Baren Digest Friday, 14 June 2002 Volume 19 : Number 1861 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Vishnovus@aol.com Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 09:13:30 EDT Subject: [Baren 18329] Re: editioning question In a message dated 6/13/02 4:31:24 AM, horacio@centroin.com.br writes: << H/C = Hors Commerce (French). Out of commerce. It means that the print is "not for sale". >> Yes, and I believe HC prints are also prints designated as gifts for select collectors. Or work designated for promotional purposes. Ld ------------------------------ From: Wanda Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 07:38:33 -0700 Subject: [Baren 18330] Re: Bell Ringing Claude Aimee wrote: Dan: Lots of info on her (Karen Kunc) if you look up her name with Google! Claude AimŽe ------------------------------ From: Wanda Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 07:49:09 -0700 Subject: [Baren 18331] Re: Wood Type Question Daniel Dew wrote: > What wood naturally has the most obvious and printable "grain" pattern? In my ever-so-humble opinion - fir is the best for grain. In fact McClain's used to carry a sand-blasted fir plywood & called it "seashore" or something like that. (I'm sure someone will correct me on that if I'm wrong!) They say they can't get it any more, though. I never thought I'd see the day there was a shortage of fir plywood! You might want to have your image carved in some other wood, though - it's a real pain to carve for the same reason that it's wonderful for the grain. The soft parts are easy to carve, but that winter grain is *really* hard! Wanda ------------------------------ From: John Amoss Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 11:05:04 -0700 Subject: [Baren 18332] Re: Warmspot ? Julio- You asked the question below months ago and I'm sorry, I have times where I can't read all that is on my plate. > Hi John, congrats, I saw your cat print from Baren #1, "Warmspot" on sale > at www.hanga.com. This version is more colorful, and seems to have an > overall different feeling than the exchange version.....was this a second > rendering ? > > http://www.hanga.com > > check under "prints for sale" (John Amoss) Anyway, the answer is obviously yes, I did a second edition. The first one, as you said, was for the 1st Baren exchange (my second woodblock) and frankly at that time I didn't know shin hanga from shinola (not that I know much more now). The carving and design was OK- but the printing was abysmal (I think Dave's reaction was it "made his fingers itch" wanting to print the dadgum thing right) which I strangely took as a compliment. The second edition was done at least a year later with Dave, Graham and others' help I used a lot less water and dry pigment and got much better color saturation (sound familiar Carole?) I also learned that overprinting the same color is often necessary eventhough it opens a bottomless nest of possible water and registration problems- you guys know the scene... Anyway, I think tht moral is: The nice thing about this art is that you and your blocks can have a second, third, etc. chance. I'd really recommend looking over your old blocks, print a favorite again and compare- I'll bet you'd be happy with what you can do now- maybe they would be a good thing to bring allong to the Baren summit. Maybe we can have a "Retread Corner". Thanks for asking and for your patience, - -John Amoss ------------------------------ From: "Gillyin Gatto" Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 11:21:13 -0700 Subject: [Baren 18333] obvious grains for Dan Dew some obvious grains that i like are - OAK printed just as it is gives waves of little dots which can look much like water or sky i have used it for both SPRUCE-gives the classic grain-much like Dave's Magnolia example and in my LPE " heading back from bar harbor"see example PLYWOODs-construction grades of plywood have one side with wonderful swirling grains and knots, and one side with a more regular surface PLYWOOD VENEERS- i like MAPLE alot-for hardness and interesting grain patterns CHIPBOARD-can be very interesting- tho not a traditional grain pattern-its more like instant cubism and just leaving boards outside to weather does raise the grain of any wood soft woods more so i bet you could find some great grain on the driftwood in the Tampa area if there is any ? Gillyin ------------------------------ From: JMartin906@aol.com Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 11:13:10 EDT Subject: [Baren 18334] exchange question (I make these remarks as a new subscriber who is still trying to figure out what's up...) I don't have time to make a print for an exchange right now, but am really looking forward to participating in the future. So, I was wondering why there wouldn't be part a. and part b. to an exchange so everyone who wanted to participate could. When part a. had 30 people, part b. could start taking names, for example. With that idea in mind, it's great to see another list forming. But, if the people who are already on the first list also sign up for the second list, isn't that kind of counterproductive? (to the idea of having maximum participation) Suzi Suzi ------------------------------ From: "Linda" Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 08:35:36 -0700 Subject: [Baren 18335] Re: Wood Type Question Daniel Dew wrote: > What wood naturally has the most obvious and printable "grain" pattern? Fir is pretty good as Wanda pointed out. I'm not sure why it would be hard to get, though. Southern yellow pine would be even better. Make sure it's 'southern' and not 'Quebec' as the southern has much more prominent growth rings. I personally would go for white ash. This would stand up very well to a wirebrush to make the grain more pronounced without making the growth rings fuzzy. Linda ------------------------------ From: Daniel Dew Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 11:34:21 -0400 Subject: [Baren 18336] Still a tad confused Thanks for all the wood suggestions, I'll go down to the lumber yard today and see what I can find. Regarding the wire brush stuff: My mind is confused. Do you brush the entire block prior to cutting, which would mean everything is going to be awfully grainy or carve the image first and then brush? But how would you keep from the harming the image then? So confusing. Just wanna print thinly on a nice grain pattern. dan dew ------------------------------ From: Mike Lyon Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 10:57:45 -0500 Subject: [Baren 18337] Re: Wood Type Question Dear Dan, My experiences: If you want a 'plank' pattern, try ash. The Yoshida's both illustrated Keyaki, which is Japanese Elm, I believe, I've never seen it in person, but in the photos it has a very pronounced and unusual open grain. Luan (door skin) is very inexpensive and prints pronounced fine straight grain. Cedar, well sanded with a soft backing so that the 'hard parts' of the grain stick up higher than the soft parts (or weathered or rough cut cedar as it comes from the yard) prints grain. You have to decide whether you are going to print the the grain in relief or intaglio (yes, even though woodcuts are supposed to be 'relief' prints, when it comes to grain, nothing is 'pure') Hanga: For best results, print the grain under or on top of the printing from another non-grained block. You can select woods with very large, open grain and print with pressure of the baren (or press) and a thick soft paper in order to emboss the paper into the grain, then with a very light touch of the baren, blind print those raised areas using another block. To get the grain to show up best, open grained block, thick, soft paper, relatively dry, use no paste, very light application of pigment well brushed in, last brush strokes very light in directon of grain, don't allow the block to become saturated with water and use very baren pressure -- takes about ten prints before the best effect shows up -- I think because the pigment has to build up in the depressions of the wood grain. Press (with water color -- you'll have to get info from someone else for info about 'oily' wood-grain) cheap plank grain Appalachian Cherry grain shows up very well. Other woods, too. Keep block drier than usual and pigment extremely dry and thin, or pressure will 'squeeze' water from the block into the paper and you'll get 'the runs'. Hope that will help? Mike At 08:35 AM 6/13/2002 -0400, you wrote: >I know this might have been asked in the past, but I can't find it, at least >in the manner I'm asking, so here goes: >What wood naturally has the most obvious and printable "grain" pattern? > >I want to do an underwater print and am looking for the best wood to help it >along. The image is easy to carve, but I would like the most help possible >from the grain pattern. > > >Dan Dew Mike Lyon mailto:mikelyon@mlyon.com http://www.mlyon.com ------------------------------ From: Mike Lyon Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 11:00:54 -0500 Subject: [Baren 18338] Re: Wood Type Question Well done, Dave! Looks almost like one of those Hiroshige landscapes! Please describe the principles involved and your technique -- or did you just print everything "as usual" and the grain showed up automatically because of the characteristics of magnolia? Mike At 09:43 PM 6/13/2002 +0900, you wrote: >Dan asked: >>What wood naturally has the most obvious and printable "grain" pattern? > >I can't say 'most obvious', but how about this: >http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~xs3d-bull/where/images/014.jpg > >The wood is magnolia ... > >Dave > Mike Lyon mailto:mikelyon@mlyon.com http://www.mlyon.com ------------------------------ From: "Linda" Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 09:20:48 -0700 Subject: [Baren 18339] Re: Still a tad confused > Regarding the wire brush stuff: My mind is confused. Do you brush the > entire block prior to cutting, which would mean everything is going to be > awfully grainy or carve the image first and then brush? But how would you > keep from the harming the image then? > So confusing. Daniel, I guess I've never done a carved image on the same block that I've played with the grain, but I don't see why it can't be done. If you want just part of the block grainy and to cut other parts and have them smooth, then just treat the area you want to be grainy. Depending on the image and how much it spreads into the grainy areas, you could always treat the entire surface and then carefully smooth the area where you will be carving. (The problem with this approach for printing is that you never will get it back to perfectly smooth without a lot of work and tons of patience and some tiney scrapers.) You don't have to use a wirebrush to make the grain more pronounced. There's other options. If you sand the wood with the grain without using a sanding block, you will remove the softer wood between the growth rings. (This would work very well on ash, fir, or pine.) If you slightly dampen the wood, this will raise the grain and you will get more grain showing for a print. And if you really want a lot of grain, a wire brush (either hand-held or on a rotary tool) will remove the soft wood between the grain lines. If you use yellow pine or fir, you may have to sand it before printing because both woods will fuzz-up when so treated. With ash, you probably won't have to sand. I've even used clay modelling tools to compress the areas between the grain lines, sand it flat, dampen it, and then magically the compressed wood expands and raises up. Combining sanding, brushing, and dampening in different order will lead to a number of different effects. Linda ------------------------------ From: "Lee and Barbara Mason" Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 09:12:08 -0700 Subject: [Baren 18340] interesting work While looking through Hanga.com I cam across an artist I didn't know, can't imagine why as there are so few of us...hehehehe. Anyway look at the work of Francis Gearhart http://www.hanga.com/clients/index.cfm?CFID=777444&CFTOKEN=62191804 what do you think? I like the energy of the lines and the boldness, sort of an east meets west with a slam. I have never seen this work before, so now I suppose she is real famous and I have been living in a box. I am going to search for more info about her.....well looks like she is pretty famous. Orininally from England. No books I could find but lots about her in other books. Best to all, Barbara ------------------------------ From: Mike Lyon Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 11:20:53 -0500 Subject: [Baren 18341] Re: Still a tad confused Wow! Thanks for the excellent Post, Linda! What a great forum we have this week! Mike At 09:20 AM 6/13/2002 -0700, Linda wrote: >I guess I've never done a carved image on the same block that I've played >with the grain...... Mike Lyon mailto:mikelyon@mlyon.com http://www.mlyon.com ------------------------------ From: "Tyrus Clutter" Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 10:23:40 -0600 Subject: [Baren 18342] Re: Still a tad confused Munch did a fairly well known woodcut called "The Kiss" which is exceptional because of its woodgrain pattern. As I look at a reproduction of it it looks like it uses two separate blocks, but the grain is very apparent in both. The figures aren't too detailed and I can't tell you whether he "grained" it before or after cutting the image. TyRuS ------------------------------ From: "Cathryn BACKER" Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 00:23:12 +0800 Subject: [Baren 18343] wire brushing boundary Dan asked about wire brushing the block first or the image after cutting. I've tried both on yellow pine. Ruined a beautiful image because I thought I could control the wire brush ( I had it attached to the electric drill at the time!). Bit stupid, I know. Then realised that if I wire brushed a block to print as the background for another block it would possibly look brilliant and it did! So, two blocks: one wire brushed for the first print and the second cut with an image to print over the first. The yellow pine was really good for wire brushing because of the soft and hard grains. The soft gets 'chewed' out and the hard isnt touched at all. The soft grain got a little fuzzy but I just sanded that by hand. I think I used Tasmanian Yellow Pine. Cheers Cathryn Backer ------------------------------ From: "Tyrus Clutter" Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 10:28:09 -0600 Subject: [Baren 18344] Number in editions Sorry for 2 posts right in a row, but I was never under the impression that I had to limit my editions to only 31 for an exchange. I assumed that I could print as many as I like, but the exchange gets 31 prints. Beyond the 31 I try to make some money from the time I spent. Is this incorrect? I love getting in on the exchanges but I also like money so I can pay my bills (or at least pay for my habit of creating art). TyRuS ------------------------------ From: Julio.Rodriguez@walgreens.com Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 11:35:37 -0500 Subject: [Baren 18345] Re: Number in editions 06/13/2002 11:37:09 AM Hi Tyrus, print as many as you want !!!! There are no limits to the edition size you can print for any of the Baren exchanges. Some of us don't even number our prints or do proper editions. The only requirement is that you make at least one print for everyone on the exchange proper plus an extra one for the print archives in Kansas. Thus you mail 31 prints to the coordinator (Darrell). If you or others want to also get into the side exchange, the number of prints you will need to send to the Salon will depend on the number of people that eventually sign up for that....again, one per participant. regards...Julio ------------------------------ From: "M. Pereira" Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 16:58:43 -0300 Subject: [Baren 18346] Re: Still a tad confused Mike wrote: "Wow! Thanks for the excellent Post, Linda! What a great forum we have this week!" Oh , yes, I agree, today I received 29 messages at once, waw! It was great to read them as faster as possible, consulting the dictionary when necessary, learning so many new meanings, and all those interesting subjects, and also links, as the wonderful great artist April's interview, great Hiroshige oh! sorry! no! great Dave's print. And Dan Dew , which I was preoccupied, worried, for not seeing his name on Exchange 14 , and was almost askings what happened. I want to thanks everybody for the great material you've put in the forum.each message giving such a pleasure to read , and for all the knowledge that was interacted. Muito obrigado, muchas gracias, merci beaucoup thanks . ------------------------------ From: ArtfulCarol@aol.com Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 17:15:16 EDT Subject: [Baren 18347] Maria in Vegas Hi Bareners, (This relates to Baren 18239) It is always exciting to meet Bareners face to face and I am just getting over spending several wonderful hours with Maria. She is everything you may expect from her Baren input, and more! She is Mega-Maria. . Her side of our time made me laugh. Here is mine: Maria immediately put my family to the test when picking us up at the airport by asking about the identification of some dried out vegetation. Well. I should have known better... (Bamboo sheath/Tobacco leaf--sounds the same, especially as on the current cell phone commercial.) As for her "wolves", I have learned not to have eye contact with strange animals, so Maria may have interpreted my averted eyes as a suspicious act, implying that I coveted her beautiful boxwood. Actually, I grow my own, with leaves and all. I was impressed with her very organized working space and the many of prints and blocks. Cool Maria! Carol Irvington, NY ------------------------------ From: "nancy osadchuk" Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 15:48:30 -0600 Subject: [Baren 18348] Woodcut "on the road' Hello and a big thank you to all who responded with their ways of taking tools and all on the road. I like to travel light myself. I already use a roll-up leather holder for the knives that I made from left-over cowhide, and found a piece of harness leather for my lap/table. The compact set of stones from the Baren Mall don't take up much space either. I don't plan on printing for awhile (gardening season here and it is SHORT). It is my other passion. So we'll see what happens. Nancy O. ------------------------------ From: "Maria Arango" Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 15:18:53 -0700 Subject: [Baren 18349] RE: Maria in Vegas Very funny Carol! you outfunnied me...this time. M Now for a translation (use delete key HERE): > It is always exciting to meet Bareners face to face and I am > just getting > over spending several wonderful hours with Maria. She is > everything you may > expect from her Baren input, and more! She is Mega-Maria. I think that's a comment on the fact that I have gained weight lately. I will do my best to jog daily [:-)] > Maria immediately put my family to the test when picking us up at > the airport > by asking about the identification of some dried out vegetation. Can't be too careful. We have all kind of element living in Vegas. > As for her "wolves", I have learned not to have eye contact with strange > animals, so Maria may have interpreted my averted eyes as a > suspicious act, I think the "strange animal" thing is about me too. I know I should have showered! Oh, and there was the howling incident, but only because an ambulance went by. > > I was impressed with her very organized working space and the many of > prints and blocks. Now THAT is a funny one. Organized...indeed! A pleasure to have Carol over as well. Now that I can put a voice and face to the writing the emails are much more human. Maria <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Maria Arango Las Vegas, Nevada, USA http://www.1000woodcuts.com maria@mariarango.com <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> ------------------------------ From: David Bull Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 08:37:08 +0900 Subject: [Baren 18350] Re: Wood Type Question Mike wrote: > http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~xs3d-bull/where/images/014.jpg > Well done, Dave! Looks almost like one of those Hiroshige landscapes! > Please describe the principles involved and your technique -- or did > you just print everything "as usual" and the grain showed up > automatically because of the characteristics of magnolia? In the _traditional_ Japanese techniques, there is no 'wire-brushing' etc. etc. of the wood to bring up grain; it's all done with 'normal' printing methods. Pigment must be quite thin, plenty of paste, final rubbing with the brush should be in the direction of the grain, and then mash it down with very strong baren pressure - stroked along the grain, not in the usual circular motions. One problem is that the more copies you print, the fainter the grain pattern starts to get as the pores of the wood gradually get clogged. If you're doing a run of a couple of hundred, you have to wash and rest the block a few times ... That print was made when I was in my early days over here. I hadn't yet 'figured out' that my real forte was in working as a 'reproductive' craftsman, and was still fumbling around making third-rate 'originals' ... Dave ------------------------------ From: "Myron Turner" Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 05:31:29 -0400 Subject: [Baren 18351] Re: Still a tad confused If I remember that print correctly, Munsch used a single block from which he cut out the section with the figures--which is why there's a white line around them. Myron Turner On 13 Jun 2002, at 10:23, Tyrus Clutter wrote: > Munch did a fairly well known woodcut called "The Kiss" which is > exceptional because of its woodgrain pattern. As I look at a > reproduction of it it looks like it uses two separate blocks, but the > grain is very apparent in both. ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V19 #1861 *****************************