I got quite a bit done today and over the previous week.I am putting this out there now for all those interested in the print publishing process and collaborations. Typically, when you go into production the artist or collaborator is done and its the printers job to finish printing the full edition with help from assistants and such. I am quite comfortable and capable of doing that, but Stephen has expressed interest in the process and wanting to help. So we have scheduled the next few weeks out to print the two layers and curate the edition before he leaves for the MFA Painting program at University of Iowa. He and his wife are planning to leave in mid-July and I would like to be able to spend him off with his prints complete.
So for most editions I publish and post about I will be the sole person working on them in production mode, unless I get assistants or interns in the future. But when an artist or collaborator expresses that they want to help out and be a part, I will never turn them down. Not only does it help me by having extra hands, but they learn new things and I get to practice my printmaking teaching skills.
With that said today we printed final proofs of the Stephen’s idea and got some great results. We tried a few things on multiple prints to try and get just the right pressure and cleanliness for the paper and I believe we have the process and our roles down for creating the full run. With a starting stack of 60 sheets for the edition, I am hoping for an outcome of 45-50 from the edition with a few Artist proofs and my Printers proof. An artist proof is a print that is close to being good enough for the edition but not quite there, typically there is a small registration malfunction or a color is a little off or just a little too much ink in the border, etc. A Printer’s proof is the copy a Master printer keeps from each edition as his/her copy for their own records and archives.
Here is a view of some of the proofs on the rack.
Along with completing the proofs and creating the BAT for the edition today, I made two test proofs of the commission work I was hired for by the Experimental Printmaking Institute. I had a roll of 44″ wide Hahnemuhle William Turner laying around and needed to get at least one or two out for my meeting with Curlee tomorrow, even though I do not have the project paper yet. I tried two proofs with two different Epson profile settings because I had some trouble loading a Hahnemuhle profile into the Harddrive of the computer I was on. I figure I will print from my computer from now on, so that I can have better control over the system and profile the paper if its needed. I did that last week with one of my papers and was quite happy with the result. Check out the proofs from today below.
On the left Epson Enhanced Matte settings, on the right Epson Textured Fine art
A Proof of the inkjet imagery on Willam Turner paper with Epson Matte Paper settings.
R&D Editions 