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Message 1
From: Jennifer Martindale
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 13:41:15 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39084] Maria
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I too have benefited from Maria's deep funds of wit and wisdom. Reading her guide to art fairs gave me the courage (and endless ideas) to put my own work up for public display and to try my luck at marketing, pricing, displaying etc. I hope all her ventures bring happiness and we will still sometimes have the pleasure of her company... perhaps at the bar! All the very best. Jennifer.

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Message 2
From: Charles Morgan
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:17:38 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39085] SWNS09
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Today is June 14. That means there is only one more week left to sign
up for the FABULOUS SWNS09 print exchange. Details are posted at the
end of this message. Please note: This exchange is completely independent of Baren, although several Baren members have participated in the past and several are already signed up for this exchange.

So far we have 16 participants from Australia, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, and the U.S.

Come on in!!! The water is fine ....

Cheers ..... Charles

Southern Winter Northern Summer Solstice 2009 Print Exchange

SWNS09

You are invited to join an international group of printmakers who hold a print exchange at the time of the two yearly solstices. Here are the details for our next exchange. We remind you to please be mindful of the deadlines.

Sign-up deadline: June 21, 2009 ... sign up by sending private email to:

CharlesGMorgan@ yahoo.com

Deadline for receipt of prints: August 1, 2009

Prints to be sent to: Charles Morgan
77 Moss Street
Victoria, B.C. V8V 4M2
CANADA

Theme: open

Technique: any editionable technique

Paper size: 7.5 x 11 inches, which is 19 x 28 cm

Edition size: depends on sign-ups ... usually about 30 ... details will be sent at the close of the sign-up period

Participation fee: $15 US or Canadian, to be sent with prints or by Paypal to the email address above

Please
note: The time between sign-up and the required delivery date of the
prints is only 6 weeks. You should allow at least a week, and
preferably two, for international mail delivery. So you should begin
work on your prints immediately after signing up.

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Message 3
From: Barbara Mason
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:10:41 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39086] paper... our love and hate relationships
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Good Morning Baren. . . . .

I am again wanting to know what paper everyone uses.

I have tried lots and find positives and negatives for them. I think we should compile some type of data base for paper and the ink we use and how it works for us. The western papers do work, some better than others. Relief printing is forgiving, sometimes.

The Iwano paper is a dream but sooo expensive. But there must be many others that work well and personal experience with the paper has got to be the best gauge for using it.

I just got a big order of paper from the Drachen Foundation, www.drachen.org. This paper was made in Mexico and I think is unsized. It is from the local vegetation around Oaxaca and is very strong. They use it for kites among other rthings. The director of the Drachen, Ali Fujino has been working with them to get an even sheet so there are no slubs or spots with extra globs of fiber. I think it looks fabulous but have not had time to try it. Also it was very inexpensive, I think about $2.50 a sheet. It looks a bit like Kitakata without the sizing.

If everyone will wax eloquent on the paper they use, I will compile a spread sheet we can add to the encyclopedia so it will be easy for people to compare what paper with what ink for what project. This has probably been done before but I sure could not find it on the internet. I know Matt Brown uses Rives heavyweight for Moku Hanga, or he used to. I will email and ask him if he still uses it and if he does anything special to get it to work well for him.

I like Masa if the ink is rolled on and the paper is dry, not quite so good if things are very damp. It works well with Akua Kolor ink.

Like almost all printmakers, I have a drawer of mystery paper....I knew what it was when I bought it... but when was that?

I am trying to get more organized and wish there was some better way to store paper so I knew what it was. Doing only one thing with one paper has a lot going for it.. But alas, that is not me. My mind is not tidy, why would my studio and paper be tidy??? I have flat files but they are stuffed and not always well marked. Rats.

I see photos of beautifully organized studios and cry....I know I can do that...but I cannot keep it that way for more than a day or two. Hopeless case here.
My best to everyone
Barbara

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Message 4
From: ArtSpotiB # aol.com
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:29:15 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39087] Hip Hip Hooray for Maria!
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Cheers to you, superstar, mentor, glorious artist, big printmaker, fount of
information and kind soul.

ArtSpot Out
Benny in studio



Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is
perilous. -Confucius, philosopher and teacher (c. 551-478 BCE)

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Message 5
From: Sharri LaPierre
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:35:42 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39088] Re: Fwd: reproduction oil painting 25% discoun
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Graham,

Thanks for sending that - I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I
guess there are some in this world who think that we can't appreciate
contemporary (meaning it is original now) art. I took a painting
class this last winter in techniques of the old masters. We had to
copy a Titian and a Flemish Early Renaissance piece. They are both
labor intensive methods and I can't imagine that anyone is copying in
those methods to make a living. Egads what a boring job! But it would
be pretty hard to get a good copy that was not done that way. I am
still amazed that those people could make giant altarpieces using egg
tempera and glazing, glazing, glazing. Making prints is a much more
productive, entertaining, engrossing, all around fantastic way to make
art ;-) Think I will save my 25% discount and spend it at the Baren
Mall.

Cheers,
Sharri

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Message 6
From: slinders # comcast.net
Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:32:21 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39089] Re: paper... our love and hate relationships
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Barbara Mason wrote:

> I am again wanting to know what paper everyone uses.

Hi, Barbara,

Your thoughts about storing and organizing paper brought a
flashback of our beautiful, and now gone, Aiko's here in
Chicago. Buying paper there was ceremonial!!!

The papers were stored scroll fashion in deep square dividers,
probably 8" square. Each was labeled (and I think had a sample
strip of the paper) beside each cube. When you wanted three
sheets of _________ they would bring out the scroll of it,
unfurl it on a high table, and would inspect each sheet. You
would always get perfect sheets! They'd then roll them up and
replace them into the square pigeonhole after carefully rolling
and wrapping your purchase. It was a tidy way to keep a lot of
papers organized and protected without having them 'piled'.
I sure do miss that beautiful place!!!

At PaperSource, they have each kind of paper on a tagboard or
cardboard. Those are stacked and that's how they find the paper
you want. It's not nearly as 'careful' of the paper, hard to
find the paper you want by yourself, and you just feel like a
'paper buyer' instead of an honored guest/purchaser.

Our closest Blick store uses a ton of huge flat files. Who can
afford more than one or two of those, for both size and cost?!

The deep thin square shelves are a beautiful storage method,
especially for thinner Japanese papers that just lounge out when
they are unfurled.

I nearly always use Rives BFK for printing, for most
everything....! (But I don't print hanga.)

For wood engravings I like Zirkall book vellum, or other Zirkall
papers, and I get both at Graphic Chemical. Good prices and
good people!

Organization???!!! always a struggle!!!

Best wishes,
Sharen

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Message 7
From: Barbara Mason
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:54:28 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39090] Re: paper... our love and hate relationships
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Sharen,
You are first on the spread sheet...I assume you are using oil based inks...what kind and what are you adding to them? Lets get this as concise as we can so others don't have to spend so much time experimenting as paper is so darn expensive and ink is not cheap either. Maybe we can save someone from disaster.

I have not used the Zirkall paper but have seen it advertised. It must be a hard surface paper. Do you use it dry?

I too love BFK, it is a workhorse paper and very forgiving. You can easily "fix" it after everything is dry, unlike most papers. I usually use it damp but did a bunch of Monotypes with Frank Janzen at Crows Shadow on the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton OR last year http://www.crowsshadow.org/pages/home and Frank used dry BFK with a litho press and got three or 4 prints off a sheet of plexi with oil based ink. I think he just pressured them into printing. I have never gotten that much oil based ink off a plate using dry paper. It was amazing. One good ghost after another. Maybe those tamarind guys do know what they are doing.

For me the flat files just take up too much room. I have a couple of sets but they are full of "stuff". What I really need is a bigger studio. If I stuck to Moku hanga I would have no problems. I am going to teach it again this fall and am really looking forward to it. There is something about the peacefulness or the "zen" of the whole thing that seems good for the soul. Repetition and concentration with no rushing to get done. I think it is impossible to rush moku hanga.

ok, everyone, I want more paper info for our new data base. If you want to send it off list that is fine but think we are all interested in what works for us as printmakers and why.
My best
Barbara

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Message 8
From: slinders # comcast.net
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:23:02 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39091] Re: paper... our love and hate relationships
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Barbara Mason wrote:

> ...I assume you are using oil based
> inks...what kind and what are you adding to them? Lets get this as
> concise as we can so others don't have to spend so much time
> experimenting as paper is so darn expensive and ink is not cheap either.
> Maybe we can save someone from disaster.

Barbara, I really love Senefelder's Crayon Black ink,

and I'm using it for relief printmaking. It's great for
woodblock printing, linocuts, and I have good results using it
for wood engraving. (Obviously it's in the studio for
lithography, too!)

It's a strange ink. Dean explained to the list, Feb 17, 2006,
"Graphic litho inks are intended to be very stiff, although
some, like the Senefelders Crayon Black are extremely so. Most
of the time, if the ink is very stiff, you have to work it out
on the slab. Most litho inks have what they call a thixotropic
reaction which means that they loosen up with rolling (the Clark
definition, not Webster's)."

You do need (knead) to work it 'like Silly Putty' with your
knife! Take your time with it. You can hardly move the stuff
at first, and then suddenly it loosens to stringiness! You
won't need much of it! It is heavily pigmented and gives a
deep, rich black. With wood engravings I put it on in several
"sheer" layers. It holds the detail well, and is a good ink!

I damp pack the BFK before printing with it. I use the Zirkall
dry, or just a bit 'humid'.

Sharen

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Message 9
From: Barbara Mason
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:49:17 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39092] Re: paper... our love and hate relationships
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Thanks Sharen, this is exactly what I meant. We will have great info once we hear from all on the list
Barbara

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Message 10
From: "rsimola # netzero.net"
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:51:16 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39093] Re: paper... our love and hate relationships
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>I am again wanting to know what paper everyone uses.
>I have tried lots and find positives and negatives for them. I think >we should compile some type of data base for paper and the ink we use >and how it works for us.


Barbara,

For woodblock prints I almost always use damp, Somerset paper with Graphic Chemical ink and pull the prints on my little old Craftool Printmaker press. I like the prints to be embossed, so I throw the paper in a vat of water for twenty or thirty minutes. Once I forgot and left the paper in the water for a couple of hours without noticing any problem with the finished prints. Before printing the paper is blotted with old towels liberated from my wife’s rag bag until there is no more standing water. Even with a fairly deep embossing, I have not yet had any paper tear. I’ve even re-wet unused paper after it has dried without it breaking down.

Bob



Robert Simola, Ph.D.
Craftsman, gardener, grape grower, Chaucer collector,
. . . and retired teacher

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Subject: [Forest in Summer - 7] : Third block finished ...
Posted by: Dave Bull

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

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