CARDBOARD CUT UPS!

I received this e-mail from Bonnie, one of my favorite students (who become new friends!)
"Today I was meeting with some other artists...and I was raving about your newly organized studio---how inspiring it was to see on your blog.

So, until I took your San Diego class and learned about texture, etc., mine was neat as a pin, also. Now its a mess, and overflowing. Your fault! Some stuff is even in boxes in the pool house. And the stuff piled on the floor, and the rolling file cabinet, there is just no place else to put it that I can think of."

Nice try but I only accept responsibility for my own messes! I should have a disclaimer: Work with me at your own risk!

The good news is I have discovered a wonderful use for corrugated cardboard in a new book "Art From Intuition" by Dean Nimmer, Watson Guptill Publications. Among lots of wonderful ideas was this cardboard printing idea. I have photographed the tools I used. First I drew the design onto the cardboard. I easily made corrections knowing they wouldn't show in the final print. Then I had to decide which parts to leave solid and which to cut away. Using an exacto knife, I scored the cardboard and peeled away the paper. I found one of the tools to a cheap clay sculpting set (Michael's Craft Store) was perfect for cleaning off the paper between the ribs. I felt like a hygienist at the Dentist office...nice to be on the other side of the scraping for a change!! I forgot to reverse the drawing but will try to make a note for next time. In my enthusiastic haste to see how it would print, I forgot to coat the cardboard with gloss varnish medium. After wasting ink and several sheets of paper, I decided to reread the directions. Ha! I guess I skipped an important step. I put two coats of varnish on. Amazingly, I didn't have gloss but I did have what is in the photo. It worked pretty well. I think the gloss will give a smoother surface for the ink. It's on my shopping list. I originally used red oxide for the ink so that color is under the varnish on the plate. I did the final print, with decent results, using Ultramarine Blue ink. The image I designed doesn't look that exciting, so I will do something more with it tomorrow. The barren I used to burnish the back of the paper, transferring the ink from the cardboard to the paper, was found in the cake decorating section of Michael's. It works very nicely for my purposes.

I think this cut cardboard has interesting potential and I have plenty of this material to work with. Check out Belinda Del Pesco's blog (click on my blog title for a direct link). She is a real print maker and has a great way to use scrap foam board for printing. Her images are stunning. Ideas abound!