Author: lauramchugh

I had some homework for the photo transfer class, since I will probably be at the Statue of Liberty on Saturday while class is taking place. The assignment was to get more photos onto the ProntoPlate substrate. This is a linotype material that is used to transfer images much the same as the gum arabic method on paper. So I figure – easy squeezy – since I’m feeling rather accomplished with gum arabic. With ProntoPlate – not so much.

The image making in Photoshop, and printing with fewer lines per inch on the laser jet all went well. The images on the ProntoPlate material came out of the printer looking great. I mixed up the ink according to directions and also wetted the paper, as per the usual instructions. However, the image transfer was pretty yucky. I am probably not mixing the ink quite right, though I figured out that I should take some off the brayer before putting the brayer to the plate by using the phone book. Two images – no good transfers.

There is learning in failure, but I will have to rely upon my friend Nancy, who is also taking the class, to see where I went wrong with these.

This Photo Transfer class I’m taking at the Pacific Art League, taught by Julia Nelson-Gal yesterday was really good. Thankfully, Julia was sympathetic to me not being there next week, so she shifted the things we will do around a bit. Instead of doing the xerox transfer, we did solar plates. We took our own photos and Julia first walked us step-by-step through the modifications needed to make a solar plate in Photoshop. Everyone had their laptop there and we all worked the steps together. That was fun and you know how I love Photoshop, so learning that set of skills was important.

Then, we printed our photos onto this stuff that looks like a transparency, but is a special material with emulsion on one side called Pictorico. You take that little image and trim it down to the plate size (we did 5x7s) and then go into a semi-darkroom. In there, Julia had this box she’d made with UV lights. You put the transparency on the plate which also has this emulsion stuff on it – a plastic layer that is light sensitive – and you expose it, like you would do a photo in a real darkroom. Once that plate has been exposed, which only takes about 90 sec, then you put it in water and rinse and gently brush the surface with a mushroom cleaning brush. The plastic that was not exposed rinses off, leaving this barely visible image of divits in the areas where your image was exposed. Those divits are where the ink will take later. Some of us with darker areas on our photos used an aquatint screen to lay in a very very slight (not visible to the naked eye) layer of dots that prevents the darker areas from “biting.”

We had some challenges with what side had emulsion on it, but we figured it out. Then we went back upstairs to the print room and printed our plates. You take the same sort of ink we’ve been using at Aurobora, and mix it a little differently for what is basically etching. Julia showed us how the ink is supposed to look as far as the flow of the ink on the mix knife. You use a little hard plastic scraperto scrape in back and forth over the plate. Ink goes down into the tiny little places where the plastic was burned out and then you wipe the plate with that stiff tarletan (think stiff cheesecloth). I don’t think cheesecloth would work here, unless its been stiffened by use with ink. All this has to be done carefully so as not to scratch that plastic plate, though the UV light has hardened it somewhat, but it is like any other plate – a heavy material or an accidental brush up against something sharp will leave a mark.

Here’s my transparency:

Here’s my solar plate:

And here’s my final print:

I am volunteering to do art with seniors at a local senior daycare center. I have taught art classes with children in the past – at elementary school level in a program modeled after FAME, and also at the Hayward Area Park and Recreation District’s Ashland Community Center. These prior experiences facilitating art-making were so enriching to me – seeing the amazing art kids will make and being in the midst of their enthusiasm too, which is infectious.

I had gone to the senior center a couple of weeks ago, just to meet the people, and see the area where we would be working. They are a delightful group of men and women who come to this facility from 10-2 daily to visit, have lunch, and do various activities. I realized after visiting with them, that art projects I’d done with the kids were probably going to require some modification. These seniors have varying levels of mobility, fine motor control, and some have mild demensia. So, I chose to have them make butterflies. I wanted a project that had some structure to it, was easy to do in less than the hour we had for the activity and that would have them take something home with them.

We used No. 4 coffee filters which I had cut notches out of to paint on and make the wings of butterflies using tempera paint. Some of the participants decided using two filters on each project would look good, and the results were some luscious insects. The filters were scrunched in the middle and hot glued to a clothespin I had spray painted black before class. We hot glued on some pipe cleaners for antennae too. Click in on the collaged image to see better detail.

Lots of fun! Here they all are with their creations.

Another great workshop at Aurobora over the weekend. We watched people streaming by to see the Giants play the Phillies, while munching on a beautiful ham quiche and a birthday brownie cake for one of the workshop participants. I continued to refine my xerox transfer technique, which I will post photos of tomorrow.

I started workshop #3 with the intent to spend the first day doing “warm ups.” I was thinking about how we warm up to sing, play the piano, run, etc. but we don’t really allow ourselves art warm up time. Instead, the pressure is on to create a masterpiece from the get go.

In printmaking and especially monotypes, there is even more pressure to create that amazing piece, and there is a lot of thought that really should go in to planning and executing the piece, especially if there are multiple layers to be pulled on the press. So, I worked on color, general composition and some technique for the first part of Day #1.

Here are some of the results:

Here are more prints using the xerox transfer. I am really enjoying being able to take photos I’ve taken that were inspiring, but not so useful to me as I am not truly a photographer, and putting them to work in the mediums I love.

This xerox transfer is especially nice for high contrast photos. I like taking photos of power poles, electrical and other process equipment, and trees.

And you may notice that I added a little something to Tank 302, in the upper right corner.