Today's postings

  1. [Baren 45043] Year of the Dragon signup (Carole Baker)
  2. [Baren 45044] Sizing Question (Pauline Halper)
  3. [Baren 45045] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
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Message 1
From: Carole Baker
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:14:33 GMT
Subject: [Baren 45043] Year of the Dragon signup
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Lynn, The sign up page for the year of the dragon closed last week,
as announced on the forum. I thought I had added a line on the
participant page that it is closed, but see now that I didn't. I can
add your name. If anyone objects, let me know.

I put my dragons in the mail yesterday. My neightbor Aimee Youmans
sent some tigers and oxen in the same envelope to save some on postage.

Carole Baker
bogorchid@gmail.com



>
> From: Lynn Starun
> Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:04:52 GMT
> Subject: [Baren 45041] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V58 #5878 (Jan
> 22, 2012)
>
> Hi Group!
> I wanted to sign up for the Year of the Dragon print. (receiving
> some wonderful new tigers and rabbits recently reminded me!) When
> I went to the Chinese New Year page for Dragon it says to enter your
> information but I can't find a place to do that. Is there a trick
> I don't know? I know I've done it easily before so maybe it's no
> longer open?
> Lynn Starun
>
>
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Message 2
From: Pauline Halper
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:56:49 GMT
Subject: [Baren 45044] Sizing Question
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To The Experienced Printer:

I am new to Japanese Woodblock printing and am writing to get advice on how
to size handmade paper. I have learned the hard way that often good
Japanese paper is not sized. I have been experimenting with externally
sizing my paper, but I'm sure there is a better method out there and I
would love to know it. My biggest concern is that the paper stays flat.
My last try I sized paper with a soft brush on cardboard and then
transferred it to blotters that I weighed and this seems to be good, but
many things I have tried before were not so good.
I would really appreciate any advice about what sizing is best and what
method is best.

Thank you!

Pauline

Digest Appendix

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

Subject: Another tool for the Plan B arsenal
Posted by: Sherrie Y

During the process of working a reduction block I frequently make "mistakes" that cause me to rethink my next steps for carving and printing. Most are small and they're either not critical or they're solvable through subsequent ink passes. Every once in a while, though, I make a mistake on the LAST pass... and that takes a bit more headscratching.

A few days ago I printed what I expected would be my second-to-last color on this autumn landscape linocut. I wanted a little more interest in the middle-ground dark trees than just a flat color, so I thought a few highlights would do the trick.

So far, so good.


But for some reason I just couldn't wrap my head around how to make the sort of marks I wanted for the highlights, so when I started printing the final color it just looked too spotty and busy. The marks were too similar to those in the background.


Okay, I thought. I'll just join some shapes together and vary them more and it will be fine. So I carved some more and printed again.

Ick.

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

This item is taken from the blog Brush and Baren.
'Reply' to Baren about this item.


Subject: City blocks from all corners of the globe!
Posted by: Maria

Kalle Pihlajasaari (whose name I can now spell without looking...much) from Parkview, SOUTH AFRICA, brings us this enchanting contribution.



And Melissa Read-Devine from Sackville, New South Wales, AUSTRALIA contributes this:

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

This item is taken from the blog MCPP Puzzle Prints.
'Reply' to Baren about this item.


Subject: Finding hope in no thank you
Posted by: Elizabeth Busey

I've been getting quite a few "no thank you's" in my e-mail inbox lately. From a prominent art fair in a nearby state to juried printmaking shows, the "no thanks" have been rolling in.  The writers are always appreciative of my entry, and encourage me to apply again. Quite honestly, my mouse hand is quick to find the delete button.

I sometimes wish it would enough for me to just create art, and not want to share it with others. After family and friends, the task of further sharing your art becomes more difficult and expensive, sometimes exciting, but always stressful.

I am not conceited nor naive enough to think that I should always have my work accepted.  I am fairly new at exhibiting, and my style of printmaking looks very different from other printmakers. But I do wonder, where is the hope in "no thank you"?

A fractured, icy lake in the Deam Wilderness.  Elizabeth Busey, digital photograph. 
For today, hope will be kindled in small ways. Fixing snacks for my hungry teens. Indulging in a bath before dinner. Tea by the wood stove while watching the latest . . .
[Long item has been trimmed at this point. The full blog entry can be viewed here]

This item is taken from the blog The World in Relief.
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Subject: Solo Exhibit in Lanesboro, MN



[This was a summary of the original entry. The full entry can be viewed here]

This item is taken from the blog Lori Biwer-Stewart's Printmaking Journal.
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