Printer Mania!

I've done it! Just brought home my new printer...now for a week of wanting to throw it out the window before I get it all running smoothly - but, hey, I love a challenge. Let's just hope the living being wins the battle over the machine. Must go rearrange the entire room now - this beast is almost 3 feet wide!

The Little Ones...

Here's some process photos of My Poor Dead Fairies... Ameil's dress is grass seeds still in their outer skins, individually glued against each other. Very tedious, but I love the effect, so very worth it.



Some of the girls hanging out, waiting for me to make some final decisions. I'm beginning to think of myself as the official mortician for the fairy world.

printer again...

Well, it's really looking like the pigment ink is the way to go. Dye-based inks soak into the fibers of the paper while pigment inks lay on top, kind of like paint. This is what professionals use and is how they get professional results with inkjet printers. It seems if you get the holy trinity correct of proper scanning, color management, and printer capabilities, you get absolutely wonderful results that will last for years. There is also a large assortment of art papers available that are coated specifically for inkjet printing, as well. I can't wait to start playing around with it all!

Feels better to finally be coming to a decision on all of it. Now I just have to cross my fingers that my poor computer will be able to handle all that information for high quality prints!...it's always something, isn't it?

By the way, it's really, really, really hot here right now and will be all this week, but I broke down and bought a small window air conditioning unit for my computer room so I can at least work on something without dying of heat stroke! Had to totally re-invent how I installed it so as not to damage the vinyl replacement windows, but it worked out great and I was able to do it by myself. Completely worth it. I've never liked central air in a house really, but love having one room to retreat to when necessary. Although now that I'm working from home, I might be rethinking that.

Stardate July Something 2009, entering Black Hole of Printers!

The Printer Monster!!!

I've been researching printers to make high quality reproductions to have some more affordable items in my shop and it is KILLING ME. There is so much info and models that my brain is being eaten alive. Pigment inks, archival inks, dye-based inks, 6 color, 8 color, wide format, glossy, matte, different ink colors, how much ink it uses, buying different ink and screwing up the printer. When I look at forums, the model numbers are different in each country so it's impossible to tell which one you are reading about until you notice the person is in Australia and that's why it looks like that printer doesn't exist. I'm a stickler for quality! I want to know I'm printing pieces that are rich and will last! I'm going to try and find a local store that has several on display that I can look at and maybe see the difference of dye or pigment inks - if there is any! I thought dye inks didn't last as long, but now someone told me that epson's dye-based inks are archival and will last. I know, blah, blah, blah...

Coraline DVD!

It is going to be so nice to be able to go through the movie and pause in spots to see all the weird little things you can't in the theater. I hope the extras are interesting! It really is unbelievable all the work that goes into something like Coraline, even when I worked on it! It takes SO many people to get it done. I suppose that's some of why it was so incredible to be a part of it. In the end, you almost feel like you went to war with all of your coworkers! It was a 4 year battle - and we won! A few interesting factoids - each one of those puppets cost between $25,000 and $50,000 a piece to make, and then there's the near constant upkeep as the animators use and abuse them to get their scenes shot. Whenever I was training someone on how to work on Coraline's hands, I would always tell them one of the hardest parts is just learning how to hold all the tiny parts in your hands and be able to work on them without dropping everything. We're talking accuracy of less than a millimeter on a lot of things! The sweaters in the movie are actual sweaters a woman hand knits with silk thread! Even all the sweaters folded and stacked in the store in town, which was probably on screen for less than a minute, were each knit with custom knitting needles the woman makes from thin wire. She came by the studio one day and everyone was completely mesmorized and basically shocked at what she does...and this is everyone that had been working on miniature things for years - now that's saying something! I'll try and find her web info and post it....

Here's a link to the short Focus video on Althea Crome (the knitter)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muce8MVqTaU

Here's a link to her site on all of her knitting projects...

http://www.bugknits.com/

Coraline

Thought I'd post some pics from "Coraline", which came out earlier this year. I worked in the Puppet Fabrication Department and worked long hours and made thousands of hands, among many other things. These are some of Coraline's hands being worked on.




and here's our main character, of course...



This is my mess of a workspace, but everything is right where I need it! I have to say, I love all my little tools. The amount of detail and precision is really unbelievable at first, and then it just becomes par for the course.



Some odd concoctions from spare parts to brighten my day...

Now comes the long wait until Ocsar time...