Today's postings

  1. [Baren 42339] small tools and broken knives; and a small anniversary too. (Andrew Stone)
  2. [Baren 42340] Re: small tools and broken knives; and a small anniversary too. (David Bull)
  3. [Baren 42341] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
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Message 1
From: Andrew Stone
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2010 20:58:03 GMT
Subject: [Baren 42339] small tools and broken knives; and a small anniversary too.
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Well, I can attest to Dave's assertion re: the fragility of small tohs. I bought (although from McClains) a 2mm Toh to use in tight spots thinking a smaller blade would be easier to control and managed to break it in about two minutes cleanly across where the blade met the ferule.

However, I must admit I was trying to cut small curves and was putting too much pressure on the blade carving the inside circle.

I also knew it was the carver (ME) and not the tool that was defective. I must say that the real advantage seemed to be the relative thinness of the blade which allows it to enter narrower spaces but make it more fragile. I don't have the courage to pull out my rough stone and change the angle/shape of my toh every time I change projects so I ended up using an #11blade scalpel to carve the (for me) tiny letters on my last print but carved very shallowly and the flexibility of this blade allowed me to carve them without breaking it.

I still have trouble with very thin lines with the relatively thick blade of my 4mm toh pushing over the thin strip of wood--when I cut the second side.

But fortunately, my eyes are going faster than my skill at carving is improving so I'll probably be working looser anyway.

On a more personal note; with "Toggle Bolt" I have completed my 20th woodblock print. I started with an April Vollmer workshop in Santa Cruz in I think 2006 or 2007. Not really an anniversary but a spot where I had told myself I hoped I would have an idea of what I was doing. Time to think a bit about what comes next and how to move forward in both content and technique--maybe to stop dabbling and commit to some kind of direction--even though I still have 3-4 prints in the doodle stage that I've been waiting for my skills to be up to.

The only useful advice I can give to other beginners is don't sweat the carving. It's the printing that will take a lifetime to learn.

Andrew Stone
rospobio.blogspot.com


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Message 2
From: David Bull
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2010 23:13:19 GMT
Subject: [Baren 42340] Re: small tools and broken knives; and a small anniversary too.
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Andrew wrote:
> I don't have the courage to pull out my rough stone and change the
> angle/shape of my toh every time I change projects

The 'efficient' way to do that is of course just to keep a few of them
on hand, sharpened to different angles. It's just too much of a waste
of steel to change it back and forth often.

> I still have trouble with very thin lines with the relatively thick
> blade of my 4mm toh pushing over the thin strip of wood--when I cut
> the second side.

You have to file it thinner - I mean the 'top' of the blade ... the
part that is not sharpened. This is impossible to describe in words,
but here is a knife to illustrate:
http://woodblock.com/encyclopedia/entries/014_06/014_06.html

(For those who have seen the recent NHK program, _this_ is the actual
knife that I held in the final scene ...)
http://woodblock.com/roundtable/archives/2010/10/nhk_program_better_quality.html

> The only useful advice I can give to other beginners is don't sweat
> the carving. It's the printing that will take a lifetime to learn.

I'll agree with you, but also disagree with you. For those just
starting out, _absolutely_ the printing is what to work on, and to get
advice and instruction about. Without some sense of the fundamentals
of how to get pigment onto paper, everything comes out awful, and any
carving efforts would be 'wasted'.

But in the long run, I think it kind of switches over (at least in the
kind of work I do ...), the carving is just getting more and more
difficult. (And I don't mean just because of my eyes going downhill;
I'm talking about how to cut lines that 'sing' properly ...)

> ... maybe to stop dabbling and commit to some kind of direction

Sounds promising!

Dave

Digest Appendix

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

Subject: A Visit to Mokuhankan - Part Four
Posted by: Dave Bull

This thread about Mokuhankan is continued from Part Three, and began here.

Dave: We're now in the building next door actually. A couple of years ago we finally got the resources to go ahead with this project, and were lucky that at about the same time, the space next door became available. It also has its own separate entrance from the street, as you probably noticed when you arrived here this morning.

Dave and his guest are now in the entrance lobby of the Mokuhankan Gallery/Museum. For the benefit of English-language readers, a few words about the name Mokuhankan might be in order.

Han (plank, block) can be combined with Ga (picture, image) to form the compound Hanga, meaning 'print'. When prefaced with the character for 'wood', which can be pronounced Moku, we get Moku Hanga (woodblock print, woodblock printing).

The character Kan, which has its roots in describing castle buildings, means 'hall' by itself, but is usually seen in such combinations as Toshokan (Hall of Books ... or Library), and Bijutsukan (Hall of Arts ... or Art Museum). So our creation of the new combination Mokuhankan implies that this building is 'the' place for woodblock prints. As it indeed is!

Dave goes up to the counter, speaks to the woman there for a moment, and is given a ticket and a pamphlet, which he passes to the guest.

Dave: Here's your entrance ticket and a kind of 'guide' pamphlet. On the house! (grins ...)

Guest: Thank you!

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


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