[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking. Baren Digest Sunday, 1 March 1998 Volume 02 : Number 082 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Matthew.W.Brown@VALLEY.NET (Matthew W Brown) Date: 28 Feb 98 12:40:54 EST Subject: [Baren 442] Video Baren, It was a good point Dave made about carving and holding the knife. It was a sloppy post on my part, to speak of carving always away from oneself. . . perhaps with the gouge, but the knife, how to use it except more or less towards oneself? Just don't cut into your hand! Am sending the video off on tour next week. First to D.R. McCarroll, then to Gary, then to Ray. If anyone else wants to see it (and we all have enjoyed it a great deal even though we didn't understand any of the Japanese) they should get in touch with me soon or either of these fellows over the coming weeks. Perhaps it can end up by going back to Dave. A note on hanshitas: printing the kento is not the only way. When you think about it, a printed sheet holds the information of the kento inherent in the edge of the paper. Kento on subsequent blocks can be carved simply by following the edge of the pasted paper with the knife (assuming the sheet has been pasted allowing a little room on the block). Matt ------------------------------ From: Phil Bivins Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 15:14:13 -0500 Subject: [Baren 443] Re: Video Matt, I was wondering if you received my request for a viewing of the video? If not, I would like this opportunity. My address is: Phil Bivins POB 2106 Southern Pines, NC 28388 ph: 910 692 4184 Thanks, Phil ------------------------------ From: amoss@mindspring.com (John Amoss) Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 20:04:50 +0300 Subject: [Baren 444] video southbound? To whomever is the last link in the video chain: I too am most interested in seeing Dave at work. I would of course be happy to pay for the shipping back to Japan if I am last in line. Hello to all, - -john ------------------------------ From: David Bull Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 20:47:23 +0900 Subject: [Baren 445] Wood storage ... Back from a most enjoyable few days of walking/climbing in the Izu mountains. Some of you may have read about the place we walked - it's that route down the centre of the Izu peninsula that was made famous by Kawabata Yasunari in his story about the Izu Dancer. It's been a bit chopped up by a modern highway, but there are still plenty of places where the old path winds its way along past old farmhouses and rugged waterfalls. And just to add the required 'woodblock' content to this message, this is the area from which most of the cherry wood used in the Edo period for woodblock printmaking was cut ... ***** Those of you who have been wondering about the 'face behind the postings' from Mr. Esposito can now find out how well your imagination matches reality. Ray sent me a few photos of his workspace, and I've just put them up on his 'Newbie Journal' pages in the Encyclopedia. ***** I noticed in a couple of the photographs that he is storing his unused woodblocks lying flat on the floor, and this is something that I'd like to get some feedback on. I have a lot (and I mean a _lot_) of woodblocks around here, and I'm somewhat concerned about the best way in which to store them. For new blocks: Shimano-san the block planer tells me that the blocks he sends me should be stored lying flat on a shelf in a closed cupboard, and I've seen 'blank' blocks stored this way in a couple of publisher's places. One publisher (Adachi) has them stored lying flat on shelves in the entranceway (in an old and very unheated building). My own experience has been that if I leave blocks lying flat, they almost always tend to start warping up at the sides into a shallow bowl shape. I believe that this is because the top surface is able to lose moisture freely, but the bottom surface cannot. The inevitable result is warped blocks. (This was happening to me all the time, until I finally figured out what was going on and started to leave the blocks standing leaning up against the wall when I wasn't working on them during the weeks of carving.) I have had best results by standing unused blocks up on end in a place that does not encounter rapid variations in temperature or moisture - in a closet. But 'best' in this case is still pretty bad. A lot of them warp badly before I can get started on them, and have to be discarded. And at about 12,000 a pop, that's a problem I'd like to solve ... For carved blocks: Adachi keeps their blocks tied together in a bundle with plastic string/tape, and stores them standing on edge in flimsy aluminum sheds in the backyard. Completely unheated or climate controlled ... I keep mine tied in a similar way, but stand them up on end in a large closet in my workroom. This is also completely unheated or controlled - other than by whatever body heat/moisture I generate. I have on occasion pulled out some blocks from ten years ago for re-printing and have found some degree of expansion/warping, but nothing wild or unable to be regulated with a bit of hot water and some rags. What have the rest of you found to be the best way of storing blocks ... both unused and carved? Dave ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V2 #82 **************************