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

Baren Digest                Monday, 8 June 1998        Volume 03 : Number 177

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From: Matthew.W.Brown@VALLEY.NET (Matthew W Brown)
Date: 07 Jun 98 12:34:42 EDT
Subject: [Baren 904] Re: Goma 

Graham,
	It has been my experience, and also was pointed out by April and Bill
Paden, that cutting back on the rice paste is the most common way to develop a
goma ('sesame seed') effect, it being a result of more water in the 'mix' on
the block. Perhaps Dave can speak a bit about this. The varnish must be
impeding somewhat the ability of  the color and paste to penetrate the fiber
and pores of the wood, would not the wood be taking up less water during
printing? 
	Though I used a 50/50 varnish, I did not sand exactly as you describe.
What I am seeking is a reason why one might want to varnish, after all it adds
considerably to the time required between finishing carving a block and being
able to print.

Ray, address for Yamada-Shokai is:

Yamada-Shokai Co., Inc.
2-6-10, Yaesu,
 Chuo-Ku
Tokyo, Japan

The paper Bill Paden recommends is maybe the same Kizuki Hanga Dosa that
McClain's carries and that April has spoken of. (No. 42 in their sample book).
Ask April about this when she gets back.

Dave,
 I enjoyed your most recent 'one-pointer', sounds like a handy trick indeed.

Matt

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From: David Bull <davebull@woodblock.com>
Date: Mon, 08 Jun 1998 09:51:29 +0900
Subject: [Baren 905] Various ... 

Jim wrote:
>I took the liberty of writing Mr. Pierce a letter last
>night (the old fashioned pony carried method), by the way.

Jim, did you ask for information on prices, availablity, etc.?  If you
did, then please share that info with us.  The fact that the editions
are so small, and he still has some left from such a long time ago,
makes me worried that they must be pretty expensive ...

Did you read the information on the dimensions of those books?  Big!

***

I got a note from friend Hien Pham recently with some info on a couple
of links to Vietnamese woodblock printmakers:

>http://www.destinationvietnam.com/dv/dv08/dv08l.htm 

> It's an article about the Vietnamese woodblock artist Tran
>Tuyet Mai. The Art Gallery hyperlink in the article would
>take you to some of her artworks. 

> Another site:
>http://www.gu.edu.au/gwis/qca/Exch_Viet.html 
>also has a few woodblock prints by Vietnamese artists.

... more interesting work ...

***

Re: the 'download' pages I put up the other day.  The responses were
mixed; most people reported no trouble at all, but a couple had
problems. 

>It was readable but not easy.  For one thing,. it
>stretched far beyond my screen and in order to read it, I
>had to keep scrolling back and forth.  For another, it was all 
>one large paragraph with paragraphs marked by two heavy blocks.

This sounds like a 'linefeed' problem ... but I thought I encoded the
files to include linefeeds ...

>tried to look at one of your new files... but it came out
>a mass of signs and symbols.

This sounds like a 'decoding' problem ...

Can some of you Windows 'gurus' in the group suggest what might be
wrong?  Are the files actually OK and these two people need to make
adjustments?  Or do my files need to be better prepared?  (Again - send
this to me off-list please, I'll post any results for everybody's
benefit when this is all sorted out ...)

Dave

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 18:21:47 -0700
Subject: [Baren 906] Re: Goma 

Hi Matt,

>	Though I used a 50/50 varnish, I did not sand exactly as you describe.
>What I am seeking is a reason why one might want to varnish, after all it adds
>considerably to the time required between finishing carving a block and being
>able to print.

This what I was taught by Noboru Sawai. I never questioned him about the
procedure. However my experience with wood was that you have to protect it.
The varnish acts as a bit of a hold out for the waterbase pigments.

It also allows you to achieve a much smoother surface than you could get
with just the wood.  The 600 grit gives the surface the smoothness of a
babies bottom.  Also the fibre of the wood would stand up when water was
introduced.  The varnish prevents this.

***

Dave,
Does any of the info I write about ever get into the encyclopedia?
You are welcome to use it.

***

Everybody.
I posted that article about Glicee a while back .
It is now on my web site, with a numbering system.  It will be interesting
to get the count.

Graham

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Subject: [Baren 907] - Duplicated message ...

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 19:02:08 -0700
Subject: [Baren 908] Re: Various ... 

Dave wrote:
>Can some of you Windows 'gurus' in the group suggest what might be
>wrong?

Windoze?

>Are the files actually OK and these two people need to make adjustments?

Buying a Mac would be adjustment needed.

Please excuse me but I can't help making these comments.
It's an involuntary reaction...like breathing....it just happens.

Graham

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From: Ray Esposito <brassring@brassring.org>
Date: Sun, 07 Jun 1998 21:27:52 -0400
Subject: [Baren 909] Re: Various ... 

Dave wrote:
>Jim, did you ask for information on prices, availablity, etc.?  If you
>did, then please share that info with us.  The fact that the editions
>are so small, and he still has some left from such a long time ago,
>makes me worried that they must be pretty expensive ...

As I noted in Baren 903, I bought a Pierce novel from Amazon Books.  I
might suggest you also check there because they had two listed for $93.

Cheers

Ray Esposito

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End of Baren Digest V3 #177
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