turn it over. See that little plastic cap? Gently wiggle it off. This will give you access to the pin. ☛

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The pin is directly below that plastic cap. When I say gently remove it, I mean it. The pin is the most delicate and important part of the pen. If you bend it, it can ruin the way ink flows. So be nice! To remove, simply pull it straight out. ☛

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The whole pen head has been disassembled. Now you can scrub the whole pen from the inside out, using the bulb and cleaning solutions. Everything should be rinsed thoroughly with water then placed onto a paper towel to air dry. It’s not necessary to disassemble the pen to this degree every time one cleans, but I love taking things apart and putting them back together again. For people with a more exciting life, taking the whole durn thing apart is really only handy when a pen has been left dormant for about 6 months. ☛

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But what about the ink well? It’s been just sitting there. Ah-ha, that’s what the cotton swabs are for. Simply insert and swish around with the cleaning solution dropped in earlier. Oh, is the pen cap dirty? Just do the same thing to it. (Remember to rinse rinse rinse!)

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Ahh, the reassembled pen top, complete with a shiny clean ink well. How does one put the pen back together? Why, simply follow the above steps in reverse. (Well, except for all of the cleaning, because that would negate the whole exercise, now wouldn’t it?) Would you look at the top of that pen? Whotta difference! No more scunge, Now I can fill up the well with some fresh ink and get back to what I really want to do: draw! ☛

 

More Photo Screens

• August 7th, 2005 • 0 Comments • how-to, screen printing •

Busy weekend! Some of my girlfriends and I like to periodically get together for a “Craft Day” where we make stuff. One of my friends really wanted to use the new exposure unit I rigged up, and another wanted to make candles, as she was running low. (That and I had a huge bag of old crayons.) I’ll happily go over the candle bit later; for now I’ll share how the screen unit works.

Please note that until the screen is ready to be developed and subsequently to be washed out, the room was dark.

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1) The coated screen sitting around drying. Two mistakes were made on this screen.One, the coating is uneven: thick spots have the potential to cause problems when washing out the screen. There should be a nice, thin coat so that when the image is developing it all develops evenly. The thick coat won’t develop at the same time as the thin coat, so when wash out time comes, thick areas won’t wash out!Two, I put a fan directly in front of the screen. Normally I use fans for drying everything. This time there was an unforeseen problem with the fan blowing dust and small bugs (!) onto the screen’s surface. Fortunately these didn’t land on any parts that would be difficult to fill in later on, but the bug chunks definitely cause uneven coating.

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2) Putting the screen on the unit. I have an old file box the screen sits on. Ideally this should be black, but eh, I’m cheap. This photo doesn’t show it off well but the box sits inside the screen, while the image will be placed on the back of the screen. What we’re doing here is minimizing light that comes in on the wrong side of the screen.

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3) So, what kind of image do you need? Since all we have is the cheapo home setup with 100 watt bulbs, the image needs to be 100% black on something like an overhead transparency. (A higher wattage would likely help to penetrate an image on tracing paper, but remember, I’m cheap. New bulbs would mean new lamps, and that means money!) When I say 100% black, I mean it! Don’t use your home inkjet, the ink isn’t opaque. Go down to your local copy shop and make identical copies onto three separate transparency sheets. This way you can physically layer them. (Running one sheet through typically doesn’t work well; copiers will misalign your image.)The first time, the image should be really simple. My friend had never done this before, so she picked a really simple egg-man picture. The lines are really crisp and clean, with little room for error. This way, it’s easier to see what the screen should look like in all its stages.

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4) Developing the picture my friend found. Filebox, screen, image, glass, fan. The glass goes on top of the image to keep it from moving around, and keeps minimal area between the screen and the image. (Thus keeping light from going in between it.) Rather than blow small bugs onto the screen in this step, it keeps everything slightly cooler. (Heat will develop the screen as well as light. Keep the room cool!)

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5) It done be developed! It was hard to see so in the dark, but the developing solution is actually bright green before it goes under the light. The bit that remained under the image stayed bright green while the rest turned more of an aqua color. This shot shows the “bugs” (har har, get it?) that occurred while the screen was drying. The big white spots are where the lil’ guys landed.

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6) Washing out using my snappy setup I made! The development was nice and clean; the image washed out well.

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7) Almost there, just a bit left. The screen is nice and clear. Fortunately, the “buggy” areas aren’t causing too many problems. All in all, this screen came out really well. It should be interesting to see how my friend’s image prints up.
Whew! All that work, and I don’t even get to print the screen. Humph! Guess that means I better get on top of ordering some new material for those old screens I got. Which means I need to get some money, which means I need a steady job, which means…

 

Production

• August 2nd, 2005 • 0 Comments • meandering, painting •

There haven’t been any new posts or updates to the site recently. I came to the very happy realization that it is because I am producing work! Not busy, not distracted, producing!

It has also been noted that I have a large and growing amount of drawings and watercolors on office paper samples. I am considering putting together some sort of collection, and am partially curious as to whether or not I could get a show of them somewhere. Their cohesiveness is pretty strong, and they look good together. However, I’m not entirely sure about the local artists’ associations. I had considered joining; upon further investigation most of the art is not abstract, nor is it conceptual; thus I am not sure about the camraderie available. Watch though, I’ll go to one of their meetings and everything will be fine. Maybe they need an abstract/conceptual artist about?

Flipping through the Tamarind book I found has put a bee in my bonnet: I want to print! Sadly, it’s been over a year since I have run something through a press. (Last time was my trip to Glasgow; I still haven’t printed an edition of the damn lovely plate I made over there.) Money has been tight, so I have been unable to purchase new screen material for those old screen frames I found: no serigraphy either. This needs to be rectified…

In the meantime, watercolor is proving to be a good substitute—plus I found a new adding machine! Well, “new” being the operative word. It’s a 1980s model Canon printing calculator. Makes delightful tapes of numbers and the current roll of paper takes watercolor and ink well. Perhaps I’ll put up a digital gallery of the tape paintings, I’m pleased with how they’re turning out.