Codak/Mahfood Collab Print pt.1

Now that we've finally gotten back into the proverbial swing of things from kickin' it it Mexico City for a second, we're now moving right onto the next project: a collaboration print with Codak and Food One (Jim Mahfood). Both were cool enough to take time out of their busy schedule to come through my place and work on the vellums right on my dining room table; slobbering dog underneath the table and all. I can't say enough of the skill of these two guys--they basically just took a seat and whipped out some amazing work right then and there. True to the M athame way, I just asked them to do what they do best and go for it--no guidelines, no boundaries...and I have to say we all are super pleased with the results (not to mention a great geeking out session afterwards. Never enough good conversations in the world) More pictures of the process this weekend, and hopefully everything will be ready to go for the Vinyl Toy Network in Pasadena. Moving forward as always...

Codak/Mahfood Collab Print pt.2

Part two of an unbelievable collaboration by Mahfood and Codak...

D.F. Sights #1

I was going to post this diatribe about what I think about art and its
current state and blahblahblah, but seriously, who cares?
Art is what you make it. Still in D.F. (Mexico City).
and its simply awesome. Let you know the next project on the
agenda when we get back...

running the gambits...

These Tessar Lo prints have turned out much better than either of us anticipated that they would. The final touching that he did by hand to the last set really makes this print much more closer to an actual painting work! His staining technique makes them have a much more antique-like than something that was just "hot-off-the-presses". He talks about how he did it here, and now all that's left is to package 'em up and send them off to Seattle for his show at Roq La Rue this week. If you're in the area, hit it up--its going to be amazing.

Per the artist, this is an edition of 9 serigraphs, 3 artist proofs (also hand-touched) and three printer's proofs, naked. a total of 15 of these prints exist. We've washed out the screens, and that is that. On to the next one--we got a gang of stuff we're working on, and plan to have some official M athame pieces available in January...but first, off to Mexico City for a much needed vacation!...

pulling the proofs.

In a funky Chinatown studio,


Getting set up.


Tessar mixing his specific salmon color.


Pulling the salmon.


Next up...


Registering the screen.


Pulling the black.


My turn.


Mixing a specific imperial gold.




The evening's harvest.


My favorite pull of mine. It's a dimensional black, copper and gold.

Tessar and I will be fooling around with staining and hand-embellishing our proofs before doing them on the actual editions. Until next time.

where we're at... screens.

"Give a man a fish...

...and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime."

Lately it seems that everyone guards their techniques, skills and concepts very close to the chest. Which is understandable, considering how much "homages" have turned into rip-offs, and competition is fierce. But sometimes it's like an old kung-fu movie, where the enemy has a certain secret style, and you must prostrate yourself in front of the old bearded master that lives on the Northwest hillside who is the only one that has the ultra-final-counter attack move that can't be beat. And he's not going to share anything until you clean his well, air out his mat and feed his chickens.

But sometimes, just sometimes, you fall upon someone that is just willing to help you out with some technical stuff, converse about printing theories, and give you some plain simple advice. No strings attached, no other motive than to see things work. When you get that from someone, cherish it--it's not often that someone gives something for nothing.

We'll be posting more on the Tessar Lo/M athame print process very soon, but I just wanted to give credit where credit is due. Rick from McLogans is a wizard among men.