Ive decided to update the index to a static work in progress. Eventually I want a system of Postcards for each Artwork/Project. For my own site I’m only interested in supporting browsers I actually use: Firefox/Chrome. In Chrome/Safari I’m making use of 3D transforms to animate the postcards flipping. In Firefox it simply cuts straight to the other side, crude but its obvious that it has “flipped”.
The “flip” will occur if JavaScript is disabled on :hover after js enhancement the :hover rules are removed from the Postcards.css stylesheet via the DOM and the animation happens when the class ‘flipped’ is toggled.
I decided that the back of the postcard would have no rotation on x/y as it makes it easier to read and the font behaves in Firefox and Safari the font can look a bit chunk on some angles the text in Firefox would jump up and down as if aligned to a jagged line, Chrome does a really nice job – I really need to start using it more than Firefox, hard to break the habit but Firefox still doesn’t support 3D transforms lest time I checked.
A lot of the pics I had on Flickr gotz deleted by mistake so there’s a few pages of empty images :( – Will work on fixing but too tired now :P
This is a drawing I made with Charcoal layed directly on the ground using shovels and rakes (1998). It was aprox. 12 meters wide. Location: Charles creek, Alice Springs 800 meters from the house I grew up in.
Stone rolled up with Crayon black after 1st process. Errr I think my etch was way off haven’t printed yet but I can clearly see inconsistencies in the material. The really dark patches should flow into the rest but I suspect because I had used a soft crayon in those areas and copal in the others it made the etch to unstable. Next time Ill stick to copal and tusche which usually have the same weak etch. Im going to print and possibly redraw/etch some areas to see what I get.
Spillage
Melway
Drawn in reverse obviously so it will transfer to paper forwards.
I was recently awarded a 6 month scholarship at the Australian Print Workshop which is awesome! It’s been a while since I’ve worked in printmaking but I majored in printmaking at VCA 1999-2001. My plan is to work with multiple colour lithographs, yeah I’m being a bit ambitious but I don’t want to scared off and this would be the perfect time to do such things.
I’ve decided on my first prototype just to get a few things worked out. I want the works to mostly be a series of tusche washes but will also have other pencil & crayon marks.
The purpose of this prototype (possibly a few others) is to investigate results of mixing tusche with various solubles and different levels of reticulation vs solidity of ’shade’ & to test registration techniques (I’m thinking smaller works may be harder to register tho, well that large works would be more forgiving of fractional misalignment.
CartoonFaux Lithograph from separate black sketches used as colour masks (digitally).
Lithography uses simple chemical processes to create an image. For instance, the positive part of an image is a hydrophobic, or “water hating” substance, while the negative image would be hydrophilic or “water loving”. Thus, when the plate is introduced to a compatible printing ink and water mixture, the ink will adhere to the positive image and the water will clean the negative image. wikipedia
What this means is Lithography is a chemical process rather than physical (ink sitting on raised areas or in groves) it works at a molecular level.
Lithography works because of the mutual repulsion of oil and water. The image is drawn on the surface of the print plate with a fat or oil-based medium (hydrophobic) such as a wax crayon, which may be pigmented to make the drawing visible. A wide range of oil-based media is available, but the durability of the image on the stone depends on the lipid content of the material being used, and its ability to withstand water and acid. Following the drawing of the image, an aqueous solution of gum arabic, weakly acidified with nitric acid HNO3 is applied to the stone. The function of this solution is to create a hydrophilic layer of calcium nitrate salt, Ca(NO3)2, and gum arabic on all non-image surfaces. The gum solution penetrates into the pores of the stone, completely surrounding the original image with a hydrophilic layer that will not accept the printing ink. Using lithographic turpentine, the printer then removes any excess of the greasy drawing material, but a hydrophobic molecular film of it remains tightly bonded to the surface of the stone, rejecting the gum arabic and water, but ready to accept the oily ink. When printing, the stone is kept wet with water. Naturally the water is attracted to the layer of gum and salt created by the acid wash. Printing ink based on drying oils such as linseed oil and varnish loaded with pigment is then rolled over the surface. The water repels the greasy ink but the hydrophobic areas left by the original drawing material accept it.
When the hydrophobic image is loaded with ink, the stone and paper are run through a press which applies even pressure over the surface, transferring the ink to the paper and off the stone.wikipedia
