Today's postings
- [Baren 40107] Images of Berio's Technique (Gayle Wohlken)
- [Baren 40108] Joseph Taylor (Monica Bright)
- [Baren 40109] Re: Joseph Taylor (Bobbi Chukran)
- [Baren 40110] Re: Joseph Taylor (aqua4tis # aol.com)
- [Baren 40111] offsetting of sumi keyblock--will gum arabic help?/Printers "blindness"/Blind printing to smooth heavy hosho? (Andrew Stone)
- [Baren 40112] Re: offsetting of sumi keyblock--will gum arabic help?/Printers "blindness"/Blind printing to smooth heavy hosho? (Dave Bull)
- [Baren 40113] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
Message 1
From: Gayle Wohlken
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:47:34 GMT
Subject: [Baren 40107] Images of Berio's Technique
Send Message: To this poster
Louise asked about finding the images showing the way Berio works.
You need to scroll farther down the page, and where I found some of
the interesting images of how he works is under "Capitolo 3" in the
side bar. Just keep scrolling till you find the images.
http://www.ligustro.it/
~Gayle
You need to scroll farther down the page, and where I found some of
the interesting images of how he works is under "Capitolo 3" in the
side bar. Just keep scrolling till you find the images.
http://www.ligustro.it/
~Gayle
Message 2
From: Monica Bright
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:38:14 GMT
Subject: [Baren 40108] Joseph Taylor
Send Message: To this poster
One of my Ox prints returned home sad and dejected. He could not find Joseph Taylor. :( Joseph, if you are out there, would you mind e-mailing me your current address?? On another note, I read the interview on Aime's blog. Truely facinating! I loved how multifaceted her approach to her work and life is. I work everyday with junior high students and the one thing that I think shocks them the most is that I am educated in multiple areas besides just drawing and ceramics. As happens in lots of art room, sometimes the topic of conversation drifts. On several occations, students have looked at me with something boardering shock and facination only to exclaim, "How do you know so much about different stuff??" College graduate-I reply. I don't know, I think it is funny.
I signed up for Exchange #43. I was totally excited for it, now find myself stuck. I'm thinking of using the letters as a way to create value to render the image... I just can't choose an image, let alone figure out how to cut that. Any advice??
-Monica Bright
I signed up for Exchange #43. I was totally excited for it, now find myself stuck. I'm thinking of using the letters as a way to create value to render the image... I just can't choose an image, let alone figure out how to cut that. Any advice??
-Monica Bright
Message 3
From: Bobbi Chukran
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:28:24 GMT
Subject: [Baren 40109] Re: Joseph Taylor
Send Message: To this poster
> Truely facinating! I loved how multifaceted her approach to her
>work and life is. I work everyday with junior high students and the
>one thing that I think shocks them the most is that I am educated in
>multiple areas besides just drawing and ceramics.
I do wonder where this comes from. I run into it a lot, too, since I
consider myself a mixed-media artist who works in all sorts of
things, including printmaking. I hope that old "dabbler in a lot of
things, master of none" mindset is gone, gone, gone!
bobbi c.
http://www.bobbichukran.com
>work and life is. I work everyday with junior high students and the
>one thing that I think shocks them the most is that I am educated in
>multiple areas besides just drawing and ceramics.
I do wonder where this comes from. I run into it a lot, too, since I
consider myself a mixed-media artist who works in all sorts of
things, including printmaking. I hope that old "dabbler in a lot of
things, master of none" mindset is gone, gone, gone!
bobbi c.
http://www.bobbichukran.com
Message 4
From: aqua4tis # aol.com
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:55:25 GMT
Subject: [Baren 40110] Re: Joseph Taylor
Send Message: To this poster
i couldnt agree more
Message 5
From: Andrew Stone
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:57:44 GMT
Subject: [Baren 40111] offsetting of sumi keyblock--will gum arabic help?/Printers "blindness"/Blind printing to smooth heavy hosho?
Send Message: To this poster
Hi, all; In my exchange print for exchange 42 I printed the keyblock first using Liquid sumi from McClains. Stirred rather haphazardly before printing but used as is--no paste added and printed on the dry side on slightly damp, heavy, sized washi. I had offsetting of the sumi keyblock on all the subsequent blocks even after drying and then rewetting the paper (and printing went almost 5 days). I need to print the keyblock first as there are lots of blocks and it helps me confirm continued registration of the colors. But the sumi mixed on the blocks with some of my more delicate colors and made them muddy/grey.
I have a bottle of Winsor-Newton gum arabic that I used rarely for watercolors--if I add a few drops to the sumi will that help "fix it" to the paper? Any other ideas?
P.S. I don't know if this happens to anyone else but I was in a panic to finish printing and in the throes of printing--even though I looked at every print as it came off the blocks and they all looked great but when I went to pull out the best 31 for the exchange I was surprised how many had small, mostly unimportant but previously unseen(ignored?) defects. I was reasonably happy with the remainders.
Now however, in the cool, calm atmosphere of "I'm done" and looking over the ones I kept back I realize that there are lots of little defects: too many small ink spots from the keyblock; a small registration error of .5mm on one color; more variation in my bokashi than I realized (they all look the same when they're all next to each other but once you start to really look.....this ones lighter, this one darker, this one a bit too blue green.) So in the 8-9 I have left over there are really only 1-2 I'd call "good enough" (meaning if I were going to sell any these are the two that I could-- the rest will go quite happily to friends and relatives who won't see or care); I'm not being picky, there are times when the nature of woodblock is its coarseness and the immediacy of the method but other times when an ink blot is a printing error, not "markmaking" and "atmospheric effects" clearly the result of printing too dry. I'd be happier with the looseness and freedom of printing spontaneously when it doesn't matter once I'm sure I can print cleanly and perfectly when I need to. (so far I can't).
So, I've cleaned off the keyblock and carved out a few of the spotting areas and I'm going to have another go at printing another smaller run--I'm curious to see if going a bit slower will help.
P.S.S.
Using the heavy paper for the first time posed some new challenges; Even wetting each sheet it still felt quite "dry"; While proofing with Shin Torinoko (McClains) also pretty heavy but machine made and very smooth I got perfect impressions from the keyblock; With the thicker, less smooth Kizuki Hanga paper I'd pick up some spotting on printing the keyblock (using a Murasaki soft baren): I'd carve out the offending area--reprint on proof paper--perfect impression; good paper--spotting.
Would printing damp against a smooth board (a blind impression) to smooth the surface of the heavy paper help? How much pressure to use? Do I need to dampen the board?
Andrew Stone
rospobio.blogspot.com
I have a bottle of Winsor-Newton gum arabic that I used rarely for watercolors--if I add a few drops to the sumi will that help "fix it" to the paper? Any other ideas?
P.S. I don't know if this happens to anyone else but I was in a panic to finish printing and in the throes of printing--even though I looked at every print as it came off the blocks and they all looked great but when I went to pull out the best 31 for the exchange I was surprised how many had small, mostly unimportant but previously unseen(ignored?) defects. I was reasonably happy with the remainders.
Now however, in the cool, calm atmosphere of "I'm done" and looking over the ones I kept back I realize that there are lots of little defects: too many small ink spots from the keyblock; a small registration error of .5mm on one color; more variation in my bokashi than I realized (they all look the same when they're all next to each other but once you start to really look.....this ones lighter, this one darker, this one a bit too blue green.) So in the 8-9 I have left over there are really only 1-2 I'd call "good enough" (meaning if I were going to sell any these are the two that I could-- the rest will go quite happily to friends and relatives who won't see or care); I'm not being picky, there are times when the nature of woodblock is its coarseness and the immediacy of the method but other times when an ink blot is a printing error, not "markmaking" and "atmospheric effects" clearly the result of printing too dry. I'd be happier with the looseness and freedom of printing spontaneously when it doesn't matter once I'm sure I can print cleanly and perfectly when I need to. (so far I can't).
So, I've cleaned off the keyblock and carved out a few of the spotting areas and I'm going to have another go at printing another smaller run--I'm curious to see if going a bit slower will help.
P.S.S.
Using the heavy paper for the first time posed some new challenges; Even wetting each sheet it still felt quite "dry"; While proofing with Shin Torinoko (McClains) also pretty heavy but machine made and very smooth I got perfect impressions from the keyblock; With the thicker, less smooth Kizuki Hanga paper I'd pick up some spotting on printing the keyblock (using a Murasaki soft baren): I'd carve out the offending area--reprint on proof paper--perfect impression; good paper--spotting.
Would printing damp against a smooth board (a blind impression) to smooth the surface of the heavy paper help? How much pressure to use? Do I need to dampen the board?
Andrew Stone
rospobio.blogspot.com
Message 6
From: Dave Bull
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:15:07 GMT
Subject: [Baren 40112] Re: offsetting of sumi keyblock--will gum arabic help?/Printers "blindness"/Blind printing to smooth heavy hosho?
Send Message: To this poster
> I had offsetting of the sumi keyblock on all the subsequent
> blocks even after drying and then rewetting the paper
This would imply that you are printing the colours with paper that is
somewhat on the 'soggy' side (especially as you mention later in your
post that you were picking up lots of blotches from touching in
unwanted areas, something made worse when overly damp paper 'sags').
And - as you mention - perhaps your sumi doesn't have enough binder to
fix it into the paper. Some gum arabic, or nikawa (glue) would perhaps
help.
> I'd carve out the offending area--reprint on proof paper--perfect
> impression; good paper--spotting. Would printing damp against
> a smooth board (a blind impression) to smooth the surface of
> the heavy paper help? How much pressure to use? Do I need
> to dampen the board?
Paper in the old days - I mean long before I was born - had a much
smoother surface, and blocks could be carved much shallower. If you get
a chance to see a keyblock from Meiji you would not believe that such
an object could be printed without blotching. So yes, having the
surface of your washi smoothed somewhat can help a great deal, and this
is something I do with a lot of my prints. I print against a clean flat
block, using just water and paste (as little as can be spread out on
the block). Doing this before printing the key block will give a few
results:
- you can print the key block with much less pressure ... very
important when there are delicate details (face, hair, etc.)
- subsequent colours will be smoother and less likely to be mottled
But the downside is that you lose quite a bit of the 'body' of the
paper, and it becomes difficult to get good saturation sometimes. And
the final print can have a 'thinness' that is not so pleasing ...
The best solution really, is to climb in your time machine and fetch a
batch of paper from Meiji. (Bring me a stack while you're at it!)
Dave
> blocks even after drying and then rewetting the paper
This would imply that you are printing the colours with paper that is
somewhat on the 'soggy' side (especially as you mention later in your
post that you were picking up lots of blotches from touching in
unwanted areas, something made worse when overly damp paper 'sags').
And - as you mention - perhaps your sumi doesn't have enough binder to
fix it into the paper. Some gum arabic, or nikawa (glue) would perhaps
help.
> I'd carve out the offending area--reprint on proof paper--perfect
> impression; good paper--spotting. Would printing damp against
> a smooth board (a blind impression) to smooth the surface of
> the heavy paper help? How much pressure to use? Do I need
> to dampen the board?
Paper in the old days - I mean long before I was born - had a much
smoother surface, and blocks could be carved much shallower. If you get
a chance to see a keyblock from Meiji you would not believe that such
an object could be printed without blotching. So yes, having the
surface of your washi smoothed somewhat can help a great deal, and this
is something I do with a lot of my prints. I print against a clean flat
block, using just water and paste (as little as can be spread out on
the block). Doing this before printing the key block will give a few
results:
- you can print the key block with much less pressure ... very
important when there are delicate details (face, hair, etc.)
- subsequent colours will be smoother and less likely to be mottled
But the downside is that you lose quite a bit of the 'body' of the
paper, and it becomes difficult to get good saturation sometimes. And
the final print can have a 'thinness' that is not so pleasing ...
The best solution really, is to climb in your time machine and fetch a
batch of paper from Meiji. (Bring me a stack while you're at it!)
Dave
Digest Appendix
Postings made on [Baren] members' blogs
over the past 24 hours ...
Subject: Paleo-Horse Fly -- Possible Colorways
Posted by: Ellen Shipley
I can displace all day. ;-j Trying out a couple of colorways in colored pencil. The blue-green is more eye-popping.  But I'm leaning toward this orangey-purple colorway.  |
This item is taken from the blog pressing-issues.
'Reply' to Baren about this item.
Subject: What's all this stuff?
Posted by: Mark Mason
|
Regular visitors to my blog may have noticed a few Amazon gadgets appearing. I hope you don't mind. I've decided to add these to help all the people who email me to ask about what animation or woodblock printing reference books I would recommend. At the top of the page are a range of really good and easily available books on woodblocks, and at the botton of the page is a slideshow of animation books, DVDs and CDs which I'd recommend to anyone wanting to learn how to animate. These are all items which I own personally and feel should be a part of any animator's or woodblock printmaker's library. There are also more obscure, and out of print books which I would also recommend, but the ones I've highlighted are a great start. I'll be updating my choices as new books appear, so keep checking in.  |
This item is taken from the blog Curiously Drawn.
'Reply' to Baren about this item.
Subject: Ribble Valley Art Open Exhibition Update
Posted by: Mark Mason
|
Just a quick one. The framed copy of my 'Ribble Valley Winter View' sold on the opening day of the exhibition! I'm very pleased, and I hope the purchaser will be too. I'm selling unframed copies of the print in the Gallery/Museum shop.  |
This item is taken from the blog Curiously Drawn.
'Reply' to Baren about this item.
Subject: Grace Prints - Proofing
Posted by: Mark Mason
 I've just completed a day of proofing on my next set of prints, prior to final printing.  The images here are of all the blocks printed together to check registration, but I've also printed proofs of all the colours separately to make sure there are no stray areas of block which are catching the paper and leaving ink marks. So it's been a case of print a little, then knives out and clear a little.  Because the images are very clear and open (even simple, in a way) I've had to do more proofing than I've done on other prints. A mistake on such an airy image would really stand out, and I want to keep rejected prints to an absolute minimum, so proofing is time well spent.  I'm only using 2 colours and black for all these prints. The 2 tones of Ultramarine and Cadmium Red are being mixed directly on the blocks prior to each print. The lighter tones use much less pigment, but it's coming from exactly the same paint bowl as the darker tone. On previous prints I would have pre-mixed 2 shades of each colour in my paint bowls for each block.  The reason for this change in technique is thanks to David Bull's new eBook on woodblock printing, 'My First Print'. Don't be mislead by the title though. Even if you're long since passed your first print, there is a wealth of information on woodblock printing techniques for printmakers of all levels, and especially those who, like me, have learnt all they know so far only from books and the internet. Dave's eBook contains video demonstrations and audio files, as well . . . [Long item has been trimmed at this point. The full blog entry can be viewed here] |
This item is taken from the blog Curiously Drawn.
'Reply' to Baren about this item.