today in the studio: my desk, no gloss
May 23, 2013
Thanks to Kim Werker for the inspiration.
I haven’t been in my studio, other than to dig for supplies or dump supplies, in a couple of weeks because being on the Board of the Border City Brawlers while we’re preparing to host a big regional tournament is taking up all of my studio time. ALL OF IT. Today I brought derby work into the studio just to fool myself into thinking I have some studio time. So far, it’s not working.
Here is my work table today:
It’s quite messy at the moment, with heaps of bookbinding supplies and printmaking supplies and drawing and collage supplies and serger thread and about twelve pairs of scissors. All of my woodcut gouges are dumped there from a 3-week class I recently taught at the gallery. The walls are covered with images from National Geographic, Conrad Gessner and other sources (drawing reference material). There is a crocheted bunny in a blaugrana jumper riding the crank of the nipping press, a gift from a student in my bookbinding classes (the bunny, not the press). Also, a stack of drum leaf bindings that are finished and gorgeous and ready to list in my shop if I could ever find the time to photograph them. Pencil crayons separated into warm colours and cool colours, in corresponding warm-and-cool vintage mugs (NERD). And bingo dabbers! given to me by the ladies I work with at the bingo (two days a month for two different nonprofits). I take childish delight in drawing with them because of the HUGE sloppy dots they make.
Things on my desk kept in canning jars: broken graphite sticks, a bunch of chains a friend gave me for a project I can’t find time to do, water for soaking brushes (two jars, one for gesso brushes and one for bookbinding glue brushes, both labeled with Dymo tape so they don’t get mixed up) (shut up, yes, I’m a nerd). Things on my desk kept in mugs: paintbrushes, glue brushes, double pointed knitting needles, pens, pencils, markers, pencil crayons. And broken graphite sticks. Not sure how that happened.
To the left you can just see the corner of the paper shelves, an alternate work surface, which at the moment is also piled high with bookbinding supplies and yarn and tools that I was too lazy to take back down to the basement workbench when I was done with them. The laptop is out of the frame to the right, on the sewing table (with sewing machine and serger shoved aside to make room because my studio is approximately the size of your bedroom closet), so that I can listen to my podcast while I work (The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe, of course).
Today’s project is there in the centre next to the ever present coffee: cutting number stencils for shirts for our new farm team, the Windsor A-Salt, who are playing in their first public bout this Saturday.
Posted by jodi on May 23, 2013 at 12.39pm
levigator press
April 17, 2013
I’ve decided to keep all of my business and studio news and content over here in a new space: Levigator Press. It’s still a work in progress, and of course studio news will still spill over into here, but I thought there might be some people who would like to follow what’s happening in the LP studio without having to know about what I’m cooking or what’s new in the ongoing rivalry between my cats. There is a page there detailing all of the upcoming bookbinding and printmaking workshops I’ll be teaching, so if you want to get your Levigator Press learning on, go over and check it out!
Posted by jodi on April 17, 2013 at 9.19am
today in the studio
February 16, 2013
Got a little stack of coptic bindings to sew up while I watch the Barça match this afternoon.
Posted by jodi on February 16, 2013 at 1.54pm
chop-chop
January 28, 2013
The days churn on, things happen, but the desire to write them down here is low. I would like to cut January from my life, hack it roughly with a serrated knife so it rips open in an ugly wound that will never close. Go directly from New Year’s Eve to February, month of light at the end of tunnel, light slowly returning to the mornings, something to live for, look forward to. Month with a long weekend, now (Family Day! a name designed to screw the beer industry, through whose lobbying we were finally granted this lovely winter gift of a Monday off work with pay).
No, make it a sharp knife. A clean cut so the scar will be smooth, nearly impossible to see once the hair grows back over. Goodbye, January. I never liked you.
Things are happening, though. Some of them rather exciting things of a business nature, not the least of which is about to happen this very week. Alas, you, dear reader, are the last to hear about it and so let’s not speak of it now; you’ve waited this long, what’s another day?
Over the weekend Peter and I reassembled the Chandler & Price bench cutter that we bought four years (four years!) ago, fastened it atop its freshly painted base, and then I cleaned it up a bit with a green scrubby and some oil. The wheel that adjusts the back gauge is still very stiff (okay, it will barely move) and the big screw underneath will need to be thoroughly cleaned and regreased. But today I realized I didn’t need the back gauge to trim books, so I put one of the blades in and lo! It chops. Like a dream. And believe me, I’ve been dreaming of chopping things for a long time now.
Here, I made you a blurry little video of the first cuts, on some little notebooks.
I could not be more happy to have this machine (mostly) finished and in working order, finally. Expect a Levigator Press shop update soon!
Posted by jodi on January 28, 2013 at 9.08am
sneak peek
December 20, 2012
A few of the hand printed furoshiki wrapping fabrics delivered to Shop Eco this week. There are two sizes, 100x100cm and 50x50cm. There will be a few of the larger size listed in the Greenwears shop soon, but if you’re in Pillette Village you should check out the selection at Shop Eco (located in the back of Sweetheart Diapers).
Posted by jodi on December 20, 2012 at 10.21am
this week in the studio
December 14, 2012
More fabric printing, this time for a new line of furoshiki wrapping cloths which will soon be available through Shop Eco in Windsor. At the same time I’m printing some larger pieces, so that soon people who sew will be able to use my one of a kind printed fabrics for their own projects. Just a few of the exciting projects I’ve got brewing for the new year!
Also, it’s not much right now (just a copy of the “shop” page from my regular site) but we are working on a website for Levigator Press that will be separate from this one, with its own weblog that focuses on what’s happening in the studio and doesn’t have any pictures of my breakfast or cats. I’ll let you know when there’s more to see over there.
Posted by jodi on December 14, 2012 at 4.20pm
scales
November 13, 2012
This woodblock isn’t fully cut yet but I printed it anyway, first in blue and then later in gray. In addition to printing it on fabrics for bandannas and cowls for the shop, I also printed it on some jersey material for leggings for me! Which have to wait until after this weekend’s show to get sewn up. I’ve now printed cut-out pattern pieces for four pairs of leggings, with three more pairs cut out and waiting to get printed, so stay tuned for the inevitable parade of outfit photos coming soon. Some of these leggings are going to be truly hideous. I can’t wait!
Posted by jodi on November 13, 2012 at 10.46am
sunday in the studio
November 5, 2012
Some fabrics freshly printed for bandannas and cowls for an upcoming craft show.
I also printed a few pieces of jersey fabric that have been cut into pattern pieces for leggings I’m making for myself: the black with gray stripes and the turquoise with green stripes. Everything else is on a deadline for the show in two weeks so of course all I want to do now is finish the leggings first.
Posted by jodi on November 5, 2012 at 11.02am
hammered
October 15, 2012
Here’s the base for the Chandler & Price paper shear, all freshly painted with charcoal coloured hammered-texture rust paint. It’s so lovely I’m eyeing anything and everything in the house now, looking for more things to put this paint on. I think it would look great on our kitchen appliances, and possibly also the bathroom fixtures. And the Adana hand press, OBVIOUSLY. My spinning wheel? Hmm, perhaps not.
The chopper is now ready to be reassembled and put into use, finally. Too bad we forgot to take photos of the disassembling process. There are a few parts I’m not sure I’ve ever seen before, and the prospect of making a mistake putting together a tool that has the power to cut off one’s arm is rather an exciting one, eh?
Posted by jodi on October 15, 2012 at 8.56pm
tattoo flash
June 21, 2012
Some tattoo flash sheets I drew yesterday. I’m trying to decide whether to colour them in time for my show (tomorrow!) or show them like this and add the shading and colour later. I’m tempted to keep them like this, print out the scans on good drawing paper and colour those, but that means no colour for my show. But it means I have time to draw two more! Decisions, decisions.
Yes, those are my wisdom teeth in the bowl. One is broken.
Posted by jodi on June 21, 2012 at 10.18am
