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Message 1
From: John Jeremies
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 11:10:51 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 25802] Brayers
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I just started cutting wood and I was wondering what
size brayer to buy. Im not cutting plywood or anything
like that so my blocks are regular size the lumber
that I can get is at most 9 inches wide. Ive never
really used a brayer before so I dont know what size
will feel most comfortable. The speedball's go up to 6
inches wide and are all about the same price but I
heard that the larger ones have weak frames and flex
too much. Has anyone else noticed this? The expensive
brayers go up to 10 inches or so but maybe thats not
for woodcuts I dont know.

John

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Message 2
From: Bette Norcross Wappner
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 14:29:00 -0400
Subject: [Baren 25803] Re: Brayers
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Hi John,

Welcome to Baren. I only work with water-based inks, but I do know that
McClains online has a nice selection of brayers as well as other
supplies. This company is very nice and many Baren members shop there
for the things that cannot be found at our wonderful Baren Mall.
McClains also sells all-shina plywood that comes already sanded and
holds a decent amount of detail for the kind of wood that it is.

http://www.imcclains.com/catalog/woodblocktools/

Baren Mall: http://www.barenforum.org/mall/map.html

I'm sure other members will speak up and offer some more advice on
brayers for you.

Best of Luck,
Bette Wappner
northern Kentucky, USA

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Message 3
From: Daniel Dew
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 14:34:32 -0400
Subject: [Baren 25804] Re: Brayers
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I'll jump in with my quick opinion, being a "brayer" only printer.
I've tried the cheap Speedball brayers, they work O.K. with Speedball
inks, but they stink with any other inks I've tried though.
I bought an array of brayers from Graphic Chemical and love every one
of them. Sometimes I need to tweak the handles a bit, but otherwise
they are sweet.
They work well with every brand of ink I've tried also.


Daniel L. Dew

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Message 4
From: Bette Norcross Wappner
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 14:41:19 -0400
Subject: [Baren 25805] Re: Brayers
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Oh yes....that's right. How silly of me to not mention Graphic Chemical
as well. Baren Member, Dean keeps us informed with his great products
from Graphic Chemical. http://www.graphicchemical.com/

Bette Wappner
cliffs of northern Kentucky

>...I bought an array of brayers from Graphic Chemical and love every one
> of them. Sometimes I need to tweak the handles a bit, but otherwise
> they are sweet.
> They work well with every brand of ink I've tried also.
>
> Daniel L. Dew

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Message 5
From: Thomas Davis
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 15:03:50 -0400
Subject: [Baren 25806] Re: Brayers
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I started a woodcut last nice after much prep work. I needed to
transfer a design to the wood so that I may being cutting. In the
past I have used graphite transfer paper for this. On the maple, that
did not work well. I spent an hour or so doing it and when I peeled
off the design paper, there was virtually nothing there. I read
somewhere about glueing down the image. Is this pretty much what
everyone does?

Thanks,
Thomas

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Message 6
From: Daniel Dew
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 16:01:28 -0400
Subject: [Baren 25807] Non-Print Related, sorta
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Odd question for all the college administrative and teachers out there:
I never finished my BFA, short only 8 to 10 credit hours.
Would like to finish my degree, but need to be able to complete online
or long distance.
Any ideas?


Daniel L. Dew

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Message 7
From: Charles Morgan
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 13:11:21 -0700
Subject: [Baren 25808] Re: Brayers
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Use a fresh xerox or laser print. Put it face down on the block. Wipe the
back of the print with a d-limonene based cleaner. Here the brand I use is
called TKO Orange. Probably any concentrated citrus based cleaner will do
... check health food stores, automotive stores, and bicycle shops. The
citrus cleaner will dissolve the xerox and transfer it to the block. And
the citrus cleaner is pretty benign.

Cheers ... Charles

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Message 8
From: Barbara Mason
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 13:30:38 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 25809] Re: Brayers
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John,
If you are printing with oil based ink, you can use a 6" roller. Roll your ink out thinly on the slab and then ink from the center out. Use only the weight of the roller, do not push down. You will need to go back to the slab and re-ink the roller many times to ink your block properly. Moving the roller around on the block once it is out of ink will not help. It takes about 5 minutes or so to ink the block. Stand back and look at the block across the surface. It should be uniformly coated with no dull spots. The inking is your print, so give it the time it needs. If you have more questions be sure to ask.

The larger rollers are nice for one flat roll of color, say for a roll that is more than one color. But not necessary for oil unless you plan to work with these blended rolls or "rainbow rolls". They do make it easier to ink, but sure cost more. If you do buy larger ones, try to get the lightest weight ones you can find, as they do get heavy after using them for a day. Takach makes the cadillac of rollers but Graphic Chemical has good rollers as does McClains printmaking supply. The rollers McClains has are very soft so be warned they are hard to use with loose ink as they will cause tiny lines to fill in. Stiffer ink is better for these rollers.
Best to you,
Barbara

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Message 9
From: Charles Morgan
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 13:36:44 -0700
Subject: [Baren 25810] Re: Brayers
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Hmmm ... for another opinion ....

I use the smaller Speedball brayers with all sorts of inks ... Gamblin,
Graphic Chemical, etc. ... never have a problem.

The 6 inch Speedball brayers do not work well, in my opinion, because of
the flex in the frame.

The other brayers I use for large work I made myself, being a cheap bugger ....

1) A friend of mine is a xerox machine repairman. The fuser rollers are
always wearing out on these machines and have to be replaced. They just
throw away the old ones. They consist of an aluminum core, a nice rubber
coating, and some sort of plastic-like covering. On some types, you can
carefully peel the plastic coating off, like peeling sunburn. Leaves a very
nice rubber roller. Cut to desired length with a hacksaw. Turn up a couple
of wooden plugs for the ends, and drill the plugs for 3/8 ready rod. Put
plugs in ends, stick ready rod through, and run a nut up against the plug
at each end. The rod serves as a handle. Makes a very hard brayer.

To ink these hard brayers (and other really hard brayers), I put a piece of
closed cell camping foam (about 1/4 inch thick) down on my usual inking
slab. Then I cover it with a piece of butcher paper from the grocery store
... get the white kind if you can find it so you can see your colors. Tape
the paper down with the shiny side up. Spread out a little ink, and roll
away. You need a bit of given in either your roller or your inking slab to
get hard rollers inked evenly.

2) Cut a suitable length of 4 inch diameter PVC sewer pipe. Turn up plugs
for each end, drill plugs on center for 1/2 inch ready rod. Put Weldbond or
some other high quality glue on the plugs, insert plugs and rod, turn up
nut against plug at each end. Let glue dry. Get closed cell camping foam
and contact cement it around the pipe ... do not use latex based contact
cement, but rather use the more noxious kind. Then on top of the foam,
contact cement a sheet of mylar ... or go to your pond garden supply store
and beg or buy a strip of rubber material used as pond liner and contact
cement that over the foam. I prefer the rubber. Then if you want handles,
use nylon or wooden dowel, drill one end of each dowel a little less than
1/2 inch, remove the nuts from the rod, and turn the handles onto the rod
at each end. This will give you a brayer about 4.5 inches in diameter, as
long as you like. There will be a seam. But at that diameter, you will have
more than 12 inches of inking without the seam interfering. Use vegetable
oil followed by soap and water to clean ... do not use solvents or you will
eventually dissolve the contact cement.

If you are really brave, there are directions for casting you own brayers
from a mixture of hide glue and other stuff, given in the book by the Finns
about wood block printmaking.

Cheers ......... Charles

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Message 10
From: CaveArtist # aol.com
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 16:37:35 EDT
Subject: [Baren 25811] Re: Non-Print Related, sorta
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Daniel,

I'm not a teacher or anything, but I know the University of Phoenix offers
online degrees. A friend of mine located in Hawaii is getting her teaching
certificate online. Branches of the university are also popping up everywhere. I
did a double-take when I was driving in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and saw a building
with a "University of Phoenix" sign on it!

Hopes this gets you closer.

Julie

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Message 11
From: Charles Morgan
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 13:46:20 -0700
Subject: [Baren 25812] Re: Non-Print Related, sorta
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Try British Columbia Open University, which at least at one time was
associated with the world wide Open Learning Universities.

http://www.bcou.ca/

More extensive programs in fine arts are available on line from Academy of
Art College in San Francisco.

http://www.academyart.edu

Good luck ......

Cheers ..... Charles

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Message 12
From: GraphChem # aol.com
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 16:53:46 EDT
Subject: [Baren 25813] Brayers from Graphic
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At the risk of seeming like I'm hawking our wares, I wanted to let you know
that we are now carrying a group of brayers from Germany - they are very nice.
More expensive than Speedball but a good price. One is an interesting brayer
with a double handle . They aren't in the catalog yet, but will be online
soon.
Susan

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Message 13
From: Frank Trueba
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 15:08:37 -0700
Subject: [Baren 25814] Re: Frank's email
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Hi all,

Yes, it's true, I'm a printmaker (thanks for the compliment Jeanne)
and I had been using my work e-mail for Baren. However on Friday,
just before going on vacation, I unsubscribed my ftrueba@ucsc.edu
address from Baren. However, I didn't realize that I had an earlier
work address still on the Baren list serve--ftrueba@cats.ucsc.edu

Today, Monday, I went back to the Baren home page and (hopefully)
unsubscribed the ftrueba@cats.ucsc.edu address

For whomever is the keeper of the listerv, I should only be subscribed
under frank@ralene.com now.

Sorry for the errant message.

frank

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Message 14
From: Barbara Mason
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 17:35:23 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 25815] Brayers from Graphic
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Dean,
You just left us a carrot with no way to reach it......are these rollers fairly light weight? My original 8" roller from Graphic Chemical (it is probably 20 years old and going strong) is great but has a cast metal handle and is really heavy. I also have a couple of 14" rollers that are also very heavy. In my old age arthritis is a big factor and a lighter handle and roller would be great! Can you post to the list as soon as these are online????
Thanks so much,
Barbara

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Message 15
From: Jan Telfer
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 09:19:19 +0800
Subject: [Baren 25816] Large Print Exchange
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Dear Sharri and LPE 11,

Thank you Sharri and the other participants in the LPE11
Exchange....... my prints arrived yesterday in perfect condition and I
was overwhelmed with the effort and quality of these large prints.

>> LPE-II is now up : http://www.rst-art.com/lpewebshowtemp.htm


Most were printed in oil based inks, a couple in traditional hanga.
But the scale of them was majestic in carving skill and printing......
I know how difficult it is to handle large pieces of damp paper
especially multicouloured blocks.

I see now John C what you were telling me about your print and how you
cut and printed it. Well done.

I do have some big woodcuts framed on my walls, mainly those of Hiroshi
Tomihari and have gifts from his students of our size prints so really
do appreciate the scale of these.

Thank you everyone and I look forward to receiving my LPE111.
Hint: For those signed up for LPE111 start early designing, carving
and printing because there is almost a full complement of participants
and 31 will take more time than 20!! Start now!!

With my thanks,
Jan

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Message 16
From: "cjpiers"
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 18:38:20 -0700
Subject: [Baren 25817] Re: Brayers
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I bought a roller from ebay for an offset press that I want to try. If I can
sucessfully find a way to cut it down I can probably get two out of one
roller.

Has any one tried any rollers off an offset press?
Pros vs. Cons?

I'm all for experimenting and the price is right.

Connie
Spokane, WA

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