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

Baren Digest              Wednesday, 4 March 1998      Volume 02 : Number 085

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From: julio.rodriguez@walgreens.com
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 12:07:38 -0600
Subject: [Baren 451] Re: Baren skins 

I experimented a while back using a home-made baren. The inner coil were made 
out of fine 1/4" & 3/8" hemp rope (4-8 plys) neatly tied together in the 
traditional spiral form. I then used one of those sand-filled pads they sell at 
the toy stores....kids/you press on them to give them different shapes....that 
was used for the flexible backing. I used for a skin the outer leafs from an 
ear of corn ( don't laugh !).  I had written to Gary about this a while back 
and he nicknamed it the "TAMALE" baren. It was a somewhat functional baren. 
Unfortunately the leafs I used (out-of-season for corn) were not very big in 
size and it somewhat limited the size of the baren (about 3.5 - 4 inches). The 
skin did a fine job in printing some small blocks I had.....but it did not keep 
for long. I think leather and other materials found around the house are 
excellent alternatives. 

Julio

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From: Matthew.W.Brown@VALLEY.NET (Matthew W Brown)
Date: 03 Mar 98 17:46:17 EST
Subject: [Baren 452] Sealing the endgrain 

Baren,
	to Graham: sealing the endgrain does not prevent wood from breathing,
it only shuts off the tendency for wood to release and pick up moisture at
unequal rates (moisture passes out the endgrain much faster than across the
grain). This is the reason valuable timber is usually painted on the end of the
log (with stuff that is basically wax) before sawing: this reduces greatly the
amount of checking,etc. that arises during drying while lumber is stickered.
Even 2x4's (kiln-dried) often come with their ends sealed to inhibit warping.

Matt

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From: Phil Bivins <pbivins@ac.net>
Date: Tue, 03 Mar 1998 18:51:03 -0500
Subject: [Baren 453] Re: Sealing the endgrain 

Matt, just a quick note to let you know I received the paper samples. Thank you.
They are truly wonderful. Where did you purchase the paper made by Mr. Iwano? I am
having one of the handmade barens by Goruku-san (I think thats how his name is
spelled) made. Dave has a story about him on the encyclopedia. Thank goodness I'm
getting a tax refund otherwise I could not afford it. Again thanks. Later, Phil.

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 23:11:17 -0800
Subject: [Baren 454] Re: Wood storage ... 

Dave's Quiz,
>B . A . R . E . N .... spells?

Graham's answer.....Teddy Bears?

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From: David Bull <davebull@asahi-net.email.ne.jp>
Date: Wed, 04 Mar 1998 19:28:59 +0900
Subject: [Baren 455] Re:  Baren skins 

Gary wrote:
> ... has anyone ever tried covering one with leather and
> seeing how that works?  

and Julio added:
> I think leather and other materials found around the house 
> are excellent alternatives. 

I admire your improvisatory abilities, and I'm sure that something like
this could be made to work, but  ...  (is there _always_ a 'but')  ...
you're going to have a problem with the thickness of the leather I
think.

I get my bamboo skins sent over from Kaneko-san in batches of a hundred
or so at a time.  Unlike most 'real' printers here, who order these
skins very frequently, I only order once a year or so.  (The other guys
are full-time printers - I'm also a carver ...)   From this batch of
100, around half of the skins will end up being rejected, either because
they have split too much, have bad patches in the wrong place, or ....
because they are just too thick.

I don't have a micrometer available to measure some samples, but anyway
there are thin ones and there are thick ones.  Thin ones are better. 
The skin does wear out a bit sooner, but this is more than compensated
for by the far better 'feel' to a baren made with a thin skin.  If there
weren't so many ladies now on this mailing list, I could perhaps draw a
comparison with something else ...

And as for using one made from leather ...

Enough of that!

*****

As a partial answer to the question of baren alternatives, I just sent
up an addition to the Encyclopedia about this.

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~xs3d-bull/baren/encyclopedia/updates.html

Dave

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End of Baren Digest V2 #85
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