PRINTMAKING IN PARADISE

I am constantly amazed at the places where printmaking thrives. When I look at the places where we sell printmaking supplies, I find distributors in something like 22 countries, and individual customers in many more. We used to tell people, who asked if we sold outside of the U.S., that we didn't sell behind the Iron Curtain, on mainland China, and in Northern Africa. Well, times have changed. The Iron Curtain is non-existant, and we have several customers in those areas, including, Estonia, Latvia, Poland and the Czech Republic. We're talking to China about the possibilities there, and inquiries from Africa are not at all unusual.

A little closer to home, Susan and I had an opportunity a couple of weeks ago to travel to Hawai'i to visit customers there. The number of active customers was quite surprising. We called on schools, workshops and individuals on three islands (truth be told, one ended up being just that - a call. Last minute airfares precluded a visit to a good friend on the Big Island of Hawai'i, so I telephoned instead.)

Honolulu afforded the opportunity to meet with several people from the Honolulu Printmakers and the University of Hawai'i. It also allowed for a few hours on Waikiki Beach, Hanamua Bay and Pearl Harbor.

A short hop to Maui and a couple of phone calls put us together with several other printmakers in a truly beautiful setting in Makawao. It reinforced my contention that in the printmaking world, it's not six degress of separation but more like two degrees!

As a supplier, that's a mixed bag. You know a larger percentage of the customer base, which is great, but if you don't live up to expectations, word gets around pretty fast. I've rarely met a printmaker that didn't know many of the same people that I do. There's a great sense of community in that.

Sales calls in Hawai'i in December - life just doesn't get too much better than that for a poor Midwestern boy. Oh yeah, I did have a number of my in-laws along with us, but we actually like each other, so it was a great time.....really it was!

RELIEF UPDATE

For those of you relief printers that felt left out when we introduced the very popular Caligo Safe Wash Intaglio inks, we are now able to offer Caligo's latest entry into the market - the Caligo Safe Wash Relief inks!

Like the intaglio inks, these are oil based inks, with all of the advantages of oil based, but they wash up with soap and water. There is a great color range and all inks are very lightfast. We've been very pleased with the reaction to the first offering from Caligo, and are already working to set up some dealers on this range as well.

The colors that we'll be offering are
CSWR1860 Black
CSWR2428 Ultramarine
CSWR2430 Prussian Blue
CSWR2476 Phthalo Blue
CSWR3221 Raw Umber
CSWR4310 Phthalo Green
CSWR6325 Rubine Red
CSWR6326 Napthol Red
CSWR7113 Carbazole Violet
CSWR8339 Opaque White
CSWR8340 Extender
CSWR9163 Arylide (Cool) Yellow
CSWR9163 Light Orange
CSWR9173 Yellow Ochre
CSWR9175 Diarylide (Warm) Yellow

Check our website, www.graphicchemical.com, for pricing and sizes available

We believe that these inks are a wonderful addition to the fantastic range of products available for printmaking from Graphic Chemical & Ink. They are not inks that have been adapted from another process, but ones that have been engineered specifically for printmaking. All the things that make an ink ideal for a process are here, lightfastness, ease of use and availability. As the old TV commercial went - try it you'll like it!