Fixing and Sticking

Today I had the unfortunate pleasure of having to fix some pieces from my recent art show..."unfortunate" only because I feel that the originals were much better. Transferring this way, with a simple marker and burnishing technique, leads to many mistakes, because trying to keep the paper steady is very hard, and the fumes are annoying, and the pressure of the bone burnishing tool can sometimes rip the paper. Long story short, when the end product is nice and clean, one can breath a deep sigh of relief and really enjoy the way this technique results in a strange sketch-turned-photocopy-turned-screenprint-image. BUT..when one pushes to hard, or doesn't keep the paper steady, the image becomes blurred, very light, and just looks a bit lousy.

This is the Bandaged Man piece being laid down and gridded out very sloppily (the ink from the blender markers dries so fast I easily forget which parts I have transferred and those I have not), and ready for an inky rub down...

And this is the "Ejected Burnt Toast" piece taped down as well. No grid needed here, the lines are so few they're easily tracked...

And then the inky process begins, soaking the paper through...

And burnishing it (here with a bone burnisher) as hard as it seems the paper will take it to get a dark, clean image...

And the finished transfer, with the original mirror imaged photo copy above it, looking slightly damp and worn from the burnishing...

And that is how I did it. But of course, the originals just seemed to posess something greater than these, so I am sad that I ripped apart the originals to use the foamcore beneath it...just to save money on the process. Sort of scandolous of me, I think. It was interesting for me to see how much a difference the slightest movement or photocopy speck of dust can make in the final rendering...
My lesson has been learned. When using ten dollar spray adhesive instead of wheat paste (like everyone so fervently advised me to do after I had done the show, ahk!), make sure you wait the whole minute before applying to two parts, because it sticks better once it becomes tacky, not when it is still freshly wet. I am yet an amateur in the field of most art products, for example, barely learning last year that "matte" isn't simply a French term for 'paint'....okay, perhaps I am exaggerating, but one gets the point - I still have much to learn...I am still a young Gubba.