PRINT SHOP HOW-TO: RE-STRETCH YOUR SILKSCREEN FRAME
Not too long ago Chrissy and I purchased a hand silk screen stretcher online. I think we were both in agreement that shipping ripped screens to Toronto to have another company re-stretch and ship them back to us was becoming a hassle and too expensive. We purchased our stretcher from a company call ASC365. I’ve recently gone through the process of re-stretching 20 silkscreen frames and wanted to take a moment to share my experience. Even before we begin I’d like to mention that this tool is fantastic and I recommend it.
How to re-stretch mesh onto an aluminum frame:
1. First, take the broken screen and cut a ‘plus’ sign into the mesh. I found that this gave me a good starting point to ripping the mesh off. When I tried using a X cut from corner to corner, it left a lot of remaining screen debris towards the corners. Rip the mesh along one edge towards the corner, then rip the other edge towards the same corner, now rip the corner section off. Repeat this for all the edges.
2. You may see that there are bits of mesh still remaining glued down near the corner, try to remove what you can by picking at it and hopefully you can pull it off. I found that using a utility knife helped in removing the last bits. Don’t worry too much if there is some remaining, when we grind the frame it’ll come off.
3. If you can, go outside and set-up a work table. You will be grinding aluminum and thus creating dust, so doing this process inside the studio was a big ‘no go’. You will need several tools. A metal grinder with a grinding disk, palm sander with 80-120 grid sand paper, particle respirator (not a dust mask, a real respirator, protect your lungs), gloves, clamps, and safety goggles.
4. I clamped the screen down to the table, and begun lightly grinding the frame. The idea is to remove all the glue off the frame and at the same time give the frame tooth to accept a new layer of glue. When you’re grinding the frame you’ll want to be careful not to spend too much time in one spot otherwise you may grind a pit into the frame, and that’s not good.
5. Afterward I used the palm sander to quickly run around the whole frame, this cleaned up some (not all) ink stains, hardened emulsions, or weird glue deposits from tape. When finished rub the frame clean with a rag.
6. Set-up a large station inside, I had to push to a couple desks together. I recommend that you avoid using the floor as a work surface, the mesh is oddly charged with static electricity and will pick up all the dirt off the floor. The stretcher we bought came disassembled in 8 pieces and was really easy to build following the manufacturers instruction.
7. Once the system is set-up and the frame in place, coat the frame with a layer of glue. We purchased the glue from the same company that sold us the stretcher, it is clearly an extremely strong contact cement. I recommend that you open a window and wear a vapor rated respirator mask.
8. It takes 8-10 minutes for the glue to become ‘dry to the touch’. At this point lock into the stretcher your desired new mesh. Crank all the clamps down onto the mesh and begin stretching each side a little bit at a time. You can buy a tension meter which will tell you exactly what tension of the screen is or I compared the tension to another commercially stretched screen we had in the studio.
9. When you’re happy with the tension cut a piece of cardboard slightly smaller than the interior of the frame and place it on the screen. Now apply a second layer of glue to the frame. The cardboard prevents any stringy bits of glue from falling onto the middle of the screen. Like I mentioned earlier the screen has a lot of static electricity and so it tends to attract the stingy glue. Once done let the frame sit for 25 minutes.
10. When you loosen all the clamps and remove your newly stretched frame cut off the excess screen mesh. Finally, use metal foil tape (purchased from a hardware store in the duct working aisle ) to cover the glued side of the screen. That’s it, finished.
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ETCHING WORKSHOP WITH MOIRA SECONDARY
In anticipation of starting up workshops again I have decided to reflect on our most recent workshop at the new studio with a group of high school students from Belleville. Over the past few years we’ve worked hard to build a good relationship with the different schools around the area. We see art as a truly beneficial experience for any young person. Art provides youth with a place to express themselves in an open and nurturing space and we love giving a young person a chance to participate in an environment where they can freely be who they want to be.
This past fall we had the pleasure of hosting a two day etching workshop with a group of art students from Moira Secondary. Their teacher Rosanne Duke (a big supporter of the studio) she asked if her class could learn intaglio printmaking with us through the process of etching. We have done this workshop with Loyalist in the past and it has been a huge success so we jumped on the chance to share this very old process with her students.
This was the first big workshop we have held in our new space, making it a bit nerve-racking. With over 20 students we weren’t too sure how the space would hold-up, but to our surprise it turned out very well. We first went to their classroom to give each student their pre-grounded plates and the step-by-step instruction on how to carve their image. Then the entire class came to Picton to print their plates on our press. Each student had the chance to make an edition of four prints in two different colours. During the first half of the studio day students were timidly working with the inks and using the press but by the second half they were experimenting with different application processes and producing some really inspiring pieces.
If you are interested in learning about etching be sure to sign-up for our January Etching Workshop >> find out more here <<
JANUARY WORKSHOP // ETCHING WEEKEND
This introductory course requires no previous experience with printmaking. Students will begin the lesson with fresh copper plates and learn how to transform them into a small edition of prints. This workshop will teach students a non-toxic form of etching and will include hard ground techniques, aquatinting and soft ground techniques. By the end of the course students will have an understanding of the basic principles of printmaking including the above etching processes along with working with printing inks and using a traditional etching press.
Weekend workshop
January 21 & 22
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
$200.00 non-member
$185.00 member
*materials included
WORKSHOPS
We just posted our upcoming workshops for October, November and December. There will be one workshop a month and our October workshop is relief printing. This introductory workshop will provide students of all experience levels with the knowledge to cut and print their own relief print. This three day workshop will take students step-by-step through the process of transferring an image, carving a blank linoleum block and printing a three colour reduction print.
3 day workshop
October 27, 28 and 29th
11:00 – 1:00 PM OR 6:00 – 8:00 PM
$150.00 non-member or $140.00 member
GUEST LECTURE AND WORKSHOP
We are very excited to soon be sharing our studio space with professor of print and innovative artist Nicolai Sarafov. Sarafov will be traveling from Germany to visit friends at Blizzmax Gallery this August. During his stay in P.E.C. he will be hosting a week long etching workshop, as well as an artist lecture.
About the Instructor:
Nicolai Sarafov studied for five years at the College of Fine Arts in Sofia, followed by six years at the Munich Academy. His etchings are figurative, narrative, filled with a literary references and rich with critical humour. Sarafov has been teaching for 25 + years, he has published a number of catalogues, books and magazines and has exhibited internationally.
About the Workshop:
The etching workshop with Nicolai will be a week long workshop starting Monday 8th and ending Friday 12th. The workshop will walk you through the various techniques of the etching process, including hardground etching and aquatint. You will learn about working with copper plates to create images and using an etching press to transfer your work to paper. The workshop is open to all levels, including experienced printmakers.
$250 (includes material fee) Monday, August 8 – Friday, August 12 6:00 – 9:00 PM
About the Lecture:
Here Sarafov will speak about his work, his founding of the “Institute for Bagonalistik” and his publications.
Sunday, August 7 Starts as 2:00 PM FREE *limited seating*
Please contact chrissy@sparkboxstudio.com to book for the workshop or the lecture.
MAKING A WEBSITE
If you’re like me you may find that you procrastinate on the things that you aren’t that confident doing. For example, building a website for your work. You may not know what templates work best for artists, maybe you are unsure of where to look to get your hosting or domain (maybe you don’t even know what those words are), whatever the case, having a website that shows your work, bio and CV is very important when starting your career.
The first thing you will want to do is pick a domain name that works best for you and your work. For example, my domain is chrissypoitras.com. If people want to search for my work they will be more likely to look up my name in a search engine. If you decide to use something other than your name make sure you think it through and have a good way of making people aware that when searching for you they should search that name in google/yahoo/etc.
Next you will need to purchase that domain name (we use godaddy.com). You should purchase the .com and .ca versions of your site if you are from the USA or Canada. This will ensure that people typing in your site can type either and find you.
Now that you have your domain name purchased you should purchase you hosting service. You can also do this through godadddy.com.
NOW, before I go too far, there are other options as well. You can use sites like otherpeoplespixels.com where you can pick your template, purchase your domain and hosting all in one spot and they work only with artists.
If you decide you want to get a blog template you can either set it up with godaddy.com so that your domain name doesn’t look like this: chrissypoitras.blogspot.com. OR if you don’t really care about having .wordpress or .bloodspot, etc tagged onto the latter part of your domain than you don’t necessarily need to purchase a domain name or hosting service at all.
Have I lost you yet??
I hope not. Lets just recap:
1. Think about what you want you site to be called. Either name it after yourself so that it is an easy search for galleries and potential buyers OR pick something different that relates to your work (just make sure this makes sense before doing so).
2. Think about whether you want to purchase your domain name and hosting services OR if you are fine with having WordPress or Blogspot or Tumblr adding their name at the end of your domain. Once you have decided continue to either start your blog or purchase you domain and hosting.
Now that you have made your choice you can start looking through the many online templates. You can find several different styles at the sites listed below. Your hosting/domain service should have a great troubleshooting service and can help you upload your template to your website.
Artist Website Templates:
Blog Websites:
Now that you have your template start populating it. Select the work that best represents who you are. Put up your bio, contact information, artist statement and CV. All of these items will give viewers an idea of who you are and what you are about.
You can also post your work on these sites:
These sites bring in different clients and it is always a good idea to get your work out on as many sites as possible. This will give you more chance to get noticed.
If you decided that the template sites aren’t your thing you can always hire someone to help you with your website. These can get expensive and it is generally a good idea to have the capability to edit/update your website on your own.
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KINGSTON ARTS COUNCIL MEDIA WORKSHOP
Last night we had a great turn out for our collaborative “How to Work the Media Workshop” with the Kingston Arts Council. With 6 panelists and a great group of attendees the night was filled with informative media tips and valuable questions. Our panelists were honest and forthcoming with their advice and our audience didn’t shy away from asking real questions and discussing challenges they face when trying to get their exhibits, openings and events noticed by local and national media.
Greg Tilson, Programming Director for the Kingston Arts Council, picked a solid panel featuring many local media reps including Rene Dick from Scout Design, Steve Campbell from The County Magazine, Katy McIntyre from the Picton Arts Council and Scott Johnston from the Picton Gazette. Below is a sample of some of the great information that was offered to the group. This tidbit comes from Adam Bramburger, the editor from the Picton Gazette. Here Adam tells us what he looks for in a press release.
TIPS FOR PRESS RELEASES
There’s a simple format that I teach reporters and people writing press releases to follow that I’ll pass along. This format should help them get the media’s attention. I think most people have watched the movie Austin Powers and remember my favourite character, Fat Bastard — another oversized redhead — and his catch phrase “Get In ma belly.” Well, if they remember Get INMA, they’ll be set.
INMA to me, is an acronym with all the pertinent questions the media needs to know.
I – The Issue
Simply put, tell us what you’re about in a single sentence with focus – somebody doing something for a reason. That’s enough to build a story on right there.
N - What’s New
We need a hook to tell us what makes what you’re doing different than anything that hasn’t happened before and why it is timely right now for us to be there.
M – What it Means
We need to know why the average joe, whether they’re superbly interested in the arts or not should care that this development happened. Give some context to let us know the broader hopes of what you want to accomplish.
A – What’s Ahead
This is where you make sure you relate to the community what they can do with relation to your event or project — get in the dates, prices, phone and e-mail whatever — and maybe leave them looking forward to things that will happen in the future.
Other things to consider:
1. Contact by email and phone (usually on the same day). Mention that you have sent an email or that you phoned earlier and that you are following up to ensure everything was received. Adam mentions that Wednesdays are the WORST days to try and get in touch with him, consider asking other media representatives the best or worst day to contact them.
2. Don’t clog up your press release with bios and photos. Keep it simple. Send all the additional information as added attachments.
3. Think about timing. It is best to send in a story two weeks before your event. This way the media can plan and have time to get your information out there.
4. Adam would like to reveal a press release myth, that media would rather have press releases or articles written by someone else and submitted in full to save time. For the Picton Gazette it is the exact opposite. They employ many reporters and journalists and they would much rather give them the job of writing about your event, putting together an interview and writing an article for the paper.
5. When you are drafting your press release for the media consider what they generally feature in their paper/magazine/website. The Picton Gazette enjoys featuring local artists who are engaging with the public, doing something interesting and different and enriching the community.
6. Always consider sending a one-line summation. Sometimes it might be a good thing to send as a subject line, as a headline on a press release or as a bold note.
7. It is always a good idea to give the time, date, and place in a simple to find manner.
ONLINE FINDS: JAPANESE POPSTARS
embedded by Embedded Video
vimeo Direkt
We recently found a great video on the Montreal blog BLDG//WLF.
The video gives you an inside look at the animation process of the Japanese Popstars music video “Lets Go”.
CREATIVE KIDS CAMP
Soon after Spark Box opened its doors we began receiving inquiries about hosting a children’s art camp during the summer. However, the thought of a bunch of paint-covered kids running around our small studio space was enough to keep us up at night. When we expressed our dilemma, our supportive community stepped forward to provide us with a camp location! Mia Lane, and her daughter Becky Lane, offered to host the camp on an amazing wooded property by Fish Lake. During the week of August 16 – 20, 8 kids from all over the world came to print, paint, draw and sculpt in the woods.
Not only did we have a great location, we also got great help. Becky Lane, a local designer, helped Chrissy Poitras plan, organize and run the camp. While the kids had fun creating their art, they were also taught and inspired by the art history each of their projects was drawn from. The campers learnt about the impressionists while painting en plein air, the earth art movement in the 1960s by creating sculptures out of natural materials, and the history of street art when making their own graphic text pieces, to name a few.
By the end of the camp the kids had created an impressive array of remarkable art works, installed their own exhibition in the woods, titled and priced their work, and made personalized invitation for their family and friends. They had a great turn out and some even sold some work!
HIGHSCHOOL TALK AT MOIRA
We had the opportunity to spend a day at Moira Secondary School giving presentations to art classes. Our presentations cover a brief overview of who we are and what programs / facilities Spark Box Studio offers. We offer our assistance to any individual who is thinking about perusing art school through portfolio reviews, mentorship, and volunteer opportunities. We close each session by asking the class to gather around to discuss the work in our studio portfolio.
GO ORIGINAL!
The May 2010 issue of Moneysense magazine has a great article about buying art and how great it is!
The article explains to its readers how its time for everyone to take down their Michael Jordon dunk shot posters and framed Monet prints and put up some original art! Understanding that this can be an intimidating experience for many people writer Mark Anderson walks virgin art buyers through the process of selecting the best artwork for their home.
Anderson explains that you should buy what you love. Art can’t always be about investment, let’s face it the market is just too unpredictable. “Don’t buy what other people tell you to,” says Peter Simpson, arts editor of the Ottawa Citizen and avid art collector. Buying art that you love means you are going to be happy everyday you wake up to it.
The article tells art buyers to avoid hesitation. He who hesitates looses out! The thing about original art is that… well… it’s original! If you like something chances are so will a lot of other people and there is only one, so jump on it!
Anderson then demystifies the gallery experience. Explaining that you shouldn’t be intimidated or feel like you need to have a Fine Arts degree to enter a gallery. “You’re ultimately the only expert on what you like.” says Simpson.
For all of you artists out there Anderson also talks about the always confusing pricing structure of artwork! “The art market is perhaps one of the least efficient markets on earth… painting of seemingly similar quality can be priced tens of thousands of dollars apart”.
I found this article pretty interesting, with a lot of good points for the artist and patron. It doesn’t seem to be up on the website but I am sure you can find a copy of the magazine at your local bookstore!
If you think the information you find through these blogs or our emerging artist site are good, worth your time and full of handy information you can show us through filling out the survey linked to each post. This survey will not only show us your support and give us a reason to keep working at this part of the studio, it will aid in us staying alive as it helps fulfill our grant!
Click here to take survey
SHADOW CABINET
This week Spark Box Studio hosted an etching workshop for a group of gentlemen. The workshop started in the late morning and finished in the mid afternoon. Seventeen individuals came to the workshop, 9 participated and the others watched. The morning was spent transferring images and drawing into the hard-ground covered copper plate. While the men ate lunch at Currah’s restaurant Chrissy and Kyle etched their plates and got ready for an afternoon of printing. When they came back from lunch Kyle demonstrated how to ink a plate, clean the plate, and print he plate. Soon enough it was gloves on and the men were inking their plates. It struck us that we probably should have mentioned to the men to wear or bring some old clothes they did not mind getting ink on, as the men came dressed up and were looking quite dapper. Luckily no one got ink on themselves and everyone who participated had a chance to print the plate they had created and left with at least 2 hand printed images. We had a great time running the event and the gentlemen had a fantastic time as well.
TO FRAME OR NOT TO FRAME?
This weeks business blog is on the do’s and don’ts of framing artwork. During my time at the Oeno Gallery I was asked to put up a short “how to” on framing that owner Carlyn Moulton had written for artists. Below are a few of the points as well as a link to the full article. Although this article may, at times, sound a bit sarcastic these are all valid and honest comments. Some of which artists would never really think about. Working with commercial galleries can be a great thing for an artists career, these spaces work very hard promoting and selling the work of their artists. Being considerate when submitting work is quite important and these guidelines can be helpful when trying to send in well framed work.
Random Thoughts on Framing
by Carlyn Moulton
Framing is indisputably a very important aspect of presenting 2D works. Individuals are free to make a wide range of framing decisions and choices, but galleries require a more uniform presentation to avoid looking chaotic and cluttered, and to focus attention on the work itself.
Unless you have conceived the structure and the materials of your work in such a way as to negate the need for framing, the frame is part of your presentation package, and the care and attention and investment you make here conveys much about the value and respect you have for the work yourself.
As a gallery, we have had occasion to receive works by artists framed in almost every conceivable fashion – and some that were inconceivable. We are quite sure that some will have other opinions, but based on our experience to date, here are our observations and preferences.
1. Consider where you want your work to go – presumably your goal is for someone to see it and be able to imagine it in their own bedroom, livingroomor office, and then buy your work. And they need to be able to see why they should pay several hundred or thousand dollars for this work. While it is true that a bad frame can always be replaced, it is not true that clients will make that leap to imagine it framed differently. Nor do they want the hassle. Nor do they have a car big enough to carry the work to and from the framers.
2. Some artists create their own hand made rough hewn pine frames. Others use chipped old frames they got from their grandmother or in a garage sale. Some people whack barn board or lathe onto their work. Some people carve odd little flowers on to their frames. Do not do any of these things. People acquire work like this from their children, friends or relatives perhaps, but it never helps to sell it, at least not through a gallery.
4. A good frame finishes a piece. We have often hung two almost identical pieces together, one framed, the other unframed, to give people the option. They always choose the framed work. They are also prepared to pay for it. So if you choose good frames, the gallery will pay you for them when they sell your piece. Find a framer who will work with you and perhaps allow for stretched payments when you have a show.
8. The work needs to breathe. Leave a reveal around the canvas. Build up the mat so that it sits proud of the paper. Use wider mats.
12. For a collection of works going to a gallery, choose one frame that works for them all. Or if necessary, two. Despite minor size variations in the paper works, frame them up the same size, so that the client has the option of purchasing several pieces and using them in a grouping.
To read all 27 points click here: Random Thoughts on Framing
Looking for more fun business information check out our emerging artist website here.
If you think the information you find through these blogs or our emerging artist site are good, worth your time and full of handy information you can show us through filling out the survey linked to each post. This survey will not only show us your support and give us a reason to keep working at this part of the studio, it will aid in us staying alive as it helps fulfill our grant!
Click here to take survey
SILKSCREEN BIRTHDAY PARTY
Friends of ours from Montreal and Kingston came down to the studio for a day to have a silkscreen birthday party. They spent the day learning about silkscreen, drawing their images, and printing small editions. It was a great day of exciting printing, and the prints turned out fantastic. Birthday parties aren’t just at Chuck-E-Cheese anymore, at Spark Box Studio your birthday party could be focused around making art.
ALBERT COLLEGE TEACHERS SILKSCREEN
Several teachers from Albert College, located in Belleville, arranged for a workshop and a visit to Spark Box Studio in order to learn about silkscreen techniques and specifically how to print onto t-shirts. Three teachers came down and spend the afternoon printing t-shirts for a fundraiser the students were organizing. It was fantastic to have them come down and do some printing, we could not believe how much fun these teachers had screen printing t-shirts.
ETCHING WITH LOYALIST COLLEGE
This week we held an etching workshop for the Art Fundamentals class at Loyalist college. Last week we visited the class and discussed the principles of hard-ground etching; how the process works, how to draw into a plate, what things to avoid etc. A copper plate is coated with a thin ground, traditionally wax or at Spark Box we use an acrylic ground. Using a sharp needle the ground is scraped into and the underlaying copper is exposed. You draw your image into the ground and when finished the plate is submerged into an etchant. The etchant will begin to corrode any exposed copper and leave V shaped trenches in the copper plate that later will hold the ink. In addition to talking about etching, we left each student a coated copper plate and a few tools. A week later the class was to visit our studio to print their copper plates.
The students plates arrived a few days before the students were to come so that we could have ample time to etch and prepare the plates for printing. On a Tuesday morning Into our studio marches 20 students along with Robert Kranendonk (their professor). Organizing the large group of students into a cohesive group was not difficult, they were all eager to learn the next steps on the process and we gladly proceeded to demonstrate them. We showed the students the steps of plate preparation and moved on into how the ink the plate and how to print the plate.
Quite quickly students were inking up their plates and getting into the line up for the press. Everyone managed to ink up and print their plate several times. The students really did enjoy themselves and were all quite pleased with being able to produce an etching. By the end of the session everyone’s hands were covered in black ink and surprisingly only a few students got printing ink on their faces.
Photos shot by Kelly Taylor.
ART LESSON: PERSPECTIVE
For a while now we have been teaching a drawing to an eliminatory student after school. Our lessons mostly consist of learning basic drawing techniques and skills. Amongst theses lessons we’ve focused on topics such as transferring a drawing using a grid, learning different pencil weights, and shading. In our last lesson together we studied one point perspective where we drew a image of a road with telephone poles receding into the distance. Along with showing perspective with the telephone poles we had her also draw a small house beside the road in perspective and had her shade it according to a light source. It is impressive to see the amount of insight she has gained in being able to understand, comprehend and discuss her own errors and successes.
