Baren Digest             Sunday, 24 September 2000     Volume 12 : Number 1154


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From: Vollmer/Yamaguchi <jy6@columbia.edu>
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2000 15:47:07 -0400
Subject: [Baren 11406] Showing your stripes 

I need technical assistance!!! I was printing a (waterbase, natch) print
yesterday and it needs to show the grain of the wood. I've always tried to
avoid showing the grain, but in this case I want it.

I checked the Yoshida book and they suggest less 'medium' and  more
pressure. I'm not sure what that means! Any suggestions??

Thank you!

April Vollmer
174 Eldridge St, NYC 10002, 212-677-5691
http://www.aprilvollmer.com



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From: "Bill H. Ritchie, Jr" <ritchie@seanet.com>
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2000 13:12:08 -0700
Subject: [Baren 11407] RE: Showing your stripes charset="iso-8859-1" 

I THINK this means less paste.

Then this means there's more water, thus the pigments will "crawl" through
th water, with no paste to prevent the pigment from doing what it would LIKE
to do, i.e., go where the water takes it.

Which would be away from the harder, "pitchy" part of the wood to the softer
"spongy" parts of the wood.

BUT--that would take more PRESSURE--squeezing the water back out of the
spongy part (that region between the "grain" we see, that part which is
harder (grew during the cold, slow-but-sure growth season).

For what it's worth, that's how I would interpret it.


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From: Artsmadis@aol.com
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2000 16:21:54 EDT
Subject: [Baren 11408] Re: Showing your stripes 

I think it means using a thinner layer of pigment and more pressure in 
printing.  At least I believe that is the procedure with oil based pigments.  
Aren't the parts of woodcuts with wood grain showing always rather light?  
That way the grain shows up.

Darrell

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From: ArtfulCarol@aol.com
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2000 17:20:08 EDT
Subject: [Baren 11409] Re: Showing your stripes 

 

April, I would experiment and put less of whatever you are adding to your ink.
   Carol

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From: David Bull <davebull@woodblock.com>
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 07:59:27 +0900
Subject: [Baren 11410] Re: Showing your stripes 

April wrote:
> I need technical assistance!!! I was printing a (waterbase, natch) print
> yesterday and it needs to show the grain of the wood. I've always tried to
> avoid showing the grain, but in this case I want it.

... and three replies are already in ...

> - I THINK this means less paste.
> - a thinner layer of pigment and more pressure in printing.
> - put less of whatever you are adding to your ink.

I wouldn't argue at all with any of these ideas. May I add a couple more
thoughts?

Because you are dealing with a relatively small amount of pigment/paste
mixture on the block, it is sometimes difficult to get good coverage of
the complete area. Having the block well-moistened first, so it isn't
too 'thirsty' helps, as does using the largest brush you can find.

It can also take more pressure than you would believe possible: use a
medium-strong baren in very short sharp strokes (or circles), no more
than around a third of the distance up an o-ban block, with your full
body behind each and every stroke. Don't make long strokes up the full
length of the paper. (Lots of camellia oil on the baren to help avoid
tearing the paper.) You may have to actually 'peel' the paper carefully
off the block after you're done.

Another idea that may help is to try a 'mizuzuri' (water printing). Just
a moment before printing any particular sheet, liberally brush water
over the face of it and then immediately brush off the excess (with
another brush). Take the impression as described above ...

***

Sarah wrote:
> a delightful little print (what's the title of it, Dave?)

It doesn't have a title Sarah - it's a reproduction of a design by a 
Meiji-era artist known as 'Eitaku'.

(An image of the print is at:
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~xs3d-bull/hagaki/ball.html)

You might be interested to know that _all_ the stuff I sent you, both
the Hiroshige reproductions, and that Eitaku print (the original, anyway)
were newspaper company 'giveaways'. Some newspaper companies here run
promotions in which they hand out reproductions of famous prints or
paintings when they come to collect the money each month. They do it
one at a time, encouraging people to collect the whole 'set' ...  Of 
course nowadays these reproductions are offset printed, but back in an
earlier time they were actual woodblock prints. The original version
of the little new year card print I sent was one such newspaper 'freebie' -
a _real_ woodblock print handed out to newspaper subscribers ...

Maybe USA Today would like to try this idea?  :~)

Dave



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From: B Mason <bemason@concentric.net>
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2000 16:35:20 -0700
Subject: [Baren 11411] freebies 

OK, I want woodblock prints with my paper subscription. Lets see, they
would have to make about 1 million of them each month, hummmm. Are there
enough printers here to do that? maybe not. this would keep you busy for
awhile Dave, how long would it take to do 1 million? a lifetime?
Barbara

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@home.com>
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2000 17:14:46 -0700
Subject: [Baren 11412] Re: Showing your stripes 

What wood are you using.?
Some woods show better than others.
For instance a piece of face grain ceder gives a wonderful grain effect.
The other wood that does this well is Westcoast fir grown at or near sea level.
It grows faster there and has lovely grain.
The softer cedar will sand nicely to assist the grain. What you want 
to do is to sand it so as to remove the softer sap wood leaving the 
ring wood (which is harder) standing up a bit.  Using a palm sander 
with very fine paper 320 grit, will achieve this.   The best and 
surest way is to sandblast the sucker.....
Cherry is the poorest for best results.
Basewood ranks close to Cherry.
Kiyoshi Saito.... David's favourite artist.... used a lot of fir 
plywood and boy did he ever know how to use it for creating his 
beautiful images. He was truly a master.

If you have a block you want to use I suggest you lay a damp towel on 
the surface and try get to the grain to raise..... or is that rise.
You do not want to apply the 50/50 varnish protective coat on any 
blocks that you want grainy.... until after you have wetted it and 
them allowed it to dry completely. Two very light coats and you will 
be in business.... Oh and don't sand it after drying and varnish.

Brush on a skimpy layer of pigment and paste. Make sure the plate is 
well primed with moisture before that skimpy layer.  I believe this 
is what your book refers to as 'medium'. Too much pressure can negate 
the objective...  this can press the paper down into the low area and 
therefore print   Too light a pressure and no ink get onto the paper. 
It is one of those do do jobs that you have to experiment with to get 
results.  Oh and one last point.   Use a reasonably stiff sheet of 
protective paper if you have a soft spongy baren.... like those 
plastic jobs...  I like to use a piece of 010 pt frosted mylar for 
the protective sheet and sometimes two thickness in which real good 
pressure can be applied.

And the last suggestion is to print with paper that has more moisture 
than normal.
I don't know about this moisture factor with anything other than 
hosho paper. The hosho should be limp (not too wet now) .... If you 
are printing a large sheet you will need a support sheet when 
positioning it on the Kentos.

Why do I thing I am going to be asked about a support sheet.?

Good luck

Graham

I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not sure

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@home.com>
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2000 18:01:22 -0700
Subject: [Baren 11413] Re: freebies 

>OK, I want woodblock prints with my paper subscription. Lets see, they
>would have to make about 1 million of them each month, hummmm. Are there
>enough printers here to do that? maybe not. this would keep you busy for
>awhile Dave, how long would it take to do 1 million? a lifetime?
>Barbara

Now let me see.... where is my calculator

At Boot Camp he did 220 in 5 days.....

Hell he could knock the million off in short order.

Graham
No sense being pessimistic, it probably wouldn't work anyway

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From: "Cate Pfeifer" <Cate108@Earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 22:48:04 -0400
Subject: [Baren 11414] Re: Mike Lyon charset="iso-8859-1" 

Hi Bareners,

Now it is my chance to tell my side of the story regarding the afternoon
that Mike Lyon and I spent together.  He gave me very complete instructions
on how to get to his place in Kansas City which I found with no trouble.  He
has a lovely 3 story studio with amazing equipment for woodworking and
printing.  It is even equipped with a Karate Dojo with beautiful hand-made
woodwork.  He even made the punching posts into amazing works of form &
function.  His furniture
has a simple elegance about it.  Even the tiling in his bathroom is
mesmerizing!  Mike is very talented in many arts.

We went to a very authentic Mexican restaurant.  After we ate, he showed me
the woodblocks he created as well as the basic tools and techniques for
printing.  He also generously sacrificed some of his supplies for
demonstrations.  After the lessons, he showed me his Japanese Woodcut
collection.  They are wonderful!  Inspirational!  Lovely!

I am very grateful that Mike was willing to teach me by showing me.  There
is no replacement for one-on-one education.

This visit has made me very happy  and appreciative that I found this group.

Cate


- ----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Lyon <mikelyon@mlyon.com>
To: <baren@ml.asahi-net.or.jp>
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2000 11:27 PM
Subject: [Baren 11405] Cate Pfeifer



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End of Baren Digest V12 #1154
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