Proofing: the best way to really know what you're looking at

I think I have finally rummaged through the entire collection of cuts and halftone plates at the World Museum of Mining, but I'm definitely not 100% familiar with the collection. Each time I open a case that houses theses images I discover one that didn't catch my eye last time; I find this to be totally exhilarating.

The images below are quick proofs of the current batch of plates that enticed me into printing them. It is sometimes hard to really know what these images look like until you ink them up and print them on paper. With most of the halftone plates I've been having good luck printing them with damp paper or on a paper that has a semi-slick coating (like a glossy card stock or bristol). It's fun to be learning new things about printmaking through making.

The IBRC & WMM are amazing and I'm really enjoying my time here as an artist in residence. I am so transfixed with Butte America and I'm glad I'll be living here for months to come. I have so many ideas for prints I want to make and probably not enough time!

Cheers!
-Christa

Rollers for the C&P should be getting fixed soon!

A typography piece that is in progress

I'm finding so many halftone plates that I want to print that have dogs in them. This one is a proud mama with her puppies. The gentlemen in the photo look equally as proud!

This tropical location halftone plate has me so curious as to how and why it ended up in a print shop in Butte, MT. If anyone knows, please comment below!

Projects have been piling up for me this week! I'm prepping for a workshop this Saturday Feb 13th at the Imagine Butte Resource Center from Noon-3pm that focusing on printing Valentine's Day cards. We'll be letterpress printing, block printing, and making some monotypes and trace monotypes (at least that's my goal, who knows if we'll be able to do all those processes!) Check out the FB event page here https://www.facebook.com/events/1533148403649297/ or contact me at Christa.Carleton@gmail.com for more info.

I've heard AMAZING news from the Director of the Museum that the rollers for the Chandler & Price should be getting refurbished soon! So I'd like to leave you with this short video of a working press that is similar in age to the one at the Hell Roarin Gulch, it is from 1885 while ours is from 1897.  In the near future our press will be running just as smoothly :)

Watch Here →  https://vimeo.com/63459690

-Christa 

Plates & Prints

These are just a few of the hundreds of unmounted halftone letterpress plates from the WMM. All of the people etched into these metal surfaces captivate me. I wonder about who they were, what their lives were like, and what happened to them. Today I printed just 2 of these plates. 

This one says "1904 Champions" and the uniforms say "School of Mines"

This image had a hard to read name written on the back "Ruth Edna Dietrich", I could be wrong about the last name though (it's so hard to read really loopy cursive writing) 

I love this portrait!

Look as how concerned this pup is. 

No name was on the back of this image.

The Line-O-Scribe at the IBRC has quickly become my favorite press.

-Christa

The Man Himself

Ladies and Gentlemen this is the guy, the one who worked in the Hell Roarin Gulch Print Shop for many years:    

Bob Rugh setting type

... and this is me awhile back in roughly the same spot. You'll notice Bob is just in a long sleeved button up and I am super bundled up! My hunch is that it was probably a warmer month when Bob was in there, either that or it's when the wood stove still worked in the shop.

This is from the day we cleaned the shop up

For all you design and type maniacs out there, check out these beautiful fonts!

I had a long day at the WMM & the IBRC, so that's all for now!

-Christa