#max stadnik

[dogandcatcomics]

Max Stadnik (Berkeley, California, USA) has created prints with canine themes.  First image:  American Golden (risograph).  Second image:  Hot Dog (risograph).  Third image:  Mooncake (lithograph).  Thanks to @tinysplendor for the tip.  https://splendormart.com/    https://maxstadnik.com/

[maxstadnik]

Just finished this lithograph - “mooncake” 

Get one of this very limited edition at Splendormart.com

[maxstadnik]

Starting a new lithograph - laying down the iron oxide and stopping out with gum on the key stone.

[maxsgaragepress]

new basic website

[maxsgaragepress]

PAST WORKS!

After running into Nathaniel Russell at the LAABF earlier this month, I thought it might be nice to make a post about the work we had collaborated on awhile back. This was a fun project we took on for Russell's solo exhibition Instant Dust at Ed. Varie - click and check it out!

[maxsgaragepress]

PRINTING WITH RUST

A goal of mine for a long time has been to create a way of printing photographs with rust - I have finally gotten it down with these new rust prints! You can see the final print here as well as my first few proofs and the original positive image.

These prints were taken from a specially prepared steel plate onto Rives BFK paper.

come and check them out in person at the East Bay Print Sale

-Max Stadnik

[maxsgaragepress]

This video shows the process of rolling up and proofing a litho stone that from my estimation has not been printed in roughly 90 to 100 years. This imagery was created by a process called stone engraving, and was not meant to be printed in large editions directly off of this stone itself. Stones such as this were used as transfer stones, so that really fine detail work could be done and then printed onto a transfer paper and then transferred into another printing matrix.

The video begins at the end of a 20min gum down which is necessary to re-enforce the adsorb gum film. This also helps to loosen up old newsprint that was typically applied to the stone to protect it after printing. After this step the stone is rolled up in the standard way. The ink has been sitting on the stone so long that it has actually stained the stone, so during the washout the image does not get washed away. However it is important to apply a solvent in the same fashion as usual.

Stone engravings such as this are meant to be inked up with a dabber. In some ways it is similar to how one would wipe an intaglio plate. This is necessary because unlike traditional stone drawing, the positive imagery is created through deletion. So a dabber helps to push the ink into the deleted areas.  In the video you can see my homemade dabber, which consist of a scrap of wood wrapped in an old flannel shirt, a true dabber would be made of leather. Alternating between using the dabber and snapping quickly with the roller helps to both apply ink into the appropriate areas as well as pick the ink up elsewhere.

You can see that there is some pretty serious scumming happening during the roll up. When rolling up an old stone like this you never know what kind of grease has found its way into the surface of the stone. More time-consuming restoration techniques could be used to try and counter act this but for my purposes this is fine. My guess is that most of this scumming is actually caused by the oils from fingers after years of handling. 

[maxsgaragepress]

The Magic of Rolling up a Lo Shu Wash

This was done on stone using gum arabic and water. Three drops of gum was added to exactly 30ml of water and mixed. This solution was then applied to a freshly grained lithographic stone and allowed to dry. As the water dries gum is deposited into lines of reticulation. This is similar to the way a tusche wash solution behaves on stone. The difference is that the Lo Shu wash is depositing gum instead of tusche, so what you are left with is a gum mask. 

Once the water has completely evaporated the imaged is rolled up and etched like a lithographic maniere noire.