The design in glass, two different media, (almost) the same design.

From time to time, we have covered in our articles the possibilities of using some of the well-established blasting techniques on other media than glass; we have talked about blasting on ceramics, stone and metal, and now I want to show you a project that uses wood as its substrate. Yes, you are reading correctly: wood. Now I know that a lot of projects that used to employ wood have been transferred to other materials such as sign foam, etc., but I must admit that I did not realize how much I had missed the smell of wood when cut. In case you wonder, I was trained in college as a print maker, and of all the various media from lithography to screen printing, the woodcut was my favorite, and I always felt that I was in good company there with the likes of Hiroshige and Duerer. But I do not want to digress in fond memories of college days gone by.

Spray painting the larger areas. Detail showing the resist covering the raised portions. Beginning to remove some of the resist.

Not long ago, I was trying to come up with a sign for a small, local organic farm in my neighborhood which has been supplying me with fresh eggs, vegetables and some fruit. The owners, my friends and neighbors, had been to the shop and admired the etched doors into our graphics office which depict the Hopi Corn Maiden. So when it came to doing the sign, I naturally thought about the Corn Maiden motif. Not only was the story of the Corn Maiden fitting for an organic farm, but stalks of corn were growing right behind the fence and gate to the farm, and here, in the desert, rain clouds are always not only welcome but prayed for. So the symbolism was just perfect. Another very important aspect to growing fruits and vegetables are bees, which also happen to be a favorite symbol of Kristina’s, one of the owners. Naturally I had to include a few of them into the design.

I was looking through my studio and discovered that I had the perfect piece of pine lying around, which was about 18” wide by 32” high. Since we had done the image of the Corn Maiden in glass before, I knew that we had the image on the computer, ready for stencil cutting. It just needed a few changes to adapt the design to my measurements and to add the farm’s name and address. Having done that, we cut a stencil using our regular 6 mil white vinyl. The piece of wood was in pretty good condition with the exception of a small area which I ended up sanding very lightly.

After that, I made sure to clean the entire surface of the wood since I needed to make sure that the resist would stick well to the wood in order not to lift during the blasting process. The stencil was applied in the usual fashion by using a tape hinge method on one of the short sides of the stencil. When using a pre-cut stencil, you have to make sure it ends up in the position that you want because it is not repositionable. So, by attaching the stencil with the backing paper still in place to one of the short sides of the wood with a length of tape (face up), it gives you the opportunity to fold the stencil off of the wood (or whatever substrate you happen to be working on) so that you can peel back the backing paper to expose the adhesive and therefore be able to adhere the stencil to the substrate with a squeegee. As usual, you want to try to avoid air bubbles since the abrasive will most likely penetrate the resist wherever there is a bubble.

After applying the stencil, I had to remove the coversheet from the stencil which has the function of protecting the stencil during application, and, more importantly, holds the otherwise cut stencil material together so that you can apply it without it all falling apart when you remove the backing paper.

At this time, I decided where I was going to add the bees and drew them in and then cut them by hand. It would have taken too much time to find or create a bee on the computer to enhance the design. I also found it necessary to include the initials of the owners. So you see the steps in preparing the project and blasting it are exactly the same as if I had worked on glass. I decided to blast the background and leave the design as the raised parts.

Placing the panel into the blasting cabinet, I set the pressure on the pressure blaster to about 40 pounds and began blasting. Since the blasting process creates friction, it heated up the wood as it was eroded, and I have to admit: I love that smell (I know, I am repeating myself). Pine is overall a soft wood, but it also has some harder grain, which corresponds to the rings of the tree growth. The soft parts blast away easily, and the harder grain remains slightly raised, creating an interesting texture.

Exposing the lettering by removing the resist.

After I finished the blasting, I cleaned the panel off with the resist still in place, just checking if I was done or if I wanted to do anything else to the surface. The blasting was fine, but looking at the panel, I decided it absolutely needed some color. I often have a project idea and the project sort of develops as I go along. That’s just the fun part for me. I really had not planned on color, and so I started to look around to see what I had available.

After finding a handful of spray paint cans with suitable colors, I needed to improvise on how I was going to paint only certain areas a specific color without getting that color into already-painted areas. I did not have another stencil to be able to lift portions out of it to recover specific areas with, and so I turned to masking tape and cover sheet, which has a very low-tack adhesive. Tearing and cutting these two sticky materials into shape, I managed to recover certain areas while spray painting my selected colors.

Naturally, I got somewhat colorful hands in the process, because by then I was too “into” my project to have stopped to find my gloves, but at least I did have my respirator close by and was wearing it. After the painting frenzy subsided, I decided to give it a rest, giving the project a chance to dry. This means I left it alone for a couple of days so that the paint could cure. Knowing that the panel would be installed outdoors, I needed to protect the colors by coating the panel with a couple of thin layers of outdoor varnish, letting each coat dry before applying the next.

In the end I was quite happy with my finished project, and Kristina and Zach gave it a place of honor on the front gate. Every time I pass their gate and see the panel, it make me smile; there is something to be said for the fruits of the labor with your hands.
© Ruth L Dobbins 2010