Mike Lyon

Painting Drawing Printmaking Japanese Woodblock Printing Furniture Lighting

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 […]

New press stands on four legs!

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This afternoon, the new press finally stands up on its own four legs and just after this photo was shot, I mounted the main end-plates and the bottom roller now sits safely in its bearings hanging in position on from the press rails… Everything has fit perfectly so far… I’m waiting for the inevitable ‘disaster’, […]

Large format Woodblock Printing Press

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This is a progress report (with many photos) showing a long-term project underway — my design and manufacture of a large (about 5×10 foot) woodblock printing press for shin moku-hanga (new Japanese woodblock prints). Late in 2004, I decided to produce large woodblock prints — larger than I was able working alone and using a […]