McClain’s Newsletter | Happy 2019 – Year of the Boar

July 16th, 2019

Happy Year of the Boar by Richard Steiner

With the start of a New Year comes a time of reflection for many of us here at McClain’s. We are very fortunate and grateful for our wonderful customers and for the printmaking community that we support and are being supported by. Thank you. Keep being makers and artists, visual communicators at large. Cheers to a beautiful year!

Welcome back Shina, we missed you

Shina Plywood is back! Thank you for your patience during this time. We have been getting a lot of questions about our lack of supply for the past few months and we want to assure everyone that there is no issue with the Shina supply itself. It was delayed due to a new EPA federal testing regulation that took effect in July this past year. We do not expect this to happen again. We just unloaded our biggest Shina shipment to date and are now busy cutting big sheets down into smaller blocks. You can now place orders online. Keep in mind we may have a lot of orders to handle at first, so please let us know if you have a deadline in the box marked “Special Instructions”.

Basswood Plywood

The Basswood Plywood that we brought in as an alternative to the Shina Plywood is here to stay. Made in the USA, our Basswood Plywood carves easily and performs similarly to Shina. Like Shina, you can carve Basswood in any direction and the wood cuts easily without tearing or chipping. Also like Shina, Basswood grows quickly and abundantly, and there is a sustainable supply. It is also less expensive compared to Shina.

Unlike Shina, the surface of Basswood Plywood has not been finely sanded and it has a texture. This can be incorporated into your print or if you prefer smooth ink coverage, these blocks are easily sanded with an orbital sander or by hand. 3/8″ Basswood Plywood can be carved on both sides, however only one side is Grade A meaning it will have no flaws.

Mounted Linoleum Blocks are back too!

After a long dry spell the ArtPrint Mounted Linoleum blocks are back again! We do not offer custom sizes, though we can cut down the sizes that are available for $0.25 per cut. ArtPrint Linoleum is specially made for printmaking. You can use McClain’s tools to carve Linoleum just like you can wood, just keep that Leather Honing Block handy as you are carving since linoleum dulls tools faster than wood.

SGCI Texchange March 6-9

Stop by the McClain’s Vender Booth and say “hi!” to Daniel, Kaitlyn and Christin at the Southern Graphics Conference International (SGCI) in Dallas, Texas. For those of you who have never been SGCI, it is a great opportunity to meet fellow printmakers, attend lectures and demonstrations on all aspects of printmaking, show off your portfolio at the portfolio exchange and check out gallery shows all over the city. Daniel will be participating in the SGCI Demos with a tool sharpening demonstration. Hope to see a bunch of you in Texas!

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