handmade hobbyist
a chronicle of creative endeavors (mostly) in ceramics, sewing, and cooking
Friday, January 17, 2025
cook: re-making leftovers into meatball marinara over polenta
Monday, January 13, 2025
create: carving and layering a multi-color linocut for printing, day 2
I spent the previous evening, thinking about my carving and planning what to carve out today during the workshop. I would like to make more prints on paper of favorite images (I'm thinking food and quotidian objects of every day living) and perhaps sell and gift them. I know I've already got a small brayer at home, and I've already got an online shopping cart filled with 12" x 12" battleship gray linoleum, unmounted (no need to go crazy and order beyond what I can accomplish in the near future); a baren; linocutter set; and a jar of water-soluble black block printing ink. I know I want to refine a design for a pottery stamp for Kraft paper shopping bags, and perhaps fill in negative spaces with acrylic paint by hand.
Back to class. Though first, I had to go to Gayle's Bakery. I needed a sandwich for lunch and then got Patrick his desserts. My husband had asked me to get him a Chocolate Coma Cookie, but I thought he'd also like the Brookie, a hybrid of a brownie and a Toll House chocolate chip cookie.
And then it was time to carve my own two blocks. The day before I transferred in black ink the first block to my second linoleum block. And then I stained the second block after outlining in black Sharpie, with a damp paper towel and a tiny bit of acrylic red paint. I then had to carve away the solid black swatches of color on the 1st block, so that the final print would just be the black outlines of the image. Next I needed to carve away the all the rest of the block except for the black swatches of color that were going to be the second layer of red color. In order to not be confused about what to cave away, I colored the swatches of color with a red grease pencil on Melissa's advice and then decided I was going to carve blocks to be the white stitch lines on the second block.
Saturday, January 11, 2025
create: carving and layering a multi-color linocut for printing, day 1
I used blue tape to adhere and not lose the registration or to check the alignment of pencil lines to linoleum. Here's the backside of the copy. Then I used a Sharpie marker to re-draw and thicken the lines on the linoleum block and used a wet paper towel with a bit of acrylic paint to stain the linoleum block. And per Melissa, the instructor's suggestion, I surrounded the sneakers with wood-grained floorboards. I also used a white grease pencil to color the areas I wanted to carve out.I spent a majority of Day 1 carving, and then I was ready to print and make the second linoleum block of the same drawing for a second color in addition to the black lines. And so in the above layout, we put a dollop of Speedball ink on the right side of the palette board to use the putty knife to soften and knead the ink first. When the ink is a sticky consistency, spread the ink to the left side of the palette board (note to self: keep the ink on the left side kind of contained in the center to not waste ink) and apply to the brayer. And the printing got a lot more involved. We were given a mat frame in which to inset the linoleum block and cover it with a slick and shiny paper into which the ink wouldn't seep into and then burnished the back side of the shiny paper on to the block, using the back of a metal spoon. If you look at my linoleum block on the right, there's "chatter" or raised lines and marks on the toe caps and outer sole on which I didn't carve away enough. And so I went back to the first linoleum block and carved away those raised lines that had ink on them. And the carving ain't even done on this first linoleum block. I have to carve away still the stained pink area if I want to make the sneakers a second color of red (or green or blue) in addition to the black lines. And then I have to carve out on the second block around the border and shoes and maybe include carving away the stitches detail in order to apply red (or another color besides black)ink on to my print. I told Melissa this process and mirroring of image is a total mind fuck for me, and that I'll be asking her for guidance and re-teaching tomorrow.
cook: chili for chilly evenings
Chili is one of those dishes, for which I don’t need a recipe. Sauté onions and peppers (Patrick had just harvested the last of our Pasilla and jalapeños, of which I removed seeds and inside membranes because he can’t handle spice, ground beef, soaked and boiled pinto beans, garlic in bacon grease reserved from a night of shrimp 'n grits. Add chipotles in adobo sauce or the dried spice and a dash of cumin and some tomato sauce or diced tomatoes with a bit of water to deglaze the pan and let it simmer and thicken into a delicious stew. Don’t forget to taste and salt as needed—not too much as you can’t subtract and be mindful that it will taste saltier as the chili steams away.
I mentioned in a previous blog that I didn’t know what to do with the polenta or corn grits left in my pantry. Well I figured out I could use the corn meal in jalapeno cheddar scallion muffins to accompany the chili. I combined a 1/2 cup of polenta along with 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2/3 teaspoons baking powder, 1/3 teaspoon salt, and then added an egg, 1/2 cup milk, and 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (so really 3 tablespoons for me) melted butter to the dry mixture, which I then spooned into a muffin top pan. I topped each cup of the wet batter with shredded cheese, chopped scallions, and chopped jalapeño. I then baked the muffins in a 400 degree oven for 15 to 18 minutes until the edges were browned to our liking. And dinner was so easy.