I'm going to be adding more paper goods to my shop this year. The first thing to be added will be this peony notecard. It is block printed with block printing ink on lovely, textured paper. More on that soon.

Hi there; I'm still working away here in the studio getting ready for Renegade SF. If you're planning to be there, please let me know and stop by to say hello. For some reason, I always seem to have bursts of creativity when I am the most busy, so over the next few days I'll be showing you some new things that I've made while getting ready for the show.

Above is the first in my new monoprint series. I'm having great fun playing with this new medium and with colors that I don't normally use. I'd love to know what you think.

My nephew recently turned two, and my kids really love to make gifts for special occasions, so together we made him this fantastic cloth number book. 

This was a fun and easy project for my kids and the steps to making your own couldn't be simpler.

• First, cut out 3 rectangles from a solid fabric. These rectangles are cut from cotton drill and are           about 7" X 10". I used my pinking shears to cut the edges so they won't unravel. Then, I folded each rectangle in half and ironed them to make the 'pages'.
• My kids had a great time going through their stamp collection to choose stamps they thought their cousin would like and matching them up with the numbers. They chose larger stamps for the smaller numbers and smaller stamps for the large numbers.
• Then, I printed the numbers on each page. This is the trickiest bit as you need to stack the pages and print them in the right order. Then, my kids printed pictures on each page to correspond to the number. **We used fabric ink (the same water-based screen printing ink I always use), which is non-toxic and washable.
• When everything had printed and dried, I cured the ink to make it washable (read the directions on the ink you use) and simply stitched three seams on the edge of the book to hold things together. The kids had a great time working on this project and they were proud to give something they had made to their cousin. 

PS - I know some of you are following me here to read my Printmaking 101 series. With summer in full swing, I've had to put a hold on that project until my kids go back to school, but it will be back in mid-August!

Map of Munich, lithography stone and print

Lithography was invented in 1796 by Alois Senefelder, a Bavarian author who used the technique to publish theatrical works. Lithography is based on the chemical repellence of oil and water. Designs are drawn or painted with greasy ink or crayons on specially prepared limestone. The stone is moistened with water, which the stone accepts in areas not covered by the crayon. An oily ink, applied with a roller, adheres only to the drawing and is repelled by the wet parts of the stone. The print is then made by pressing paper against the inked drawing.

lithograph, The Races, Manet

Today, offset lithography is widely used to produce posters, maps, books, and newspapers, but I am going to focus here on its history as an art form. In the early 1800s, the technical difficulties of lithography that had inhibited its growth as an art form were solved, and a few artists such as Delacroix and Gericault began to use the process. In the late 1800s, there was a revival of the form in France by artists such as Manet and Degas.

lithograph, Minaux, printed at Mourlot Studios

In the 1890s, Toulouse-Lautrec and other French artists began to use color lithography and it soon became an accepted form of printmaking. During the twentieth century, Mourlot Studios was founded and a great number of master artists created lithographs at the studio. Picasso alone created over 400 lithographs at Mourlot.

lithograph, The Bridge, M.C.Escher

More than other printmaking techniques, printmakers in lithography still largely depend on access to a good printer, and the development of the medium has been greatly influenced by when and where these have been established.  (wiki)

Like Intaglio, Lithography is an art form that is practiced in a printmaking studio, and is best learned from a master printmaker. I just found out that there is a printmaking center here in San Jose and I would love to take some classes there in the future!