Category: Screenprinting

go go go gocco

mindlessly driving
down the road of ambition;
please, smell the flowers.

box of gocco inks

I arrived home to this lovely package filled with gocco inks that I ordered before my trip! I’ve got a lovely assortment, ready for all sorts of fun adventures & experiments. I even got a few of the fabric inks to play around with those eventually.

It was really tricky to find the colors of ink I wanted because, first of all, they’re rare. I ended up ordering mine from Northwood Studios because they had the most reasonable prices.

There are lots of colors of Gocco ink, and many of them are quite similar. At four bucks a tube, you don’t want to end up with three avocado greens… so I’ve put together this gocco ink chart image set to try and keep all the names straight (thanks to some ebay pictures!). Click for a larger image!

gocco ink name chart

gocco ink name chart

gocco ink name chart

gocco ink name chart

gocco ink name chart

i gocco-ed!

sleepy, drooping eyes
the computer looks so bright
i think it’s bedtime.

gocco whale, all inky

I made my screen, printed about 30 little whales spouting hearts, then spent a good hour or so cleaning the screen! I definitely understand now why everyone hates cleaning the screens so much… no fun, and I made quite a mess. But the printing was so much fun! I’m hooked. (and of course, my first print was a whale.)

I’m always nervous to jump into things like this… especially with about $10 cost per screen, messing up is just so unacceptable! But for today I let myself have this one as a ‘practice’, and luckily it turned out great. They’re all a bit more “spongy” looking than I had expected, but I also made a design with a huge ink blob of printing area. I think in the future I’ll stick to more defined lines.

gocco whale print cards!

I still have ink all over my hands and I’m super tired, so I’ve been rubbing my eyes.. which of course has made them itchier. Wouldn’t be surprised if my eyes are bluer than usual in the morning.
(and of course i’m totally joking – i don’t think i actually got ink in my eyes.)

And my sewing lesson went wonderfully! We both had lots of fun, and she made some cute stuff: a pillowcase and a little zipper pouch. Tomorrow she’s going to work on a tote. I’m excited. I was very, very nervous this morning. And everything was fine. :)

it’s here! it’s here!

hello, hello, my
little gocco! so glad you
could make it to me!

label from japan!I was sure I’d have to wait out the weekend, convinced that little Gocco wouldn’t make it to me until at least Wednesday. I could draw this out a lot and create suspense… but my title’s already given it all away. It’s here!

I had a yard sale this morning (which was rather successful, but would have been more successful if I lived near more crafty-types) and, despite the 92-degree forecast, I wasn’t too badly off in the little pocket of shade I found in my front yard.

The mail came at 11, no packages. I wasn’t surprised. But I was surprised, ecstatically so, when a second mail truck showed up at quarter to 12 and the mailman walked up, asking me if I was Samantha. I said yes, and excitedly chatted with him as I signed various slips, exclaiming, “this came all the was from japan!”, to which he replied, “yep.” He wasn’t quite as excited as me. As if a Gocco’s a run-of-the-mill package… psh!

pretty box

So after dismantling the yard sale, cluttering up the living room, taking down signs all over the neighborhood, and generally hustling about, I opened my brand new lovely baby Gocco. I have not yet created anything amazing with it, but that will come soon, don’t worry!

After watching the (slightly goofy, I did laugh a few times… but I was also really tired) instructional video transposed from VHS into an MPEG, I took a nap, showered, and went to my roommate Hannah’s birthday party: a John Williams concert at Wolf Trap! I know, like there wasn’t enough excitement in my day.

all unpacked!

They played selections from many of his film scores, including Jaws and ET, and of course my favorites: Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones. They didn’t play my favorite John Williams music, Jurassic Park, which I think is my favorite movie score ever… but the rest made up for it. When they played the Indiana Jones theme, I can’t imagine what my face looked like… I was grinning like an idiot. It was just awesome. And there were all sorts of guys dressed up in costumes: lots of storm troopers, a TIE-Fighter pilot, Boba Fett, a Jawa… somebody even had an incredibly realistic, life-size R2-D2 remote control bot!

And, we had lawn seats. And it thundered, lightning’ed, and rained in some form for almost the entire thing. We were soaked, huddled under umbrellas, and having an amazing time.