The red transfers well also!

This is a bit exciting, though for some reason, I think related to the paper, the tape was cloudy and not as clear as the black typed one.  I want to do some experimenting with different papers since an image I was playing with came off some double sided Imaging and photo paper really well.  I bought when it was discontinued and sold at Jams for 10% of the old price.  I have TONS of it, I wonder now how I managed to lug all those boxes home, but I did somehow ...

In any case, experiment of the day was a success. 

 

Something I am thinking about... or maybe playing with

I have an Underwood Typewriter (courtesy of my children, who are great gift buyers!)  and I have been playing about with when to use it to create text.

Transfers using tape ... where the clear tape is placed on a printed image and later the backing paper is washed away leaving the ink on the tape ... is one of the things I love to do.  I have used it here, and here and here in my GWBridge book with different effects.  The cover uses clear contact paper, but since making that I have gotten some 6 inch wide tape, so I have been using that.

However, to do this, you have to use laser or carbon based ink images.  Copier machine images will work, but Ink Jet images won't work since the water washes the ink away.  I only have an inkjet printer here, but my local UPS store... I LOVE THOSE GUYS... help me out.  I send them a pdf that I want printed and they print it on their lovely copiers and I go pick it up and pay for it, easy peasy.

I just wanted a little bit of text to play with here, however, for a project I am pondering.  SO, I broke out the typewriter and typed my favorite Peter Beard quote.  Sometimes it works better if you let it rest for 24 hours, but I had to see if it would work at ALL!  SO after about 10 minutes and some vigorous rubbing with a bone folder I soaked it  and it came out VERY interesting
!
Before attaching to anything.  I didn't clean it up TOTALLY clean, since I liked the look with some of the original paper showing:


As close as I could get, so you could see the lovely effect that the typewriter type gives.  You would never get this effect with a computer and a printer. 


Attached to some bumpy paper that I gessoed with stone gray Daniel Smith Gesso, which is one of my favorite background colors:


My lovely little typewriter came with a red and black ribbon, so I retyped the quote in red, also.  I am going to wait for 24 hours or so before peeling that one.

Things that worry me:  This is an OLD ribbon. I have to look to see what is out there that could /can replace it if I get addicted to this effect.
And, if I can find a replacement will it be the same kind of ink? 

Falling in love with old things is not for the faint of heart. 

And for other quoteaholics out there, this is the quote, which is about the artist as a collector:

"Once the connoisseur of connections starts looking for the coded signals that hint of order beneath chaos, they are everywhere, like the shimmering squiggles of string theory, organizing them into a manageable matrix becomes essential for getting from one day to the next."

Anyone who has seen my studio knows how this resonates for me. 

A New Page in the GWBridge Journal

This double page spread just fell into my lap when I looked at the photo.  I knew exactly what I wanted it to look like on the page, and it came close to what I had thought. 
This is the full page spread.  The edges are added with liquid pencil, and they fade better than they appear to in this photos because of the liquid pencil absorbs the light and the transferred photo reflects it.  But it is close to what it looks like in real life. You should be able to embiggen all the pages and it is better seen that way, I think.  The book is 4.5 inches by 14 inches when open completely.

closeup of the left page

closeup of the right page

Standing up, which is how I think the book will be seen generally.  There is more about how this all got started here and here.

I think that there are 7 spreads and a cover left to do... this one is fun.

The Cover of the GWB Book

It is a transfer using clear contact paper, so it is a little more "atmospheric" than the other transfer which used packing tape.  The packing tape holds the ink more firmly, but after I stared at it a while I decided that the more vague image was perfect for a book of bridge impressions.  Now I have to think about the next spread.  In my usual fashion, there are a couple of blank pages before the first spread I showed yesterday, so I have pages to fill... and one more cover to think about... what fun!

My latest book making project

I found this little landscape format board book the other day and thought it would be good for something.  I gessoed the pages with buff colored gesso after sanding them and then sanded them again.  It is about 4 inches high and 7 inches long and was originally something about Hot Wheels... not any more!


I love it that the book stands on its own because I had decided that I wanted it to be able to display that way.  Once I realized what I was going to use it for I added some rough swipes of gold acrylic to some of the pages to see how it would work.

Because.... it is going to be a George Washington Bridge Book!
This is the first spread I completed, it is a collage that I made from some river photos with the bridge on the far left.  I made it last year, and I don't think I ever posted the collage, but if I find it I will link to it later. 

You can see the gold acrylic swipe better here...

And this is the closeup of one page

The other side...

I made this page using a laser copy of the collage which I transferred using clear packing tape.  This is going to be fun!