Black Heart Press

Bubonic Plates

Also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEeuHmDZQv8

PRINTMAKING SELFIES
aka Hugo Simberg: #gpoy #1897

These photographs are undated, the prints are all from 1897. Simberg had just been introduced to printmaking by his then mentor Akseli Gallen-Kallela and went crazy on those zinc plates. Not that there was much else to do, for Akseli had his studio out in the middle of nowhere.
Simberg also loved to photograph (boys mostly, it appears), and in the first photo in the set above he can be seen working on an etching in the only way proper in Finland 1897:  well-dressed in white shirt, bowtie and straw hat. Flowers and hard ground on the table, well worn wooden wall backdrop.

Details for the etchings :
(dimensions are image size, paper size may be larger)

Self-portrait II, 1897
etching, 10x8cm

Playmates, 1897
etching, 10x7,4cm

Death Asks for Pictures on his Scythe, 1897
etching, 12,5x17,5cm

Heating the Sauna, 1897
etching, 20x10,3cm

The one with Death getting his scythe blinged up is most probably some sort of a self portrait as well, if one goes by the mustache. After you’ve spent all night working on Death’s scythe, you’re forgiven a weak impression, at least in my book.

In the last photo we see Simberg reclining in what must’ve been 1897’s most rawrsome outfit, pulling off a classical muse pose with a suaveness that has gone extinct in today’s printmaking world*.

The photos I actually scanned out of a children’s book about Simberg, Finnish only, I’m sorry. Saved some for a future post. If you’re curious about Hugo, here’s my earlier post about his Garden of Death - highly recommended.

Further reading:

236 post in, i’ve just got to get this out - you guys are awesome <3 I’ve met some incredibly intriguing people thanks to tumblr, and BHP has gotten more attention than I would have expected. Or, to say it in Pokémon, according to the National Pokédex: #446 Munchlax. I mean look at this guy!

I’ve been listening to 16 Horsepower all evening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_Uvh_Ts62U

and to Front 242 while working, from 1897 to 2029:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym5SyuxgQ-o

Time capsule:
Printing an etching on zinc in 2011, chine-collé on Xuan Shi paper, backing paper is Rives BFK. The finished work was posted here a while ago: http://blackheartpress.tumblr.com/post/23317756663/30yhbf

*edit:
The messy printshop in the back was the old printshop of the Muthesius Academy of Fine Art in Kiel, Germany. I started my printmaking days there in 2006 - and yes, it took a lot of willpower to print instead of cleaning the space properly. I’m not a neat freak, however, so it was possible #coughcough #lithoshop #cough 

Yours truly, processing the #21 stone, as the header image for the printmaking department of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki.

Photo taken from:
http://www.kuva.fi/fi/opiskelu/koulutusohjelmat/taidegrafiikka/

Steel facing

Just saw some of the prices shops ask for steel facing - as with all things printmaking, it’s amazing how expensive stuff can be if you’re not doing it yourself.

Friday’s work from the printshop now dry enough to scan.
Both prints are three colour intaglio prints. The plates are printed chine-collé on Chinese xuan paper, which is partially overlapping a piece of Japanese yuzen washi paper. All this is mounted on a backing sheet of French Rives BFK paper.
Plate sizes are around 3cm (1.2in)

(Detail)

Yuzen is, in this case, a bit of an exaggeration. The design on the washi paper is not printed in old fashioned Kyoto stencils, but quite obviously silkscreened. Guess this just denotes the style of the design. Either way, it is gampi paper, and as such perfect for chine-collé.

Yesterday’s printing session will not go down as the smoothest in printmaking history. Was attempting prints in this fashion, just with seven plates (=colours). Registering worked easy enough, but stretch was considerable with seven passes through the press. Ok results, but room for improvisation. Will upload when dry enough to scan.
I’ve got this feeling that the Rives BFK paper maybe was a bit too weak (270g/sqm) - will try today with Arches 88 and German Zerkall Alt Bern, both very good papers.

Until then, feel free to comment & spread the word :)

Relocating to Helsinki soon, the one thing I will miss about the grimy old place is the wonderful Erasmus Sutter litho press. Also: yes, I really have a cat’s head. And yes - having whiskers is as awesome as one would imagine.
Also: join the Black Heart Press on google+, yes yes!

Photo credit: the amazing www.hansen-wagner.com