Printmaking Show sign-up went up. Organizing this is going to be a little bit of fun & complications. Of course, in order to obtain a gallery, I have to get up at 5am (or earlier) to go to school and stand in line for gallery sign-up. And pay $15 deposit. I will soon be an awesomely known person in the art building, perhaps.

In History 1B we discussed how Christopher Columbus believed that by finding a route around to the other side of Asia, the forces of Christianity would have a back-door by which to attack and overtake the Turkish Empire occupying Jerusalem. Not to mention the sweet trade route that going direct to China would provide. Also, scientists already knew the diameter of the Earth, so if America hadn't been in the way, Columbus and his crew would have starved on ship on their way to Asia. Columbus, I have concluded, was kind of an ass.

Bookmaking class was all about combining signatures to make a case-bound (or hardbound) book.

It helps to build a mock-up of your book project. I built this at 1/3 size. The final book will be a little larger than 9"x 9". The signatures are not stitched, but labeled and folded together so I can see how the pages will wrap. This helps a ton in planning things out.

Here is the edge of my mock-up. There are 18 sheets of paper, two per signature, for a total of 36 leaves. All this translates to 72 pages. A huge book, especially since the final paper will be heavy.

First, the signatures are punctured and stitched, then they are sewn together using binding tape, which can be ordinary linen or the specialized and more expensive stuff. Then you put them in a vise, and glue the signatures together, while it is held in a vise. I can't stress enough how much the glue smells.

The tape going under the signature stitching. The tape will be firmly attached to the Cover boards. I'll get pictures of that Monday.

I love bookmaking. It is the fusion of crafts and art that I love to sink my teeth into.

Oh, and yesterday, I did do some drawing in Life Drawing, but our model had no muscles or skin. The things I drew in Intermediate Life drawing yesterday I will post tomorrow.

Drawing and painting from models all day is a case of serious Awesome.

Blurry Day

I did some very nice flat drawings today with my class in Intermediate Figure painting. I didn't take pictures of the drawings yet, because when it crossed my mind the model was still up and it's a very big no-no to have your camera out when there's a nude person in the room.

Figure Painting went all right- but I am astonished to find I have no more Ultramarine Blue. I thought I had that coming out my ears. Apparently what I have is a lot of Cobalt. Sigh. Must buy that tomorrow. And Burnt Sienna, because I keep using up all my browns.

Life Drawing with Sargent went well, but I am still fearful that the class will be canceled because there's only 14 people enrolled. I reccomended that my teacher look into James Jean and Paul Pope. They have alliterate names, plus they're awesome.

At the end of the evening there was a show of teachers in the school of Pictoral Arts that happened. Each teacher stood and talked about their own works, some of which gave me good ideas, others made me wonder a little why abstraction of form has become so popular. I really enjoyed Don Feasel's watercolor on Acetate, Sargent's acrylic portrait with kitty litter, and Angeja's semi-abstract painting of a volcanic cloud.

Sorry, no pictures. Bedtime. New shoes tomorrow!

And Sevral Hours Later..

I'm much calmer than I was a few hours ago, thankfully.

When someone is working on a small pen and ink drawing, DO NOT decide that it would be better with a big thumbprint of carrot juice. Yes, this actually happened. Today. Earlier. Odwalla.

Apparently some people never grow up and learn about "Boundaries" the way normal people do.
Now one of my tiny handmade books with drawings in them has a orange blorp on the first page. Words cannot express how exasperated I am with this 30-something undergrad. True, I did not throw the hissy-fit that was erupting in my head, but he should have at the least apologized profusely. I don't think I'll work near him again. He's lucky I didn't throw my brush in his eye.

These handmade books are really more like booklets, or hand-bound pamphlets. I made three just because I couldn't wait to get started on much bigger fish, but we don't have any instructions yet regarding tape-binding.

This is a page ready to be stitched and folded into its' brethren. I'm using Arches Cover Cream paper, which runs about $2.00 per 22x30 sheet. The holes have been poked with an awl, though I think a push-pin may have worked just as well.

This book has a false stamp I drew on with ink and gouache. I think I will make it into a fake passport.

These are the spines of my three almost identical booklets. There's just a figure 8 stitch through their spines and each holds about four or six pages, depending on the thickness of the internal paper.

There is talk of a Printmaker's club being formed at school. And also a few ideas going around regarding a Printmaker's show sometime in this semester. I look forward to both.

After spending $97 on one of two required books for my lower division GE class, I find that it may not even be needed. The reasoning for this thought is that we spent time listening to a lecture that while informative, was a general survey of the rise of western scientific philosophy. Interesting, but mostly covering things I knew enough about to survive on a test with at least a B. Unfortunately, there are required readings. I think I'll wait on taking the book out of the shrink-wrap.

Tomorrow, I cart more paper to school and look at nude people all day.

Deep, Deep Pockets.

This is called a levigator. Though that sounds like a Star Trek ship name, it's really just a 25lb piece of Iron with a revolving handle.

You spin the levigator after putting gritty metal sand on the limestone with some water, and it slides unbelievably easy. This helps to remove the former image on the stone, along with a thickness of stone about the thickness of a playing card. A lot of people find it really hard to do this evenly.
Care must be taken not to let the slurry stuff dry- because it becomes concrete, or near enough.

After rinsing, it is dried quickly. The feeling of the surface is almost identical to chalkboard. It is also hilariously grease-sensitive. If a fingerprint gets on the surface as it's being prepared, it can set into the drawing.

Classes Today:

1. Intermediate Life Drawing: 8:00-10:50
2. Figure Painting: 12:00-14:50
3. Life Drawing: 15:00-18:20

1. Intermediate Life Drawing: This is definitely a class I can add. Of a roster of 24 people, only about 16 showed up. To the credit of the absent students, it is eight in the morning. I know a couple people in the class rather well. Unfortunately, at this hour of the morning, if Chiarito chooses to show us slides and turn out the lights, I'm going to need a big cup of tea. The structure of the class seems rather loose- almost as though he'd rather pat us on the back than give a grade.

2. I was happy to see that there weren't many students in this class. I prefer painting without having to step over other people. However, she did warn that we needed to have Intermediate Painting before her class. D'oh! I'm pretty sure I'll be fine unless she chooses to go by-the-book.
A bit disappointed that there seems to be one of those ladies who must share every thought with the class. That's usually my job.

3. Back in Lucy Sargent's class again. She's a ton of fun and I'm really going to want to talk to her a lot. Must censor myself so I'm not being a complete kiss-ass. My friend Andreas is in the class with me as open university. It costs about $600 per 3 units. I have to somehow find a 14x17 sketchbook by next Tuesday.

And in case you're wondering what the information on Litho Stone Grinding at top has to do with anything- the answer is not much. I simply had two hours between classes, since each class only required about an hour of talking.

Well, this is my weekend. I'll likely not post on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, ever. I'm sleeping.

First Day of Classes.

I remember when this trolley-car seemed the wave of the future. Fools!

All these cabinets are full of typefaces. Yes. Little lead letters. And the teacher is prepared to show us how to use them.

Today:

1. English 100W- 9:00-10:15
2. History 1B- 12:00-13:15
3. Art 175- 15:30-18:20

1. I am trying to add this class. 100W is the writing proficiency class that SJSU uses to ensure that all of their graduates can, in theory, express themselves in the written word. I've taken 5 English classes at the college level, (and got above a B in all,) but even though they all transfer, I need to waste units in this class. Do you know what word this brings to mind, kids?

2. History 1B is taught by a Professor who used to teach at Stanford. I feel a little for her in that the classroom is tiny and has absolutely no room for any more chairs, and a lot of the students seemed to be zoning out. I also think that it's a small point of amusement when the entire class is told to switch their phones to silent, and one still goes off in the resident sorority's Hello Kitty purse.

3. This class is the reason I show up to school. Art 175 is listed as "Special Topics" but is actually- *drum roll* Book Arts. I am going to build books in this class- whether as sketchbooks or as incredible portfolio pieces. I can't wait to get started.
Unfortunately I do have to somehow come up with the supplies, at least the ones I don't already own. Bookcloth, Board, Bone Folder, and Awl. Next week will be a little akward since I can't afford supplies before getting paid. In the meantime I have all the paper and thread I will ever need.
I may do a little instructional entry sometime to show the binding process. The resulting books we were shown as examples made me completely giddy.

I have cheered myself out of being completely exhausted. I think I'll do laundry, hurrah.

Preparation for Act 1.

The school is so amazingly empty. I know it will get so much noisier once it actually begins tomorrow.

I have carted my paints and general tools to school in my hobo-cart, while gaining many unsolicited weird looks on the Light Rail. I should probably take a photo or two of that sometime as well. Nothing could possibly be stranger than the nearly automated system of rails that buds with mirror-domed security cameras and hoodlums rapping along with their ipods. Except perhaps mug-shots of the trolls who work at the bursar's office. It could kill them to smile, I think.

I should probably warn readers of this that I'm not much of a writer. I can use proper grammar and punctuation, but don't expect me to be able to type fast enough to follow a train of thought. I get a bit jumpy.

And so tomorrow, School starts.
Today I went in to stuff snacks in my locker (shh, against rules) and the rest of my toolboxes. Conveniently, I am located across the hall from Patrick Surgalowski's office. So today while I was loading things up he came into the hall.
I had a convenient all caps reply- "HEY Mr. SURGALOWSKI, IS YOUR BOOKS CLASS ABOUT BOOK-MAKING OR BOOK-READING?" (Yes, I really needed to ask this. There is no description for this class besides "Art Books")
"...Book making. Good to see you back!" His eyes said "I can see you set up camp right outside my office. Good to know I'll be using that handy-dandy fire escape."
I threw in my David Blaine impression to seal the deal. O.O "Thanks!"
"You'll straighten up the rest of these chuckleheads, it'll be great!"
"... do you actually remember me?"
"Ta ta!" he vanished with that puff-of-smoke-trick only tenured professors know.

So it looks like I will indeed be doing 18 units. I hope they have psychiatrists on campus who know what they're doing.