Archer I Love

Before I went to sleep last night, I decided to make a quick Valentine's Day card for my four year old to wake up to. I did not plan out the page, but I knew I wanted it to say, "Dear Archer, I Love You."
This is how it turned out: 

Although I received a humongous hug and various words of gratitude, my son finally said, "Where's the 'You'?" I said I'd kinda messed up, but the real message was there, and that in fact, it was much more of a solid statement this way. He was unconvinced but moved on graciously.

Open Rehearsal at the NY Philharmonic

I love the New York Philharmonic, especially when they are performing Beethoven. But because I do not enjoy being out late, I am limited to their matinees. A couple of weeks ago, however, I decided to attend a rehearsal for the first time. 9:45am on a Thursday morning. I loved it!

I was surprised by how many people were there, and how enthusiastic they were. I heard lots of Wows! and saw various people nodding at each other with big smiles. There was no shushing of others, no permitted "cough breaks," no sleeping elderly folks in their black tie wear. Very casual, enjoyable and the music was fantastic.

I highly recommend trying out an open rehearsal, if you like the Philharmonic. You can find their schedule here. Let me know what you think!





My first time sketching at the American Museum of Natural History

I very much prefer to stay on a schedule, planning each day's tasks in advance. But lately, I've been taking myself on impromptu little dates to the the city.

Today, I went to the American Museum of Natural History for the first time without my son. I took my sketchbook, a few pencils and two erasers. I have never understood the appeal of the North American Mammals wing, with all of its stiff taxidermy and fake backgrounds, but I finally kind of got it. I really looked at the animals today. I noticed their size and scars and hair length and the shape of their ears. It was all so beautiful.

I sat down in front of the grizzly bears and sketched for about 15 minutes. Then I walked through Central Park for a couple of miles and got on the train to pick up my son from school.

I felt wonderful.



The Pleasure of Mistake-Making (aka, Upcycling with city-made.com)

When I first opened my Etsy shop in 2009, the only item I was selling was a hand-printed onesie that said, "i love tacos." I initially created this design to encourage my dear friend Lea, whose California wedding dinner was appropriately provided by taco carts (my baby and my friend's toddler each wore a onesie to show support).

The design became a hit, and I began filling multiple orders, printing each one haphazardly with my little Gocco silkscreen printer. It soon became clear that my set up was poor, as I often printed them askew, off center, too light, too dark, with smeary ink, and so on. I made so many mistakes that I found myself feeling anxious every time I needed to print more. I was able to donate the best of the worst to the Goodwill and to the Haitian earthquake relief efforts, but it was clear that I needed another plan.

Fortunately, I've found a couple of processes that work much better for me, lithograph printing (listed in my previous blog post, here) and digital printing. Both produce far fewer mistakes. Things do continue to get botched, especially when I'm in experiment-mode, but it no longer crushes me. Why not? Because of citymade!

Citymade is a collaboration between my longtime friend, Carol, and her cohort Melany. Both conscientious, creative and crafty moms, their aim is to re-purpose, re-cycle and make better.

I visited Carol last year in our hometown of Omaha, NE, and I was very impressed with what citymade was doing. I asked her if I could send her some items that I had fouled up, to see if she could give them a new life. She accepted, and it has totally changed the way I feel about making mistakes.

One of my favorite collaborations is what they did with a botched test print of my Hooray Brooklyn Pigeon design. When I first tried to print this design, the ink began to dry as I rolled it onto my linocut, and my print came out too light. At the time, I was flustered. I felt the tshirt was ruined. Before Carol and I discussed working together, this toddler tee sat in my drawer, awaiting its fate as a kitchen rag. Luckily, citymade found a better use for it, and they turned it into this super cool tote, Hooray Brooklyn Pigeon tshirt-turned-tote bag http://www.city-made.com/?p=1460. Since then, citymade has successfully transformed many of my other mistakes into awesome new and usable items.

To find out more about citymade, visit city-made.com or their Etsy shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/citymade. They can also be found selling their wares at the Omaha Farmer's Market, located in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Check them out, and support their business. They really do make the world a better place.

Printing my tees and onesies using oil stains and lithography

There are many cool things about my new special edition of Mountain tees and onesies (now available on my Etsy site).

The first is that I get to work in the printmaking studio of my longtime friend and mentor, Kathy Caraccio (http://kcaraccio.com). Together, we test my designs using a process called Paper Lithography (also referred to as Xerox Litho, Laser Litho, Gum Arabic printing and several others). 
Paper Litho is awesome because instead of lugging around a copper plate, a litho stone, using acids, a hot plate, etc, I walk in to the studio with merely a photocopy of my design. Then, using water, gum arabic (tree sap), safflower oil and oil-based ink, I end up with an inked up 'plate.' I place this design on a tee, run it through the press, and Voila! A printed tshirt for me!

Another super cool aspect of this print is the actual ink that I use: Bone Black. The pigment is bone. Charred and crushed up bones. Creepy, but kind of natural and cool and utilitarian and interesting. And it's all mixed up with linseed oil. Old school.
It's not water-based, but it's definitely natural. And when I print it on apparel, it creates a black oil stain that becomes one with the fabric. I think it's just beautiful.
I've added some pictures of the process to give you a clearer idea...
The beginning. Laying my designs out on onesies and tees
Laying out out my paper prints on each onesie and tee

 
The printing supplies: Graphic Chemical's bone black ink, gum arabic, safflower oil

The roll up process 
Rolling on the ink mixture, consisting of linseed oil and crushed, charred bone + a few drops of safflower oil for better consistency


Prepping a tee on the press


After placing the inked image on the tee and running through the press twice, I have a final product!



Check out my Etsy shop, http://etsy.com/shop/kendrasred, to see a variety of onesies and tshirts fresh off the press. I have really embraced this printing method, and I've been experimenting and creating more because of it.
To learn more about what you can do with paper lithography, contact Kathy Caraccio at 212.594.9662, or attend one of her weekend workshops listed here http://www.kcaraccio.com/workshops.

If you have further information about this process, I am all ears. So please comment and post. Questions always welcome!
xo,
Kendra


Note: An immense thank you to my high school friend, Kelly, for suggesting a mountain-themed design and giving me full access to her personal photo collection of her Colorado excursions.