I’ve got new toys!

My fiance bought me a Riso PG-11 system for my birthday, even though my birthday is in December (on the 20th!). The jig was up after he let slip when I stated that I was just going to go ahead and purchase one for myself out of my “professional development” money (all the money I earn from selling my art goes back into my art). My gocco arrived (at my mother’s place!) last week, and of course I wanted to have at it as soon as possible.

So far I’ve burnt two screens using artwork I’ve created using the Riso pen, which is carbon based. In the second attempt I tried using a sharpie, however it turns out that the sharpie I have has absolutely no carbon in it. Our printer, an ink jet, was also rendered useless. It was a little frustrating, because I wanted to start printing pretty things straight away, but of course there’s always a learning curve. Tonight we went out to Office Works to buy a few things and came home with a HP LaserJet 1020 – and it’s FULL of carbon! Yay!

My first really really nice thing to go to print will be our “save the date” cards for the wedding (I refuse to call them STDs!) I’ll be sure to document the process and post it, and the results, here!

I’ve been doing a lot of drawing, still working on my paisleys. I made a few motifs last night in Illustrator. There is a LOT of work in paisleys, and you really learn to respect the formidible illustration and patterning skills of the old artisans who used the boteh in their work. I still can’t figure out how to pattern these properly without seeing an obvious grid repeating.

You might see a few elements from this paisley illustration in my work over the next few months. The scalloped borders in particular… I love them!

Related posts:

1. Some of my work for sale…
2. Avast, I’m still alive.