Okimiyage

Friday, June 27, 2008, 9:22 AM


Today we're releasing our newest project, "Okimiyage," completed in conjunction with one of our favorites, Audrey Kawasaki.

We were excited about this one from the get go, but our high expectations were blown out of the water when we first saw Audrey's drawing:


Audrey had certainly kept up her end of the bargain. Now it was our turn.

The print itself has been printed intaglio, on a handmade, custom-tailored paper, special-ordered from the incredible craftsmen at Twinrocker. It's printed in a color that lies somewhere between sepia and lichen. A quick pictorial rundown of the process:


After pulling 71 satisfactory prints we sent the edition off to Audrey to be signed, numbered, and hand colored in pencil.


As an aside, sitting here with the entire edition infront of me, let me tell you that she hand-colored them with a precision that's almost spooky. From first to last, the areas of pink added to the lips, cheeks, and shoulders are flippin' identical.

After completing their second journey between Denver and LA, the prints were, after much back in forth about the wheres and the hows of it, decoratively embossed with a pattern drawn by Audrey and chopped with a miniature version of our new "fancy-chop."



Meanwhile, we were making frames. As you may have heard, we recently acquired a woodshop, and this project represents our first set of frames wrought completely with our own hands, starting with raw lumber of soft maple & birch and—after much sawing, routing, gluing, drilling, coating, and endless, repeated sanding—finishing with the simple, precise elegance we had hoped for. Some pictures:








All that remained was to archivally mount the prints and place them under the astonishingly glare-free, UV-proof museum quality glass that we use for all of our framing.




And now they're packaged, boxed and ready to be sent to loving homes the world over. Some final statistics:



  • Audrey Kawasaki: Okimiyage

  • Edition: 50, + 10 Artist's Proofs, 10 Printer's Proofs, and 1 Bon á tirer

  • Print Size: 8.75" x 12.75"

  • Frame Size: 12" x 16"

  • Intaglio print made from an exclusive, orignal drawing

  • Printed on custom Twinrocker paper with Charbonell inks

  • Hand-tinted in pencil by Audrey Kawasaki

  • Decorativley embossed with patterns drawn by Audrey Kawasaki

  • Signed & numbered by the artist

  • Archivally mounted in a handmade soft maple and birch frame under museum quality glass

  • Perforated, custom designed, signed & numbered Certificate of Authenticity


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Insane....

Scott Allen said...

Beautiful, you guys really did a good job on this one.

Ali J said...

This is crazy fantastic! The print blows me away....!

If I could get any of my prints one day to be as gorgeous as this, I'd think I'd faint.

You should be over the moon with the end result.

Anonymous said...

Excellent documentation of the process. I love it. The craftsmanship, the art, all wonderful!

Anonymous said...

So sad I was too late! Looks absolutely beautiful - I've never seen anything like it.

Anonymous said...

absolutely love it, I can't wait to see mine in person when it ships. I hope you work with Audrey again in the future. Wonderful choices on everything from the paper to the frame.

Julita said...

Absolutely amazing. I knew it was going to be considering the type of standards you guys strive for. But this is beyond the scope of what I imagined. I can't wait to receive mine. Please keep up with the process blog, it's not only important for collectors to see the process, but the general public too (especially when they ask why it cost so much :) !

Anonymous said...

Mine came today, and wow. I had high expectations, but this exceeds them. The framing is simple perfection and the print, well... just, wow. Thank you!!!!!

Igor+andré said...

wow truly incredible!
you guys are by far the best printers around.

Anonymous said...

Stunning as usual. How is the paper mounted\floated above the backing board?

mono said...

girl in the dream!

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Chantal said...

Fabulous to see the process. What an incredible print.