[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking.

Baren Digest              Friday, 5 December 1997      Volume 01 : Number 007

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 08:56:38 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Baren 33] Re: Glues

To Dave Bull and the rest.

You will see in a note to Daniel that I mention not having see the e-mail from Matt.
Well by golly this is the same situation.  I dont recall seeing anything about glues and 
paste.  Is this the first time the info has appeared on the Baren?

Be that as it may.  This is a most interesting feedback and the glue/paste,
is a topic I have often wondered about. Thank you for posting it.

>>I have an appointment to visit one of the older
     printers this coming Saturday afternoon. <<

It must be wonderful to be able to visit with a person like this.  I hope
that they have confidence and are not a scared of competion and therefore
will not tell you very much.  As you have said there are fewer and fewer
doing this and I sense there could be a great loss of information it the
old masters or who ever don't pass on their knowledge.

I have used a formula for making rice paste which I have not been happy
with.  I use 50% Rice Flour and 50% Wheat Flour. About a tablespoon of
each.  I mix this into a very thick paste, other wise not to much water. I
then pour boiling water into this and it turns it into a translucent paste.
I have also mix a thin paste and cooking it in the Microwave.  The part I
am not satisfied with, is the paste takes on a miniature tapioca pudding
appearance.  I recall doing this when I was in art school (45 years
ago...holy cow) and the stuff was smooth smooth smooth. Is it the present
day flours that cause the problem?   I have used it but not confident that
the tiny granular result are OK for the printing.
Can anybody add to this?

TTFN

Graham


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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 09:01:13 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Baren 34] Re:  The Baren

Good Morning out there in print land.

I have truely enjoyed the info that filter through this server.
Again I say to Dave Bull thanks a bucket full.

There is one thought that I have.  I have not got some of the names associated 
with a handle, like a URL.  For instance Daniel...do you have a site?

I have kept all of the e-mails and the one listed below I have to think I
didn't get.  Could not find a copy nor do I remember reading it. Mind you
having said that and knowing my memory I could be fantasizing. Be that as
it may.

To Matt.... I can give you the name of a person in Vancouver.  I would like
to check with Noboru Sawai first before doing this.  In terms of the skins
wearing out I would like to suggest that your skin cover will last much
longer if you after each burnishing twist the skin on the Baren very
slightly.  In this way you are not allowing the braided coil of the baren
to wear on the same spot of the bamboo cover. Also make sure you smear the
smallest amount of oil (I use 2&1 oil) on the skin from time to time.  You
will be able to tell as it will feel heavy with no oil. If you are hesitant
about using oil then rub the baren across you hair...if you have any....
and the oils from the scalp wiill suffice.

In regards to the tieing of them. Well it is awkward but do-able. I suggest
you use some other material to get the swing of it. We tie so few that one
never gets into the swing of it.  I have used other kinds of barens then
bit the bullet and purchased a real one....$500.00 Nothing compared.  (When
you hold this up at demos or for friends and tell them the price most have
look of disbelief and others have that  ...  boy did you get taken look).
One guy said "boy its no wonder your a poor starving artist".  I have not
tried the teflon jobs, but then I probably never will because my ancestry
won't allow it. Gotta get my monies worth out of the real one.

You mention hand rubbing.  That must be more difficult than tieing on a
bamboo skin.  How many colours do you press and what size.
And no you are not kicked off the list.

Cheers

Graham
http://www.islandnet.com/~gscholes/


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From: John Amoss <amoss@mindspring.com>
Date: Thu, 04 Dec 1997 14:29:23 +0300
Subject: [Baren 35] hello to all

hello all-
i just wanted to say hello and that i have been enjoying reading all of
the letters posted. since i am probably the least experienced of the
lot, i feel a little voyeuristic about taking it all in without giving.
to prove that i am not just "playing possum", i have a request.: could
each of you  share a little background information about yourself and
what how you found yourself dedicated to the art form? as for me, i am a
full-time illustrator for the last 10 years and have been drawn (pardon
pun) to the art since i picked up a book about yoshida hiroshi. i have a
modest woodblock print collection which inspires me between changing
diapers and doing illustrations for the mass public. i have attempted
making several woodblock prints in the past, but have never achieved
satisfactory results (mainly from my own haste). i have since ordered
(but not received) the "japanese woodblock workshop" video from bill
ritchie of seattle <http://www.artsport.com> which has been recommended
to me- i am looking forward to seeing live artists at work, rather than
reading from the meager textbooks found in this neck of the woods.
anyway, you may check out some art of mine:
<http://www.mindspring.com/~amoss/pages/outside.html>. no woodblocks
posted as of yet, but soon i hope. thanks again for your information and
i hope to contribute to the discussions constructively some day.
- -john
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JOHN AMOSS ILLUSTRATION
1177 Willivee Dr. Decatur,GA 30033-4122
ph:(404)636-0275 fax:(404)633-2628
e-mail: amoss@mindspring.com
online: http://www.mindspring.com/~amoss
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 21:41:27 -0800
Subject: [Baren 36] Re: hello to all

To John Amoss
By the time you read this it will be Good Morning,

To give you a little handle on me I have included an attachment that is a
light look at my bio.  To view drag or paste the document into Netscape and
presto.  Let me know if you have any trouble.   My URL is:
http://www.islandnet.com/~gscholes/

I had a look at you site and do like the work you are doing.  After reading
here that you were an illustrator I though that what I would see would be
fine brush detail of a photographic nature.  A wonderful surprise.  Loved
the lino of the standing nude.
The watercolour of the two light sources is delightful. I do a lot of
figure drawing and am most anxious to get finished with the lighthouse
series and move on to figurative work.

Welcome aboard


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From: Oilcolors <Oilcolors@aol.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 01:53:55 EST
Subject: [Baren 37] Glue hide, gum, etc.

Hello All:

I've been meaning to check the PH on a liquid hide glue such as LaPage... I'm
tempted to shell out the twenty dollars for a can to try it as my illusive
waterbased intaglio ink and it is the recommended resist for washout
silkscreen stencils but a hesitate because it is becoming so rare in may not
be available much longer.

My concern about PH derives from the following:  The gelling agent in animal
glues is gluten and the adhesive agent is chondrin... To render a hide glue
liquid at room temperature the gluten must be decomposed with salt or acid,
industrial glues typically use the latter and it is unclear to me if it is
then neutralized and if so with what.  That your *liquid* glue is gelled is
probably a good sign archievaly.

Fish glue and the vegetable gums such as gum Arabic or the algee glue sold as
childrens' mucilage are liquid at room temperature meaning they can be used
pure but are slightly more prone to failure from humidity than the hide glues
which will stay gelled  and in place even when rewet at room temperature.
Because they do not gel they are also slightly more brittle when dry unless a
small measure of a hydroscopic agent such as honey of glycerin is added to
them.

I believe that wheat flour really requires some few minutes of simmering to
fully decompose the proteins isolating the gluten from the water with which
you want to put it in solution.  A stickier glue is the maltodextrose found in
artificial sweeteners... A cup of SugarTwin can be dissolved in a couple of
tablespoons of cold water.  Initially the mixture will efforvess as the water
reacts with the sodium saccharine flavoring but it is an interesting glue as
it can be used at a wide range of dilutions. It is the vehicle in so-called
designer paints.

Hope this is in-topic enough.

Truly,
Daniel

I'm not feeling too proud of my website right now but since the *new guy*
asked, its <http://members.aol.com/oilcolors/>  I wanted it to be an exchange
on materials and techniques but the communication has been kind of one way
leaving me in the uncomfortable role of resident expert.  I do get nice e-mail
from all over the world though.

Re: my palm of the hand printing... usually no more than four blocks and those
under a foot square.  I am primarily a painter/drawer but try to offer as much
printmaking in the Adult Ed. Program I run even though the Museum I work for
has the most modest facilities available for my program.

My favorite printmaker right now is a good friend who does beautiful single
block images by cutting construction two-by-fours.  She has sold more inked
blocks than prints at this point.  There is something raw and beautiful about
these two-by-fours by the time she has finished printing from them.  I also
love the constraint given by the dimensions of the *block*.

Regards again,
Daniel

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From: David Bull <davebull@asahi-net.email.ne.jp>
Date: Fri, 05 Dec 1997 17:05:56 +0900
Subject: [Baren 38] Japanese Lessons ...

A while back Bill Mixon gave us a short list of Japanese words related
to papermaking ...Can I offer something today?

Both here in these posts, and over in some of your home pages, I've come
across the expression 'hanga prints'.  Without wanting to be too
pedantic about this, the word 'hanga' IS the Japanese word for print,
and the expression thus sort of sounds a bit silly.  There's a
progression to the way that these words are absorbed by English.  Maybe
many years ago one would see the phrase 'kimono dresses', but over the
years, as the concept of kimono became more familiar, the 'dresses'
could be dropped.

So here is a little dictionary.  I'd like to also include the characters
for these, but in text-based e-mail that's not possible ...

'han' (as in 'plate' / 'printing plate') + 'ga' (as in picture) = 'hanga' (print)

If you add to the front
'moku' (as in 'tree' or 'wood') you get 'moku hanga' (woodblock print)

Or you could add to the back
'ka' (as in 'house' or 'family') to get 'hanga ka' (printmaker)

You can add both
'moku hangaka' = woodblock printmaker

There are classifications in the world of hanga:
'dento' = tradition
'dento hanga' = traditional printmaking (division of labour type,
with designers, carvers, and printers being separate people)

'sosaku' = creative (made up of two characters: 'create' and 'make')
'sosaku hanga' = creative printmaking (the type where one person does
the whole thing, from conception to finished product)

Some of these involve interesting nuances - 'hanga ka' for example.  Why
should the character for 'family' be added to a word to indicate a
person who makes that particular thing?  I presume it's because of the
history.  In older societies (in Europe too, not only here in Japan) the
work units must have been families or groups, rather than individuals.
The people in that 'house' over there made woodblock prints - the family
thus became 'hanga ka'.  The usage has continued today, even though it's
now generally individuals involved.  Is there a similar word usage in
any European language?

End of Lesson.  Class dismissed!

Dave Bull

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End of Baren Digest V1 #7
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