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Started out the day shoveling. When it snowed on Thursday, it took me twenty minutes to clear the driveway. Today, it took Cyn and I nearly an hour to clear *much* of it. And it still wasn't very heavy snow. It was almost a foot deep (where it wasn't drifted or piled by the plow - which was almost everywhere). So I didn't get out to my dad's until after 1:00.
My dad was printing from a very large stone. The stone is about the same size as the bed of his press. He'd never done one anywhere near that big, so he was a little nervous. It's the first time he'd ever had to ink an image that was wider than his roller. He'd pulled a proof yesterday, and the print turned out well, but the process went poorly. I think he figured it out pretty well because today everything went fairly smoothly. He had a little trouble because there was a light area in the middle of the image that he tried to compensate for, but we only had three rejected prints and thirty good ones.
My duties consisted of keeping the mylar sheet properly greased (to help the paper and stone slide under the press bar), and keeping the stone wet while dad wasn't inking it. I cranked a few through the press, too, when my dad needed a bit of a break. I also helped him count inking passes. That doesn't sound like much (and it wasn't), but he couldn't have printed it without me (he said).
I get to have my chop mark on the prints, as assistant printer (if I can find my embosser). That's kind of cool.
I really like the picture. It is looking up at the roofs and steeple of the St. Joan of Arc Chapel at Marquette University in Milwaukee. It was built in the 1400s, so it could be the oldest building in America (except, of course for some structures built by natives, but none of those are stil in use, and this one is actually being used for its original purpose). It was built in France, and incorporates a rock that Joan herself stood on while she prayed, and then kissed. It was abandoned for centuries until an architect found it and had it sold to a rich woman who had it moved to her home on Long Island. The subsequent owners donated it to the university and it was moved again. So there. Strange what you find in your home town.
My dad was printing from a very large stone. The stone is about the same size as the bed of his press. He'd never done one anywhere near that big, so he was a little nervous. It's the first time he'd ever had to ink an image that was wider than his roller. He'd pulled a proof yesterday, and the print turned out well, but the process went poorly. I think he figured it out pretty well because today everything went fairly smoothly. He had a little trouble because there was a light area in the middle of the image that he tried to compensate for, but we only had three rejected prints and thirty good ones.
My duties consisted of keeping the mylar sheet properly greased (to help the paper and stone slide under the press bar), and keeping the stone wet while dad wasn't inking it. I cranked a few through the press, too, when my dad needed a bit of a break. I also helped him count inking passes. That doesn't sound like much (and it wasn't), but he couldn't have printed it without me (he said).
I get to have my chop mark on the prints, as assistant printer (if I can find my embosser). That's kind of cool.
I really like the picture. It is looking up at the roofs and steeple of the St. Joan of Arc Chapel at Marquette University in Milwaukee. It was built in the 1400s, so it could be the oldest building in America (except, of course for some structures built by natives, but none of those are stil in use, and this one is actually being used for its original purpose). It was built in France, and incorporates a rock that Joan herself stood on while she prayed, and then kissed. It was abandoned for centuries until an architect found it and had it sold to a rich woman who had it moved to her home on Long Island. The subsequent owners donated it to the university and it was moved again. So there. Strange what you find in your home town.
