Swapping Journal Pages

I had fun carving and journaling recently; it reminded me of my past participation in Art Journal swaps.

Before the current layering craze - to paint backgrounds, drop inks, fill in parts of stencils - we recorded daily personal events in our journals; sometimes adding illustrations.

Mostly I used quotes to practice calligraphy plus printed my carvings or used commercial rubber stamps.

I wrote about my travels in my handmade books. For one of the swaps: Twenty-five journalers exchanged Travel Journal pages.

One person would host and send the pages to those participating. Fun to receive photos, sketching, or just words.

I still participate in a carving swap as I mentioned last week:

https://anneritataylor.blogspot.com/2016/10/print-vibe.html

And I am wondering about what image to carve for Christmas cards this year.

I still enjoy playing with calligraphy and rubber stamps in my journals. What are your favorite art journaling techniques?

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

Print Vibe

My Owl Carving this week - for the Rubber Amateur Press Society quarterly swap due October - mentioned in an earlier blog:  https://anneritataylor.blogspot.com/2016/07/rubber-amateur-press-society.html. 

Since it is the Season of the Witch - here is my skeleton carving. I was reminded of another Carving swap - Print Vibe 21 - that I joined for three years: 2010 through 2012. 

Heart and Print Vibe Cover Carvings by Tim Blackburn

Hosted by Tim Blackburn, an excellent carver, Professor of Radiology too. Tim looked for other carvers after 7 swaps; I carved & printed 21 prints - for the last 17 out of 24 issues. 

Another Halloween-theme: my Poe Carving. The print size: a third of an 8 1/2 by 11 inch page = 3 3/8 by 8 1/2 inches. I printed 21 original prints for each issue - 6 issues a year.

Who did not love Michael Jackson!?! I was pleased with my MJ Carving. With my Fish Carving below: I added watercolor.

Please let me know what you think about carving or printing - see my earlier blog: https://anneritataylor.blogspot.com/2016/01/carving-images-for-prints.html

I love multiples! Remember the rubber stamp craze during the 1990’s? That is another story...
©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

Carving Images for Prints

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

On Saturday I taught several people how to carve images to make prints. One of my printed postcards "On The Road in Houston" was in a 2013 pack of The Printers Guild and sold at The Printing Museum. I carved the driver and words. Lettering is tricky since it must be carved backwards. 

I have been carving since 1990 and sold my prints at The Printing Museum in Houston. I also authored an article published in RubberStampMadness in 1992, Sept./Oct. - Sculpting The Image. The material I carve comes from Nasco (currently I have no affiliation) - 800-558-9595.

In the past I taught Carving at a few places including The Printing Museum and The Houston Calligraphy Guild. Now I am a part of the Rubber Amateur Press Society. We swap quarterly pages with our new carvings. In a past swap I used a Ukrainian currency - pre-Euro dollars. I carved an angelic figure after increasing the size on my copier. I used Foundational calligraphy to write the Rilke quote.

These are the linoleum cutting tools I use; I buy them at Michaels and Hobby Lobby. The set costs about $20 and has 5 blades.  Mostly I use the #1 lino fine carving tool before I gauge out big pieces of material. I encourage you to try carving - it is lots of fun!