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
PREFIX MAGAZINE
Picked up a copy of Prefix magazine last night at Chapters and found Spark Box in the Opportunities section. I knew that we might be mentioned but didn’t know it actually happened so that was a nice surprise. Prefix Photo is an engaging magazine, based out of Toronto. It is dedicated to contemporary photography and related arts. Characterized by innovative design and outstanding production values, Prefix Photo consists primarily of portfolio and essay sections, providing a complement of intelligent texts and breath-taking visuals. These features are accompanied by newsbriefs which provide information and opportunities for professional photographers, including new technological developments. Each issue of Prefix Photo presents the work of Canadian photographers, both emerging and established, alongside that of their international counterparts.
CRAFT MONTH AT SPARK BOX
It has been a busy month here with all the holiday sales over the past two weeks. Nell and I were making new items inspired by the galaxy for this holiday season, including cards, bags, pins, housewares and toys. Now that the sales are over it is time to reflect on all the great people we met while running around from sale to sale. The first sale was the OCAD Book Arts Fair in Toronto. It was a great Saturday and we met a number of really nice people. Our booth was right beside Jeffrey Macklin owner of Jackson Creek Press in Peterborough. Jeffrey’s printed work is so much fun and all made with by hand with a genuine old-school letterpress.
We did some great trades at this sale with Alex Froese and Tiny Press and met some really awesome crafters like the two ladies behind Good Plant.
On the Sunday we participated in the Fat Goose sale in Kingston. This is another fantastic event and always a good night. It is so nice to spend time with some of our favorite Kingston artisans like Vincent Perez of Everlovin Press (featured in Square2), Julian Berry of Ironclad Graphics and Brandy Olley of Salvage Designs. It was also a great place to meet new people like Jeff Woodrow of Joy T-Shirt. Joy T-Shirt is a really interesting idea, Jeff creates graphic t-shirts that are inspired by a real people. The shirt has a drawing of a real person printed on it and the idea is that when you wear your shirt you are encouraged to think about that person and how your everyday actions can affect others and the world we live in.
Last weekend we were part of the Busy Hands sale in Picton. Like Fat Goose it’s always a great time to re-connect with local crafters and say “hi” to people we haven’t seen in awhile. I got a chance to meet a few new people at this sale as well like Kathyrn Orok and Mags Kandis. It has been a fun two weeks but I am excited to spend a weekend at home and in the studio. If you missed the sales and are curious about what we have been up to please feel free to stop by and visit us.
PAST RESIDENT-MONICA LACEY
P.E.I. photographer, potter and printmaker Monica Lacey worked at our studio during the month of July. Monica’s work primarily focuses on the beauty of the broken, overlooked, or discarded (maybe a residency in rural Ontario was a perfect choice 
).
During her stay she worked with solar plates, a printing process we hadn’t used at the studio before. Solar plate printing can be used to create intaglio prints or relief prints using photographic negatives. To find out more about this process click here >>
Monica’s working habits meant that the studio first needed to be prepped. Found treasures, personal photographs, great music and inspiring messages filled the space and quickly transformed it into a beautiful environment for working. Her studio space perfectly reflected her lovely personality and it became a great place for me (Chrissy) to get out of the July heat to share in thoughts about art, life and the power of a great beach!
Monica made several prints during her stay with us, each done from photographs she had taken prior to arriving. These images were of abandoned places, animals and amazing bits of nature. This imagery worked beautifully with the solar etchings. She even left us a small print in which she combined a bit of scrap paper from a note book we had found under the floor in our upstairs. Along with all the work she produced, Monica found time to enjoy the local scenery and reflected on her stay with us through her blog >>
RESIDENT: REBECCA ROTHFUS
I have always been drawn to white on white or black on black art work, so when artist Rebecca Rothfus came to our studio this past June and said she was going to work on a series of embossments I was thrilled. Rebecca work is of modern day landscapes. She is intrigued by the structural beauty of cell towers and industrial plants and enjoys the visual contrast between these structures and their surroundings. Using photographic references Rebecca made four collograph prints which she later used for her embossments.
A collograph print is created by using a hard surface (wood or cardboard) to build up your imagery. This results in a relief surface with a range of different textures and levels. Many printmakers use string, fabrics, objects found in nature and textured paper to create their imagery. Generally these are then inked and transferred to paper through the printing press. Rebecca used cardboard to build up the different layers of her print, adding and removing pieces to create the levels. Then, instead of inking the plate she put it through the press clean to create the embossment. The wet paper moulded around the different levels of cardboard leading to a beautiful, all white print, with her image recessing in from the background.
A LITTLE BIT OF PRESS
I know this is late coming, but this past April Spark Box Studio was featured in Ellegirl Korea. I am still not sure how the editor heard about us but in mid-March I received an email asking if we would be interested in being interviewed for their Pop Girl section. The editor was putting together a few pages surrounding artist collectives and she thought we would be a great feature. Of course we were thrilled and agreed instantly. We had local photographer Michael Grills take some shots of us, the studio and some of the awesome people that have helped make this place possible.
It took awhile for the magazine to finally arrive on our doorstep but when it did we were happy to find out that we were the first page of the feature. Sadly, not knowing any Korean, I am not sure what parts of the interview were used but the page looks great (they even included Square2!).
ETCHING WITH DEVON
Here are the images from the most recent private etching workshop. Devon took a three part etching workshop from Chrissy where she learnt how to do ‘hard-ground’ and ‘soft-ground’ etchings and the basic chemistry behind the process. Here are images of Devon inking up one of the plates she produced using the ‘hard-ground’ method.
SQUARE2 LAUNCH PARTY
Join us for a night on the town! We will bring Prince Edward County’s newest arts & culture magazine to life June 10th starting at the Regent Theatre at 6 PM.
Performance art, poetry readings, live music and visual art will be occurring throughout down town Picton.
Participating locations include:
Spark Box Studio
Purchase a numbered limited launch edition of Square2 that night!
Event will be free of charge.
Sponsored by Angeline’s Inn and Restaurant
RSVP: info@sparkboxstudio.com
LETTERPRESS AND TYPOGRAPHY
In the mid-15th century the printing press was invented and with this piece of machinery came the first rapid production of mass-produced books in history . It is not uncommon now for someone to either have a relative or know someone that has worked with type and a letterpress. Type is used in the printing industry to describe individual lead letters (a key component in letterpress printing). In this form of printmaking hundreds of individual characters are arranged, making up the final printed book, newspaper, essay, etc. Between each printing the characters would be washed and a whole new set would be arranged for the next page.
In the past two weeks I’ve met nearly half a dozen of people who had actually hand-set type at one point. Emerging from this labour heavy printing process came the automated printing press. These mechanized machines further increased productivity by introducing plate printing techniques apposed to hand-set type. They have become more complex over the years and are still in use at commercial printers.
I highly suggest taking a tour of a commercial print studio, you’ll probably find a few old and wild looking machines. Generations today will likely not get to experience lead type used for an off-set printing press or a clunky typewriter. Unfortunately, like many things today I feel the inkjet version of type just isn’t as fascinating as the original handmade, hand-set, hand-inked, hand-printed quality of letterpress.
We’re proud to announce the most recent addition to the facilities at Spark Box Studio a 1928, 3″ x 5″, letterpress and three font sets. Set the font yourself, mix your own ink, hand-print every piece and feel the power of type.
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.
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.
RESIDENCY AWARD: JUSTIN STEINBURG
Our second recipient of our 2009 residency award was Justin Steinburg, fourth year BFA (bachelor of fine art) student at Queen’s University. Justin came to stay with us at Spark Box Studio for a weekend in mid January 2010. He arrived with a car full of waterless lithography plates and woodcuts ready to print. When attending a residency it is always best to try and maximize your time printing by preparing material ahead of the determined residency.
His first day of the residency was spent printing plates and printing a three color separation woodcut. Using little ink to a fair amount of transparent base Justin’s woodcut shows the potential for color change when using transparent inks. This woodcut is from his thesis year at Queen’s university which focuses on color theory.
The second day of Justin’s residency with us we experimented with powdered pigments that he had bought from a supplier in Ottawa. He brought with him a wide range of different pigment colors, everything from primary colors to metallic bronze, silver, gold and iridescent pearl white (which was comically named ‘super sparkle’). We spent the day mixing up pigments into transparent base and testing the results. The basic colors mixed and print really well and printed just like inks out of a can. The metallic colors were a different story. We tried to mix the bronze and everything seemed to go alright but when it was printed it ended up printing splotchy and transparent. The obvious result was to add more pigment and stiffen up the ink, this produced better results. Out of the metallic colors the ‘super sparkle’, iridescent pearl, worked the best, producing a tinted white that had a great shine was we considered a success.
KIDZ PRINTMAKING
This past weekend we hosted a kid’s printmaking workshop. The first of what we hope will be many others of its kind. The class went really well with several kids signing up, ages ranging from 3 to 12. We begun the class with food stamping and painting. The kids also drew images onto lino blocks and carved out the blocks themselves, with a little supervision of course. Afterwards the blocks were rolled up and the kids printed the blocks using the etching press.
CHRIS SABA AND LAURA CLAYTON
This past weekend our good friends, recent Queens University BFA grads and fellow printmakers Chris Saba and Laura Clayton came to stay and work in the studio. Chris traveled from Hamilton, where he has been participating at The Print Studio, and Laura Clayton came from Pickering. The weekend brought a lot of printing, Chris worked on a hard-ground etching while Laura braved the soft ground.
We are learning from the artists coming to the studio that community studios are uncommon and Ontario residency programs even more rare. It is with great pleasure that we are able to share our studio space.
MIDNIGHT ETCHING
In the dead silence of our living room our current housemates Paul and Hannah work diligently on their etching projects along side Kyle. For nearly an hour the atmosphere was focused and nothing could break their concentration, not even their grumbling stomachs. Both Paul and Hannah had never done etchings before and in the end they turned out fantastic looking prints. Paul drew the image of the crow while Hannah drew the heart image. After working in the living room we adventured to the studio and printed till midnight.
PRESS MAINTENANCE
At some point all presses will need to be maintained. Be it grease, sanding, painting, alignment, or one of the many other tasks. This week brings the beginning of my long journey of press maintenance. Our press bed had become a lovely dark grey color, stained with rust, and dirt deposits. Starting in one corner, with 50 grit emery paper, I began to sand… and sand… and I am still sanding two days later. However, it is quite satisfactory to see the glory hiding behind the dirt when the steel starts to shine.
For any printmakers out there that want more information about the process here are some tips:
-ensure the safety stops are in place, and that you wear the recommended PPE (personal protective equipment): respirator, googles, gloves, and an apron.
-Sand the press bed by going with the grain of the steel.
-An orbital sander can be used, but be careful not to over sand sections with this power tool and avoid gouging the bed with the grinding wheel. A belt sander may be used, but personally I’d prefer to use an orbital sander because of its control.
-Ultimately the best method and the one that yields the best results with the littlest effort is to send the press bed to a machine shop that can re-tool the surface to a perfect state
~Kyle,
Studio and Operations Director
