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

Baren Digest                Saturday, 2 May 1998        Volume 03 : Number 143

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From: David Bull <davebull@woodblock.com>
Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 22:09:47 +0900
Subject: [Baren 691] major update 

I just finished uploading a major update to the Encyclopedia.  It's the
entire text and illustrations of a book on woodblock printmaking
published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1894.

***

Topics covered:

Japanese traditional materials and methods: 
- - Carving tools 
- - Printing tools 
- - Pigments 
- - Papers 
- - Printmaking process 
- - Historical data on costs, etc. 
Comparison of Japanese and European methods 

Target audience: 

Anybody with an interest in Japanese woodblock
printmaking - either the technical, or more general
aspects. 


This is a fabulous 'snapshot' of the state of Japanese
woodblock printmaking at the end of the 19th century.
The Japanese government of the day made a gift to the
U.S. National Museum of a complete set of printmaking
equipment, including carving and printing tools,
pigments, blocks, paper samples - everything involved
in the process of making prints. In addition to the
materials themselves, illustrated written descriptions of
many aspects of the craft were included, and this
pamphlet is a detailed summary of those descriptions.

The museum editor who prepared the material for
publication seems to have gone to great care to ensure
accuracy of the facts and figures involved, being
involved in a great deal of correspondence with Mr.
Tokuno, his contact in Japan.

This long out-of-print pamphlet is a mine of information
to anyone with an interest in the Japanese traditional
printmaking methods.

***

There are a lot of illustrations (clickable to pop up enlargements), so
it might be a bit of a lengthy download.  

Out of print for nearly a century ... and now available to anyone in the
world who wants to read it ...   Isn't this 'net neat!

Dave

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From: Ray Esposito <brassring@brassring.org>
Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 10:02:42 -0400
Subject: [Baren 692] Re: major update 

Dave wrote:
>I just finished uploading a major update to the Encyclopedia. ...

I know all members join me in thanking you for this effort.  It was a major
undertaking and your dedication to this art form is deeply appreciated.

Cheers

Ray Esposito

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From: amoss@mindspring.com (John Amoss)
Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 11:03:01 +0300
Subject: [Baren 693] block "trusses" 

Hey y'all-

I have recently found that the solid planks of cherry I have been working
on warp slightly after having been dunked in water. I have tried leaving
them on their sides- as earlier suggested, but still seem to get a little
deformities. My father-in-law gave me the cherry or else I'd probably use
shina plywood.

I subsequently noticed from several pictures of old blocks that they have a
cross-grain "truss?" attached to the top/bottom. I am assuming that these
help keep the block flat. Can anyone tell me ( I haven't been able to find
it in the Enclyclopedia) how one attaches such animals? but first of all,
is it worth it?

To Dave-
The new Smithsonian addition is wonderful! I'm also happy to read that your
exhibit was such a success.
An aside: You were recently looking for the saint of woodblock artists- may
we nominate you?

Thanks again!
- -john

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From: Phil Bivins <pbivins@mindspring.com>
Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 14:37:03 -0400
Subject: [Baren 694] Re: block "trusses" 

Dave, thank you for the recent addition to the Encyclopedia. Also what a
wonderful gift from the people of Japan to this country. It would appear
that we have come full circle. Just think of the relationship these two
countries have gone through  with each other over the past 100 years.
Later, 

Phil 

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 12:06:59 -0700
Subject: [Baren 695] Re: block "trusses" 

John wrote,
>I subsequently noticed from several pictures of old blocks that they have a
>cross-grain "truss?" attached to the top/bottom. I am assuming that these
>help keep the block flat. Can anyone tell me ( I haven't been able to find
>it in the Enclyclopedia) how one attaches such animals? but first of all,
>is it worth it?

Yes it is and it will keep the block from warping.
It requires getting a piece of wood same thickness as your block.
You tongue and grove these so the "truss" fits on the end grain snuggly. It
is important that you only attach the truss in the centre and not at each
end. A wood screw is fine.
This is IMPORTANT so that as the block picks up moisture and/or dries it
will allow it to expand and contract and therefore IT WILL NOT SPLIT the
carved plate.

Hope this explanation is understandable.  If not I could draw you a picture
and forward it to you.  I use a Mac ...do you?

Graham

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From: David Bull <davebull@woodblock.com>
Date: Sat, 02 May 1998 08:12:54 +0900
Subject: [Baren 696] Re: block "trusses" 

John wrote:
> I subsequently noticed from several pictures of old blocks that they have a
> cross-grain "truss?" attached to the top/bottom. ... etc.
 
In Japanese, these are called 'hashibame', and many people are of two
minds as to whether to use them or not.

In the old days, it was common for blocks to be replaned after they were
no longer needed for printing, and the resulting 'new' blocks were so
thin that they warped very quickly.  These strips were absolutely
necessary in such cases.

That's not common nowadays.  There are so few blocks being carved now
that supply of wood is not a problem, and there is not much block
'recycling' going on anymore.  But some of the publishers order their
wood with these hashibame in place, as they do help stop warping.  (The
wood we get now hasn't been seasoned properly, and it is very 'active').

I don't use them, mostly because the way it's done these days is not
with a tongue-and-groove, as it should be, but with three nails - one in
the center, and one at each end.  This causes problems in two ways, the
block can't expand/contract, and the nails are also the start of splits.

Most people here don't care about these problems.  Why?  Simple - they
know that these blocks will only be used for a hundred or so copies, and
will then be tossed aside.  There is so little interest here in
traditional wood-block prints that the idea of pulling further editions
is inconceivable.  

So none of my boards here have the hashibame, and I _do_ get a lot of
warping.  This causes a lot of extra work at printing time, using hot
water and towels on the cupped side of the wood, to coax it back into
shape for printing the next colour ...


***


> The new Smithsonian addition is wonderful! 

Thanks for all the comments on this ...  Doing the images took a while,
but the text was a piece of cake.  There was a package from my daughter
in Canada waiting for me when I got back from a camping trip on Friday
afternoon, and in it was a new OCR program.  

I tried it out on the Tokuno book, and it worked so efficiently and so
quickly that I was able to upload the book the same evening.  It's
called 'TextBridge Pro' for Macs (from Xerox), and it converts the
scanned pages directly into HTML format for web use, including different
fonts, font sizes, tables, centering, etc..  I think this software is
going to come in _very_ handy in the months to come ...

Dave

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 21:01:52 -0700
Subject: [Baren 697] Re: block "trusses" 

Dave.

You continue to amaze me.  Now a full book for all to reference.  Nothing
short of magnificent. I can't fathom out how you manage to find the time
for the web, do your prints and go camping.
I have a little 16' boat with all the thingies for fishing and have taken
it out twice last year and the year before ... for fishing and twice to
collect reference material for my series. Like this month I was without
fail going to go halibit fishing.  20 minutes from here.  No Time.

I have passed the name of the OCR program onto a listserver for the
Victoria Mac Users Group.  The will find this must useful.  Hey so will I.

Thanks

Graham

OK, so what's the speed of dark?
Or David for that matter!

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From: David Bull <davebull@woodblock.com>
Date: Sat, 02 May 1998 16:04:35 +0900
Subject: [Baren 698] One-point lesson 

Here is this week's 'One-point' lesson ... contributed by David Bull

********** ********** **********

(#3) How deep to carve? ...

This is one of the most common questions posed by newcomers 
to printmaking, and there is a very easy answer - it depends!  
It depends ... on whether you will be printing with a baren, 
or a press ... on whether the paper will be wet, or dry ... and 
it depends on the size of the block, and the distances between the 
'raised' (uncut) areas of wood.

Blocks that will be printed in a press with rolled-on ink can 
obviously be cut very shallowly, as no ink will touch the carved-out 
areas to cause blotches, but if the printing is to be done with 
brushed-on pigment, which smears everywhere over the surface, the 
carving depth becomes very important.  

Here are some measurements from my most recent key block.  This is 
a fairly typical 'ukiyo-e' type print, with black outlines around 
many areas. (the print is illustrated at:
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~xs3d-bull/hyaku-nin-isshu/set10/print_10-3/10-3_large.jpg)

In an open space of 1cm in width, the carving goes down to 0.7mm
2cm ... 1.3mm
3cm ... 2.0 mm
5cm ... 3.6 mm
10cm ... 4.5 mm
At no spot on the block has the wood been carved any more than 5.0 mm 
deep.  

This is pretty shallow, and I have to add that ten years or so ago, 
I would not have been able to print from this block without creating 
many blotches on the paper.  But I've learned to control the baren 
well, and it is now rare that I have to do any 'wiping' of prints 
that have contacted the ink where they shouldn't have.

Why carve so shallowly?  It makes a _very_ big difference in the 
brushing.  If the vertical depth of the carved out areas is very 
large (more than 5mm or so), the hairs of the brush tend to get 
dragged across the relief lines at very sharp angles, and far too 
much paste and pigment is pulled from the hairs and deposited against 
the lines. It becomes quite difficult to avoid 'tamari', the 
blotchiness from paste building up on each line.  

For smooth clean printing, with even impression and no tamari, the 
block should be as flat as possible, with only a small difference in 
level between the top of the lines (the original wood surface), and 
the bottom of the carved hollows.  This means shallow carving.  It 
requires very good baren control, and a good 'image map' in your mind 
of just where the carved areas of the block are (you can't see once 
the paper is in place), but the results are worth it ...

'Go deep!'  OK in football ... not so good in printmaking ...

********** ********** **********

Next week, Matt Brown gets pasted ...

These 'One-point' lessons are being collected into a section in the
[Baren] Encyclopedia of Woodblock Printmaking.
http://www.woodblock.com/encyclopedia/updates.html

Contributions from experienced printmakers for future 'One-pointers' 
are eagerly solicited.

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End of Baren Digest V3 #143
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