Mystery Day

 As the day began, I had no idea exactly what I'd be doing.  I planned to go to the Studio, but did not know exactly what I would do when I got there.  I had two possibilities: try another proof of my "Love in Vain" print, or do some more cutting of my Terraplane Blues block.  My preference would be to do the printing and get that out of the way, but whether I would do that or not would depend on the condition of the block.    It is much easier to ink a block if the surface is drier, meaning the new ink would show up as dark and glossy, as opposed to the flat black of the older ink.  Yet I had just printed yesterday, not nearly enough time for the ink to completely dry.  I did blot the block before I left, and I hoped that would be enough.  But not taking any chances, I also brought the current block with me, as well as a set of cutting tools.  All I could do was wait and see.  Already in my bag was my jazz/blues set of discs, a smaller book than the rock/pop set, so much lighter, with a couple of the other discs inserted in a few blank pages.  

My first thing upon arriving at the Studio building is to use the men's room in the basement, so as to not interrupt myself while working.  No paper towels there, nor in the women's room either.  (good thing I snagged some clean paper towels from the first floor bathroom before heading downstairs) I stopped by the office to let them know this, but there was a meeting going on the the other room.  So I got to work.  Turned out the block was dry enough.  Not completely dry (touching it would have stained my fingers with some serious black), but dry enough that I could see my new ink, so that is what I did.  Had the paper already torn from yesterday, so I taped, prepared ink, and started rolling it out. When the block seemed fully inked, I added paper and took a proof.  Below is the results:

I decided that this one is acceptable.  There is a smudge or two in the margin, but I think I can deal with those by tearing and/or removal after it is completely dry.  I put it in the rack for now to make that drying happen.  Meanwhile I started the day's music with a home burned copy of the self titled debut from David Poe.  When that ended, I put on Marc Ribot and Los Cubanos Postizos, which I think was their self titled debut.  Why these two together?  Because Marc Ribot played on both of them, plus other things I have here, and in storage.  Ribot is a very busy guitarist.  (both bands/albums are written about in a blog posting from July of 2020)  Then I blotted the block. I don't know if I ever wrote about that, so here we go.  I don't know if I was ever taught to do this, but I find it useful and have been doing it for decades.  After a day's session, or if the ink is building up too thick during an edition, I will take a ghost proof of the block on some scrap newsprint.  (in school, we always had remnant rolls of the stuff, picked up cheap from the school newspaper, and since then I either use sheets used in packing art supplies or old newspapers)  What this does is remove a little ink from the block, which speeds up the drying of the inked block considerably. It's a process I do share with students these days. Below is a photo showing what I call a "blotter proof" from today:

 After blotting the block, I typically use the newsprint to clean my ink knife and brayer.  Waste not, want not.

Assuming I am done with this for now, next time I go in, I will do more cutting on the current block.  Still no deadline there, but I just want to see what it looks like when it's done. But for today I was done, so I cleaned up and packed up.  Checked the bathroom and there were still no paper towels to be found.  I stopped back at the office, but this time there was no one there.  I won't need any for a while, so this will be their problem to deal with when someone complains.