Today's postings

  1. [Baren 38768] Update of woodprints ("Harry French")
  2. [Baren 38769] Is it a sandpainting? (Eileen Corder)
  3. [Baren 38770] Printing with lousy stamps (Tiberiu Chelcea)
  4. [Baren 38771] Re: Printing with lousy stamps (Barbara Mason)
  5. [Baren 38772] Re: Printing with lousy stamps (Barbara Mason)
  6. [Baren 38773] ox print (Linden Langdon)
  7. [Baren 38774] Exchanges Update ("Maria Arango")
  8. [Baren 38775] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
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Message 1
From: "Harry French"
Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:02:57 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38768] Update of woodprints
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Bareners,

My update of six new wood prints are in the "latest work" section on my
website.

http://www.harryfrenchartworks.co.uk

Regards

Harry

UK
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Message 2
From: Eileen Corder
Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:45:20 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38769] Is it a sandpainting?
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Barbara, yes, it's a Navaho sandpainting purportedly used in a Mountainway
or Beautyway chant. It is attributed to Klah-Tso (Lefthanded) from 1905, as
displayed on the Smithsonian (SIRIS) site. Navaho sandpainting, as well as
Tibetan sandpainting, is a formal art, something we seldom (ever?) see in
the global art world/market. The colors are symbolic. Virtually ever image
is symbolic. The art is sacred. The people are sacred. Everything is sacred.

What does sandpainting have to do with printing? Well, they are both
extremely deliberate. I find it interesting that (most often) sandpaintings
are destroyed while prints can go on nearly ad infinitum. Maybe that's where
the political aspect sneaks in. Speaking of political art, I was really
amazed by the Tom Kristensen's Nanobama ox print.

Peace,
Eileen
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Message 3
From: Tiberiu Chelcea
Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:28:32 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38770] Printing with lousy stamps
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I'm working on a series of mixed-media drawings which incorporate some printmaking methods. In particular, I'm using found wood (from demolition sites, garbage, whatever); I print these pieces of wood using a baren and/or finger pressure, and then develop the image further. I'm not using a carved matrix as in classical woodblock method to print these pieces of wood (which are small to medium size -- at most 6" or 15cm in any direction). Each piece can be printed multiple times in a single drawing, but I'm not going for sameness -- I like the fact that the wood is pretty old and beaten. So far, my drawings are A3 size (about 11x16"), but I'd like to go larger than that.

I'm printing the pieces of wood by inking them, placing them inked side down on the paper, and then, while holding the piece of wood still, flipping the paper and applying pressure. This works for a paper this size, but for larger paper I can't hold the wood in place -- I'd need larger hands. I've tried to print without flipping the paper, but the result is not that visible (the shape of the piece of wood is lost). I've tried to place a rag under the paper, but the result was again pretty disappointing. I could try to step on the piece of wood, but that works only if the piece is larger, the smaller pieces just slide out of place. BTW, I'm printing on 200gsm paper (about 110lb in US) -- it's the only "quality" paper that I can find where I'm now, and I'm not moisting it since the paper is not that strong. I don't have access to a printing press.

So, is there a method for printing these pieces of wood such that the paper is not flipped (i.e. I print as if applying a stamp) and the result is pretty visible?

Thanks,
Tibi

PS. Just a small, probably stupid question: if I print using a piece of found wood, is the print still called a woodcut?
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Message 4
From: Barbara Mason
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:32:43 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38771] Re: Printing with lousy stamps
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Tibi,
You need to glue these pieces of wood down to a board of some kind, that will eliminate your movement problem and you can turn the board 360 degrees as you print or only print a section at a time.
I think they would be called monoprints from wood, there is not much cutting involved. I have seen a lot of amazing work done this way, Sharri LaPierre has done an entire show with found wood, I am sure she has it on the web somewhere.
Sharri...send the url so we can see them
My best to all
Barbara
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Message 5
From: Barbara Mason
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:40:47 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38772] Re: Printing with lousy stamps
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Message 6
From: Linden Langdon
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:53:56 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38773] ox print
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Thank you from me too! It is wonderful having the ox arrive in the letterbox....
I have a few frames that I use to show off prints at home and switch
them around from time to time so that they can be seen outside the box..
prints are fabulous :)
Linden

>I agree with you, Eileen! Maria Pereira has simply outdone
>herself with her "Bumba-Meu-Boi"! It is a 7.5" x 10" etching
>with aquatint, with luxuriously black starry background! (I
>can't imagine doing an edition of sixty etchings of that size!)
>It's a wonderful print, and a terrific story! I usually keep
>my "Year of.." prints together in a group, but this one is
>aching for a frame!
>
>Thank you, Maria, for sharing your talent, your printing
>expertise, and your wonderful Brazilian story with us in this print!
> 
>Best wishes,
>Sharon
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Message 7
From: "Maria Arango"
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:13:29 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38774] Exchanges Update
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Exchange #39 is now online! Please let me know if there are any horrible
mistakes as I am working with an older version of Dreamweaver from my
laptop. A couple of pages are yet to be updated with details of the print
and the colophon will be uploaded soon.
Thank you AEleen once more for a superb job.
http://www.barenforum.org/exchange/exchanges.html

Exchange #40 is coming to completion; deadline is tomorrow.
Please see this page for instructions and address to send your prints to:
http://www.barenforum.org/exchange/exchange_40/exchange_40.html

Exchange #41 is still open for new sign-ups for one more day but I will
leave up the sign-up form through the weekend; everyone is now on the list.
Remember that an average of 4 people are likely to drop so if you get the
first few spots on the waiting list you will be in the
exchange.
http://www.barenforum.org/exchange/exchange_sign-up.html

Finally, don't forget to order your handsome folio cases from the Baren Mall
to keep all your exchange prints safe and beautiful
http://barenforum.org/mall/products/exchange_cases.html


Maria

O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O
       Maria Arango
  http://1000woodcuts.com
http://artfestivalguide.info
 O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O=O

Digest Appendix

Postings made on [Baren] members' blogs
over the past 24 hours ...

Subject: eBay Action
Posted by: Dave Bull

When I was preparing to produce my Hanga Treasure Chest a few years ago, I haunted the auctions of woodblock prints on eBay, looking for interesting items to include in the set. Since then, I haven't been much of a print buyer, and given that 'bargains' seem to have become very thin on the ground on eBay these days, I haven't bothered much with it.

But plenty of my friends are active over there, and one of them sent me an email the other day, letting me know that some of my own prints were being auctioned. Or I should say, 'have been auctioned'. Here's a snapshot of a listing of 'completed auctions' done on a search of my name:

This was really interesting to see, for a couple of reasons.

First is that the price paid for the prints from my current 'My Solitudes' series is almost exactly double what I myself sell them for. Given that I myself don't sell them individually, but only in the complete set of 12, this price presumably reflects the 'premium' that the purchaser is willing to pay to have just one from the set.

I get frequent requests for 'just one, please', but always regretfully decline. I make roughly the same quantity of prints for each one in the series, and if I started selling the 'favourites', I would end up doing nothing but re-printing endlessly.

(Eventually, at some point in the future, when my own 'batch' (I want to avoid using the word . . .
[Long item has been trimmed at this point. The full blog entry can be viewed here]


This item is taken from the blog Woodblock RoundTable.
'Reply' to Baren about this item.


Subject: Freshly Picked
Posted by: Andy English

I received my advance copy of "Freshly Picked" this morning. I have already shown the blocks and some images here but this was the first time that I saw how my engravings had been used.

Here are a series of photographs of the book - click on them to enlarge.


The book is handsome (I didn't design the cover):


My engravings have been reduced and used as endpapers. I am very pleased with the end result; the engravings look good in green:


Hwere is a selection of the engravings:

Introduction:


[Long item has been trimmed at this point. The full blog entry can be viewed here]

This item is taken from the blog Wood Engraver.
'Reply' to Baren about this item.


Subject: Hierophant Green Keyline
Posted by: Phare-Camp


We have the first keyline for the hierophant. I've printed it in a transparent green because I didn't want to cover the red lines on the plate in case I still need to cut and I can see I do...the monk on the left is supposed to be holding a snake. There is so much detail around him that he's hard to see. I think I will carve very thin white line around the snake so it jumps out a little. also the letter t in the title at the bottom disappears into the detail above it. I will carve just a little of the detail away from the "t" so that we see it more.

Now once I've printed my color plate (later today) I will carve away all of the sky, mountains and ocean in the background. Also the dark tiles will go away. I plan on printing those red so there will be no need to leave them in the keyline once I have the color plates carved. I will leave all the wood in the keyline until I have carved and proofed all the color plates. This is in case the registration turns out to be off or I don't like one of the color plates or I decide . . .
[Long item has been trimmed at this point. The full blog entry can be viewed here]

This item is taken from the blog Phare-Camp Art Journal.
'Reply' to Baren about this item.


Subject: Nn for nest
Posted by: Andrew Stone


This is the final version of the collaborative print done with Sami's 3rd grade class.
I cut a color block for the background but kept it simple and deliberately left the squares of the children's drawings white. My creative contribution is the purple letters to the top Left and the choice of blue for the background. I found a nice dark blue mat and frame at the local art store and will drop it off tomorrow.

Printing a big, damp sheet of Washi was much harder than I expected and there is some spotting of ink to the print that is the result of it just being harder to manipulate and print a big sheet of paper.

I printed a total of 7 copies. Three on Shin Torinoko ( a machine made paper made of linen and acid-free pine pulp and 4 on Masa Dosa, a handmade Japanese paper that is a very bright white and rougher in texture. There are 2-3 less-than perfect impressions and one that I printed on the wrong side of the paper leaving 3 pretty good copies.
Hopefully they'll find homes soon.

This item is taken from the blog Lacrime di Rospo.
'Reply' to Baren about this item.