Wood Test

 My plan for today was to ink up the experiments I did over the weekend.  That is the two small woodcuts I did on both sides of a piece of scrap wood, with a goal of seeing if I need wood filler and whether one side is better than the other.   My other plan was to pull a better proof of my most recent print, so that I will be ready for a show if one comes up.  

Then I arrived at the building and saw that all the walls were empty.  It looked like a new show was about to happen.  Could this mean I had to get something done sooner?  Knowing nothing yet, I decided I would definitely want to pull a new proof of the last block.  I tore some paper to the right size, one piece just a little bigger than the other, to account for the inclusion of the text.  Prepared some ink as well.  Started removing blue tape from the block, in preparation for cutting away some unwanted areas of black ink.  And that's when I realized that I didn't have my cutting tools with me.  Left them on the table at home.  There was no point in trying to print that block today- too much has to be removed before the next printing.

However, the day was not a total loss.   I had ink out and wanted to see the results of my little experiment. Over the weekend I had cut out two small pieces on scrap wood, images of someone playing a guitar, something I may need for an upcoming boardwalk block.  One on the light side of the wood, one on the darker side, the one I was used to using, with the addition of wood filler.  I inked both about the same way and printed them.

Although they looked alike on the blocks, the difference between the prints was more obvious.  The version on the left, on the darker wood, was more grainy- you can see the texture of the wood.  This could be a problem if I need to print any very dark areas.  The lighter (and smoother) wood side (on the right) gave a more consistent black for the background.  Results- it looks like the lighter side works better if I do nothing else.  I still haven't decided yet what I will do, but this information helps.

On my way out of the building I stopped by the office.  My original plan was to let them know that the men's room in the basement was out of soap, but the maintenance guy seemed deeply involved in another conversation, so that didn't happen.  But Jeanne was available, so I asked her about the blank walls on the first floor.  Turns out a new show is coming in, some kids art or something like that.  So what will go up may not be very good, but I don't have to worry about having something to show for at least a few weeks.   I still want to pull a new proof of my most recent block, but I don't have to hurry to get it done.

The fact that I brought a box of discs home from storage last week, a small piece of my overall collection, leads me to thinking I should resume letting you know what I am listening to as I work.  Today I had on a disc of Charlie Parker.  I don't know much about it.  That I just had his name on the disc and no album title makes me think it's a compilation from a multi-disc set, not just a copy of a particular album.  I do know that it is 78 minutes of fine saxophone jazz that I hadn't heard in years and am happy to have access to again.  Also, it has my last name written on it, when tells me I made this disc for my Texas trip a long time ago, part of a series of discs I made in case there was something to play them on there in our studio space.  As it turned out, there wasn't, and the discs stayed in my bags.  Some ended up in the Studio, and some, like this one, did not.