30 June 2009

prussian blue

Yesterday, Monday, was another perfect day – not only the weather, which has been ridiculously lovely, but also the work and the exhaustion that comes with it. I am fried, again and already, even after a weekend off. Well, Saturday off anyway… I spent the first part of that day hitting every antique store on the way to Asheville, driving down in my friend Cassandra’s convertible, which really is the way to ride down those windy mountain roads. I didn’t end up buying anything (except some random bits and things I needed at the Craft Store in town, and some blackberry ice cream) but I did get heavy inspiration from one store full of amazing 19th-Century objects – hairwork rings, daguerreotype jewelry and all manner of beautiful lost goods. It’s made me think more about what I want from my work – the strangeness, the history – if only I could get any of it done. Back at the studio by the afternoon, I only had to step in the door to be in the Teacher Spot again. I chose to spend the rest of Saturday hiding out, even avoiding the 90’s dance up at Northlight. Quiet, quiet and mountain rest.

I did manage to get some things done on Sunday since the studio was empty for the morning at least. Inspired by the Print Class’ experiments with layering and sanding back their images, I started making a gum print with hidden imagery, to see if I can sand back to it. Frankly, it’d be easier (and less dangerous than making airborne dichromates) simply to brush back while the image is developing, but I’d like to see what’s possible that I haven’t tried before. I also borrowed some of the nice wax they’ve been using on their prints. Right now I am only aiming at making something that is beautiful and a joy to create by hand (as one usually does at a Craft School, I suppose.) I’ll think about it all later.

I got in a good solid day’s work on Sunday, and thought I was rested enough for a full demo day to begin the week. The students have all been working incredibly hard, but also playing and socializing more than other classes I’ve had. I don’t quite know how they manage both, but I can tell they need something else to think about. The goal for Monday was to add Cyanotypes into the mix, not only as a solid base for gum overlays, but also as a stronger (and easier to make) Cyan layer for 3-color gums. In addition, Jim, my older and technically brilliant student, wanted to make a 3-color print using three different processes: Cyanotype, Cuprotype (from his own formula!) and a yellow gum.

Somehow I’d only just realized that this is really a Color Class – and I mean I only realized right before demo… I walked in and found myself talking about Sir John Herschel’s early experiments with natural dyes and colors in order to create full-color Photography (a word he coined, by the way.) This is, of course, the Anthotype and our wine-stained version, which I’d originally proposed as a lark, now seemed more a conceptual anchor to what we’ve been doing. I kinda thought I’d get them making blue prints and walk away, but of course I now needed to do the full How-To-Tone-Cyanotypes thing, if only for more and yet more color.

After lunch we got Jim going on his processes (and learned a few things on the way, such as how Cuprotype was too opaque an emulsion to be an overlay, but did, in fact, stay unaffected by the Cyanotype) and he continued to school us on the chemical details of our work. It’s geeky as all hell, but I was never an educated chemist, so I’ve delighted in discussing the difference between Ferric Ferricyanide and Ferrous Ferrocyanide…

As usual for this class, everyone worked like crazy and didn’t stop. I was exhausted by dinner, and they continued to print and shoot and experiment and question on into the night. After the Glass Instructor slides, I went down to work on my print, but there was hardly any room to squeeze in the UV box. The whole class was there (except Jim, who has the sense to be a morning person.) They had a million new ideas after today, of course. They made Coffeetypes. They printed reverse gum highlights on dark toned Cyanotypes. They also drank and jumped around and got Heavy Deep and Real at the picnic table, while the paper soaked, the dichromated colloids hardened and iron was reduced to Prussian Blue.