Woodless Graphite Pencils

Random update concerning the site itself: As you may have noticed from my inconsistent updates over the last couple of weeks, I’m having difficulty maintaining a Monday through Friday update schedule while juggling everything else. I was thinking about this, and I realized it’ll only get worse once I throw school into the mix as well. Part of this is my own lack or organization and regimented schedule, part is my thoroughly crazy life. So while I try to get better at making more time for writing, I’m going to knock updates back to Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays only (an idea blatantly stolen from one of my favorite webcomics, XKCD). My goal is to be back to updating five days a week by January.

But now on to the fun stuff. Today I want to spread joy. Joy in the form of a pencil.

Oh, but not just any pencil. I’m talking specifically about a woodless graphite pencil. I bought a couple on impulse about a year ago while I was shopping for other art supplies, and for finished graphite drawings, they’re pretty much the only pencil I used now. I may occasionally use a harder lead for layouts, but in most instances the woodless is all I use.

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27 July

Etching

Etching is one of the most elegant mediums out there. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most expensive. But the results are totally worth it! Check these Rembrandts:

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4 June

Screen Printing

So welcome to The Dancing ManDuh Bonanza (formerly Ramblings of an Art-Obsessed Mama)! This was actually the title I put on my LiveJournal, but I like it better than Ramblings of an Art-Obsessed Mama…It sounds more me, while still paying a little homage to my kids (it’s taken from an episode of one of my son’s favorite shows, WordWorld).

Well, with that out of the way, let’s talk art. Specifically, screen printing. Screen printing is a pretty versatile medium…you can see it just about everywhere; t-shirts, posters, fliers, zines. The list goes on. Before computers and print shops, DIYers, zinesters, and show promoters would screen print their little hearts out to spread their wares to the masses. A friend of mine once referred to screen printing as “the original spam” (he actually did mean it in an endearing way…I think).

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21 May