Mike Lyon

Painting Drawing Printmaking Japanese Woodblock Printing Furniture Lighting

“Sarah” pen and ink drawing 7 x 3.75 feet Complete

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The first two papers I tried for this life-size figure drawing weren’t strong enough and they were torn to shreds relatively early in the process. I finally had success (after almost a month of experimenting) with Arches 300 lb. hot press watercolor paper — it is VERY strong and held up beautifully! The squiggly lines […]

CCP Moku Hanga Workshop March 13-17, 2006

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Dear Center for Contemporary Printmaking moku-hanga workshop participants (Janis Carter, Carol Borelli, Aeleen Frisch, Charles Hallock, Andrea Krupp, Simone Ingram, Wimberley Burton, Mary Gerster, Su-T). Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!! What a great week we had, and I congratulate you all for having designed, carved, and successfully printed Japanese technique woodblock prints! WOW! YOU […]

Aspen Grove 77×42 inch woodcut plus pigment application video

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You asked about how I mix and apply pigment… When printing very pale colors, I generally add pigment dispersion or dry pigment to rice paste or methyl cellulose, mix well, and then dab that onto the damp block and brush out. For more saturated colors, I mix a substantial amount of dry pigment into a […]

Leaves — Pulling the final impression of first 77×42 inch woodcut

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This morning I pulled the final impressions of my first 77×42 inch woodblock print using my new press… Not bad for a first attempt, actually, but I believe I can greatly improve with more practice! Registration appears to be pretty close to dead-on, thanks to paper maker Iwano Ichibei’s having rocked the paper mold lengthwise […]

Computer Carving Machine operational!

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The Large Press installation is almost done now! This week I’m cutting the final parts — the vacuum plenum for the press itself… This is a somewhat complicated task it turns out, but I believe I’ve got it figured out. I’ve successfully moved my ShopBot CNC machine from the 3rd to the 1st floor… After […]

Garage Drawer Humidor in ACTION!

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So… I’d been giving a LOT of thought to one difficult question — HOW, exactly, to make the sliding drawer humidor MOVE? I looked into available liner actuators — there are a TON of them available, but they’re all so darned expensive, and all require some kind of ‘programming’ to make them work… Prices seem […]

Press almost complete!

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Several people have asked how the press is going… It’s really complete, now — just waiting for some materials for the paper-handling gizmo to arrive in order to start working! — Here’s a photo:

A brief ‘break’ to make a table

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Several months ago, I promised my daughter, Allegra (Leggie, Legs, Lulu), I’d make a dining table for her apartment in Boulder… As she’s coming home for Thanksgiving, my wife has insisted that I postpone additional work on the big press to complete Leggie’s table… Mark Sfirri and I were roommates while we were teaching at […]