2009-10 CATALOG

We are in the final stages of production for the next edition of Graphic Chemical & Ink Co's Printmakers Materials catalog.

I am usually surprised at the list of new items that have found their way into the catalog. It shouldn't be a surprise because we spend a lot of time actively searching for new items. Just in the past year we have attended numerous trade shows looking for things to tempt you...things that aren't found in too many printmaking supply catalogs.

As the logo above attests, we have added several complete lines of Lascaux products, including the Studio Colors and the Resonance Gouache. Both lines have a great range of colors. These are remarkably high quality acrylic colors worthy of any studio.

In a conscious effort on our part, we continue to add significant numbers of Oriental papers from several sources. Our goal is to provide as many types of papers as possible. Actually, more to the point, our goal is to sell more types of papers than anyone. Our paper specialists have really gotten into these thin papers, and are obsessed with packaging them so that there will be no damage in transit. We have a handful of limited supply high end papers. They aren't inexpensive, but they're really great sheets.

Another area that we like to think we excel in is brayers. We've added a new source of brayers that run from 50 mm to 300 mm. These EAC Brayers come in a standard and a deluxe style, and brayers 200 mm and smaller come with a standard single handle, while 250 and 300 mm are a double handled tool.

In addition to the brayers, we have numerous other materials from the same source. Unique products include a combination bench hook and hand guard. We've showed this at a couple of trade shows recently, and people really like them. There is also a 3 in 1 tool set. It is a carving set with 5 blades , a baren for printing your carved block, and it also serves as a stamper. You get round disks that are adhesive backed. These will fit on the baren surface of this tool. The material itself is similar to the Speedy-Cut blocks.

IMPACT VI

Wow! I had this really amazing post written about the upcoming IMPACT show in Bristol, England. In all likelihood, it was my best writing to date, but you'll have to take my word for it, because I forgot to save it!

The picture above is Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge, which is the longest suspension bridge in some place or the first one somewhere. Obviously I don't know anything about it but I've traveled across it and under it by car and train. It's very impressive.

Welcome to the Clifton Suspension Bridge

The Clifton Suspension Bridge, spanning the beautiful Avon Gorge, is the symbol of the city of Bristol. For almost 150 years this Grade I listed structure has attracted visitors from all over the world. Its story began in 1754 with the dream of a Bristol wine merchant who left a legacy to build a bridge over the Gorge. The first competition in 1829 was judged by Thomas Telford, the leading civil engineer of the day. Telford rejected all the designs and submitted his own but the decision to declare him the winner was unpopular and a second competition was held in 1830. 24 year old Isambard Kingdom Brunel was eventually declared the winner and appointed project engineer – his first major commission.

The foundation stone was laid in 1831 but the project was dogged with political and financial difficulties and by 1843, with only the towers completed, the project was abandoned. Brunel died prematurely aged 53 yrs in 1859 but the Bridge was completed as his memorial and finally opened in 1864. Designed in the early 19th century for light horse drawn traffic it still meets the demands of 21st century commuter traffic with 11-12,000 motor vehicles crossing it every day.

An Interpretation Centre is situated at the Leigh Woods end of the bridge. It contains information and images of the plans in the competition, the construction and completion of the bridge, and how it is maintained today.
Books, postcards and souvenirs are on sale. Open 10am - 5pm daily throughout the year.

The IMPACT show itself is once again at the University of the West of England (UWE), were it started 10 years ago. Steve Hoskins and Richard Anderton are again hosting what I believe is Europe's premier printmaking conference. The dates are September 16-19, 2009, and we'll be happy to put you in touch with the organizers if you are interested in attending

NAMTA 2009

The NAMTA (National Art Materials Trade Association) show has stepped down to cities in what is considered Tier 2. We no longer go to New York, LA, Boston or Chicago. but now we travel to Reno, Louisville, Indianapolis and Orlando.

This year's show in Louisville was no step down in my mind. Whether it's the economy or the difficulty in getting to Louisville, the show was not very well attended, but those who were there were buying. As with any NAMTA show, the highlight was the President's Reception. The reception was held at world-famous Churchill Downs, less than a week after the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby. It could have been the 136th, but I don't think so.

Most of these fine horses are expected to carry 126 pounds (including the saddle). This poor baby drew the short straw and had the equivalent of two jockeys on his back, but it didn't slow him up even a step - in fact he hardly broke a sweat!

It is entirely likely that if this printmaking supply gig doesn't work out, I may consider a career change. The silks that I'm wearing in the picture aren't the most colorful, but they could improve. Hey if the Derby winner went off at 50:1 how much worse could it get with me on the nag?

There were a number of new items that we are looking at based on conversations at NAMTA. We'll have more on those as testing proves them top be viable or not. More to the point, there were several of our new products were quite the hit in Louisville. The biggest hit of the new products would have to be either the Baren Kit (with 5 or 10 blades) or the Safety Hand Guard which serves as a bench hook, and safety guard all in one.!

Both products are featured on or web site: the safety guard is product #24162 and the Baren Kit is items #24143 or 24144 for the 5 blade and 10 blade kits respectively.

There were numerous encounters at the show, most good, and one really strange one, but I'll need to have more than a little Kentucky Bourbon to reveal the strange one. Don't you just hate it when I do something like this?

SGC CHICAGO 2009

It came and went so rapidly that we almost missed it, but it certainly left a mark before it was gone. The long anticipated SGC show in Chicago was spectacular to say the least.

While the final numbers aren't in yet, the attendance was off the charts. Over 1800 printmakers registered for the 3 day event, far and away the largest attendance ever for Southern Graphics. The 35 vendors in attendance was another record, and a like number of publishers helped to make the Product Fair the best ever.

I'd like to offer a special thanks to the tireless volunteers on the Organizing Committee led by David Jones from Anchor Graphics. For a year and a half this group met to plan and execute a great show, and that's exactly what they produced. Chicago is always a great place for a trade show.

I'm biased, but the city is a true gem that lends itself to showing visiors a great time. Our restaurants are second to none, and the city's committmentto the arts is unrivaled anywhere. Yes, there were a few glitches - the City that Works decided to do sidewalk repair outside of the main entrance to one of our venues just days before the show started.

A huge last minute registration left many of the demonstrations seriously over crowded. As a vendor, give me a crowd like this any time. The picture at the left was honestly taken during a lull in the Product Fair.

Next year, SGC visits another of my favorite cities...Philadelphia for the 2010 show. With the Chicago show to build from, I expect that this will be another great show. And, about the only thing that comes close to topping a great Italian Beef sandwich from Chicago could be an authentic Philly Cheese Steak!

2ND CENTURY - BETTER THAN THE FIRST

Yes, this begins the second century - not of Graphic Chemical & Ink (we're only 89 years old), but rather the second hundred posts on the Printmaking Materials Blog. And, what better way to start post #101 than with a recap on the recent Southern Graphics Conference meeting in Chicago last week?

First and foremost, this show was staggeringly successful. I want to extend a special thanks to David Jones of Anchor Graphics who was the guy in charge of everything. Additionally thanks need to go to Andrew Whatley from host school Columbia College. Andrew and David were instrumental in minimizing the problems that always happen with anything this large.
Speaking of large, the registration numbers aren't final yet, but we anticipate about 1800 printmakers registered for SGC! We also had a record number of vendors and publishers. This just serves to prove what many of us already knew - Chicago is a great city, particularly for artists.

As the show ended, we began final preparations for the Graphic Open House. Mother Nature also began final preparations for a nasty late winter storm. We were told to expect 6" of wet, heavy snow, and we probably got 2" at Graphic, but we also got an additional 2" of water inside our production department, too. It was hardly noticed by the 3-4 dozen die hards who braved the elements. Hopefully they appreciated the effort that was displayed by our staff to get everyhting ready.

Thanks also to Gary and Sherril Owens from E.C. Lyons and Walt and Ginny Glazer from Speedball Art for helping out. Lascaux, our Swiss supplier of Etching, Screen Printing and Painting supplies provided Swiss chocolate and free samples of some of their products.

Our hit products at SGC included the Lascaux paints, and the brand new brayers from England. Of course, the Graphic Chemical inks were almost sold out by the end of the show. Everyone that we talked to at the show was similarly impressed with the SGC Conference, and rightly so.

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE

After 18 months of planning, it's go time!

The organizing committee for the upcoming Southern Graphics Conference has done all that they can do in preparation for the best ever SGC meeting. Like any effort of this scale, there have been problems... the Hilton Hotel seems to be trying to get out of this economic situation by charging SGC through the nose for everything. The City of Chicago has chosen this week to do major construction work in front of one of the main venues at Columbia College. No matter, we're ready. There are dozens of galleries in Chicago that are having shows coordinated to the SGC conference.

An original performance, written by Warrington Colescott, will be performed by a Columbia College troupe. And, of course, there is my personal favorite...the Product Fair.

This year, we have 1550 preregistered for the show, over 30 vendors, including several new faces. The Open Portfolio, on Saturday, will once again be in the same general area as the Product Fair in the Northwest Exhibit Hall at the Hilton.

Last, and I hope certainly not least, on Sunday, March 29 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm we will host an Open House at Graphic Chemical & Ink. We'll have the nickel tour, door prizes, refreshments and much more.

So here's the facts:

SGC Conference, March 26-29 at Columbia College, 623 South Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL
Product Fair, March 27, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Chicago Hilton and Towers, 800 S Michigan
March 28 8:30 am to 4:00 pm
Graphic Open House, March 29, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, 728 North Yale Avenue, Villa Park, IL

See you in Chicago - soon.

OPEN HOUSE - MARCH 29th

I have been announcing this in numerous ways, but lo and behold not here. What was I thinking?

In conjunction with the Southern Graphics Council conference in Chicago (March 25-29, 2009), Graphic Chemical & Ink is planning on hosting an Open House at World Headquarters on March 29th from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.

For those of you not familiar with our facilities, World Headquarters are located at 728 North Yale Avenue, Villa Park, IL 60181. Lest you get the wrong idea, we aren't exactly a 100,000 square foot building. We don't have multiple floors. In fact we could lie our way to about 11,000 square feet - roughly the size of the 8 Track Tape Department at Best Buy.

Not to cast aspersions on software manufacturers, but some commonly used software isn't too clear about our location. Yale avenue is 1 1/2 blocks long where we are located. You can only get to our building by turning off of eastbound North Avenue (Illinois Route 64), or by turning off of Ardmore Avenue onto Shiller , which dead ends at Yale. Should you have problems with directions, call us at 630-832-6004, and someone will talk you in.

Villa Park is actually pretty close to O'Hare Airport for those of you headed out that way. Public transportation is available on the Union Pacific West Line which takes about 40 minutes to get out from the Ogilvie Transportation Center (Madison and Canal) in Chicago to the Villa Park station. The Villa Park station is about a mile or less from Graphic.

We expect to have refreshments, possibly raffle prizes, and who knows what else we can think of between now and the 29th. Remember that you get a twofer when you come out here - you also get the new headquarters of Stones Crayons in the bargain.

We really look forward to seeing you out here on March 29th.