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

Baren Digest               Thursday, 5 March 1998       Volume 02 : Number 086

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Wed, 4 Mar 1998 17:27:54 -0800
Subject: [Baren 456] Re: Wood storage ... 

Hi Dave

I use both sides of the blocks as well.
 Do you cut your plates so that the colour to print next is never on the
back side of the plate you have to use first.
Plate #1 would not have Plate #2 on the back.  I always arrange the carving
so that Plate #1 would have colour 4 or 5  or 6 or what ever but never
colour #2. on it. In this way I can dry  plate#1 before having to turn it
over and print.   I dry my plates beside my woodstove at this time of year
and in the sun for about an hour in the summer.   Works like a whistle.

Regards

Graham

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From: David Bull <davebull@asahi-net.email.ne.jp>
Date: Thu, 05 Mar 1998 11:52:06 +0900
Subject: [Baren 457] Re: Wood storage ... 

Graham Scholes wrote:
> I use both sides of the blocks as well.
>  Do you cut your plates so that the colour to print next is never on the
> back side of the plate you have to use first  ...

This has never been something I've had to consider, for a couple of
reasons.  Unlike your lighthouse prints, which have lots of gentle
overlays of colour, mine are really quite simple in structure, almost
like those 'paint by numbers' things we did as kids.  I have black
outlines, and these get filled in one by one with colour, and only
sometimes do I use overlaid areas.  The order of printing is thus quite
flexible - 'A' can come before 'B', or 'A' can come after 'B', it really
doesn't make much difference.

So I don't spend any time thinking about printing order when I'm laying
out the colour blocks.  What I _do_ spend time with, is thinking about
how to get the colour blocks done using as little wood as possible
(\\\\\\\\\).  I try and fit in multiple areas on each side of the wood. 
This makes is a bit more difficult to print sometimes, but as I am my
own printer ...


> I dry my plates beside my woodstove at this time of year
> and in the sun for about an hour in the summer.  

Impossible for me.  Are you talking about plywood blocks here?  The
cherry I use would bend up and fold itself in half if I put it near a
stove like this.  It would split and crack and that would be the end of
_that_ set of blocks.

These carved blocks of mine are an incredible investment.  The series
has taken ten years to carve, and the blocks have only been used to pull
just over 100 copies of each print - just a warm-up for this hard wood. 
They're worth an absolute fortune now, and I've already had an offer
from one print publisher who wanted to buy them from me.  (To put this
in perspective, if that publisher wanted to hire Ito-san the carver to
make one of these prints, he would have to pay him a fee of somewhere
around 300,000 yen, plus another 30,000 for the wood.  That's 330,000 -
or just about $2,500 (US).  Multiply that by 100 prints in the series
...)

So when I ask questions about how best to take care of carved
woodblocks, I'm serious!

Dave


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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Wed, 4 Mar 1998 23:11:52 -0800
Subject: [Baren 458] Re: Wood storage ... 

Dave wrote.
>The order of printing is thus quite
>flexible - 'A' can come before 'B', or 'A' can come after 'B', it really
>doesn't make much difference.

Ah ah, I never thought about that.  Thats good.

>I try and fit in multiple areas on each side of the wood.

Some times I get upt to 3 colour areas on one side of a block.
My problems is not wood or cost but space to store them. I have been
getting into10 blocks recently.
I try to keep in the 6 to 8 block range if I possible can.

>Impossible for me.  Are you talking about plywood blocks here?

No it is solid Basswood and most are 7/8" to 1 1/8 thick.  Good solid stuff.
I have no problem with the drying method.  I am very careful not to put it
to close and always on the floor where there is not severe heat.

>These carved blocks of mine are an incredible investment.
> pay him a fee of somewhere around 300,000 yen, plus another
>30,000 for the wood.  That's 330,000 - or just about $2,500 (US).
>Multiply that by 100 prints in the series

In real money here that is $3500.00.

I can understand your concern about preservation of the plates. I am only
concerned about them yeilding 75 copies which is not a big deal.
Mind you I don't think that Basswood will stand up to much more than 100
odd prints.  The fine lines breakdown with use.

I am going to work with another woods that is quite hard and see if it will
carve and print. Alder and Dogwood.

Graham

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End of Baren Digest V2 #86
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