[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking. Baren Digest Saturday, 11 July 1998 Volume 04 : Number 210 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: David Bull Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 23:00:06 +0900 Subject: [Baren 1142] How did you get the grey? Hideshi, Thank you for joining us here at [Baren]. When I first saw the prints on your web site, I jumped up and down in excitement - this man _has_ to join us! You have a very large print illustrated: http://www1.plala.or.jp/Hideshi/tower2.html The information says that this is a woodcut 'on the plank'. Is this print done in a single impression (isshoku?) How did you get so many different levels of grey scale? If it was a wood engraving I could understand how you get the greys, but in a woodcut? For example, the shadows of the people walking, and the man sitting ... I may have too many questions for you ... Dave ------------------------------ From: April Vollmer & John Yamaguchi Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 11:30:01 -0400 Subject: [Baren 1143] Lightfastness and Finding Pearls Love Jack Riesland's reply on the lightfastness of inks: baren's strength is that it has members with expertise in different areas! I would say that one of the key reasons I find hanga more satisfying than oil base woodcut printing is exactly what Jack is talking about. Oil base printing inks are not well labeled: how can you know if something called "peacock blue" is going to keep it's color? In addition, all sorts of additives are included to condition commercial inks to act right. I have printed woodcuts with (Hanco) litho ink, which have a good consistency for rolling up, but I have no faith that they will be lightfast, because I don't know what's in them. Did anybody try the posting of waterbase rollup at: http://www.bigfoot.com/~safeartinks ? I'm still suspicious, I guess because of the poor quality of Speedball inks, and just generally the fact that watercolor ISN'T sticky...so they must be adding a lot of unmentionable stuff to make it sticky. With hanga, you can work with pigment, check the references of the pigment (I find Wilcox's Guide to Watercolors to be very helpful). Even if you use ready made watercolor and gouache, it is better labeled than printing ink. (anybody know different?) UNSUBSCRIBE???? yes, I admit I've thought of it, too. When I don't check my mail for a few days and then have to wade through 83 e-mails! Hard to find the pearls! Clear subject lines and no quoting would help! And I would say, welcome, all new members! Period. Please don't make me read all the welcomes to ALL the new members!!! Individually, from ALL the old members!!! But don't stop the jokes! April Vollmer ------------------------------ From: Jean Eger Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 13:46:16 -0700 Subject: [Baren 1144] Re: lightfastness Dear Baren, One member of my printmaking group asks that her prints not be hung in direct sunlight because the reds fade rapidly. Some people like to keep their prints in boxes and take them out once in awhile and look at them. Sincerely, Jean Eger ------------------------------ From: Matthew.W.Brown@VALLEY.NET (Matthew W Brown) Date: 10 Jul 98 18:27:14 EDT Subject: [Baren 1145] Printmaking Today John, A friend of mine prints with commercial rubber base inks and uses a paper mask as you describe. It certainly seems a hassle and very time-consuming, I think Dave's comment about learning to walk dependent on a walker describes it. It seems stiffness of printing paper affects the problem of unwanted printing marks as well as baren technique. For myself, I also carve more deeply. Jeanne, I subscribe to the Printmaking Today publication and enjoy it quite a bit. Recent issues have had some stuff about hanga printmaking, including an advertisement by a firm selling some kind of 'starter kit' for hanga printing. The Japanese made water stones have become very popular as replacements for the old Arkansas oil stones. You might check one out (Woodcraft, Woodworker's Supply, Japan Woodworker). Dave, After some "beginner's luck" I am now really struggling with this business of recovering my murasaki baren. I have found the bamboo leafs from Matsumara-san more generous than those from McLain's. A first question, when you go to re-cover a baren, do you cut two covers from a leaf, or do you take just one giving yourself extra to work with? Have you noticed a leaf harder to work with the more you work it (i.e. trying again and again)? Matt ------------------------------ From: Hideshi Yoshida Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 10:25:14 +0900 Subject: [Baren 1146] Re: How did you get the grey? To Baren I answer the Dave's question He wrote >You have a very large print illustrated: >http://www1.plala.or.jp/Hideshi/tower2.html >How did you get so many different levels of grey scale? This work is printed only in a single impression. In my case , basically I don't express piling up colors like "Ukiyoe"print. Representation of grey is exactly same as wood engraving . Though images on my website are not big enough to show you details, accumulation of black lines make various greys. To express grey is mathematical a little. I mean it depends upon the ratio of black and white per unit area. For example, 100% black makes pure black, 100% makes pure white. 50% black and 50% white make medium grey. 75% black and 25% white make dark grey. In the same way 25% black and 75% white make light grey. This is just a theory making grey . When I carve a woodblock of course I don't use this theory. I accept the image in my head. I'm always trying to listen to the voice from the image, so It lets me know how I should carve to express grey scale. I don't know the best way to get this expression, all I can say is "Just do it!" . Is this enough for your question ? Hideshi http://www1.plala.or.jp/Hideshi/ ------------------------------ From: jimandkatemundie@juno.com (James G Mundie) Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 22:30:17 -0400 Subject: [Baren 1147] Re: Baren Digest V4 #209 Gayle wrote: >Is anyone out there besides me trying the James Mundie style of >needling and razor blading the image onto the wood? Yeah, there's me! >I recently tried one and did my first print of it last night. I was >disappointed. I felt I had needled and scraped and brushed and poked til there >was nothing but stuff to print. When I pulled that print, everything >was shadowy to the point of mud. What am I doing wrong? The problem with the Mundie Technique (patent pending), is that you need to get the ink mixture juuuussst right. Last night, I was up in the studio editioning various woodcuts and I did another proof of a block I've been working on-- sort of an experimental piece with more scratched texture than usual. This print, after the second pull started to exhibit what one sometimes encounters in lithography-- "filling in". It seems that the first print went okay, but with the addition of ink for the second go some ink was filling the delicate scratches and creating a blotchy effect in an otherwise smooth tone. The problem? Too much oil making the ink too loose. I recommend you try it again without adding any plate oil, or even adding something like magnesium carbonate (I think that's it's chemical make up)-- a powdered "stiffener"-- to keep the ink from spreading. Of course, it could just be the nature of the poplar (that is what you're still using isn't it?) to resist the Mundie Technique. I know poplar has foiled my attempts more than once... *** Dave wrote, regarding finding exhibitions: >...reading that list of your upcoming participations leads me to >ask just how you manage to get involved with so many shows. Is it a >matter of sending in applications all over the place? What should other >members of [Baren] do if they want to get exhibited like this? Can >you lay out some advice ... One needs only to open their eyes and ears. I regularly check the listings at the online magazine _Printworks_, the various publications (such as Jeanne noted), send out inquiries, requests for prospectus (prospecti?), etc. I keep my ears open, as well. Occasionally something interesting comes my way. I then get my slides together, fill out an application and pop it in the post. Usually the reply is negative, but sometimes I get lucky. For instance, did you know there is an international group of wood engravers and woodcut artists based in Switzerland called Xylon that have been conducting triennial exhibitions of primarily woodblock relief prints since the 1950's? The next one (Xylon 14) is due to open in 2000 (contact me if you want the enqiry details). That sounds promising. Many print organizations publish information on upcoming exhibitions, as well. I have recently joined the Print Club of Albany, which publishes a newsletter periodically listing upcoming exhibitions and juried shows. It seems that successs is to be found by firing away like mad until you hit something. *** Roger wrote: >What is your recommendation for something better than >Speedball in water-based and why do you find the thought of me using >it so reprehensible (as do others on the list)? Is there something >inherently awful about the gunk that I ought to know? The water dispersed pigments that various folks have talked about here will serve you much better. Even tube watercolor would be preferable. Speedball's water based ink is... well. crap. It has the consistency of fluffy toothpaste and has decent tinting strength in only its most appalling shades (like that Pepto-Bismal pink... ick!). I've used Speedball to introduce kids to relief printing because it's cheap and cleans up easily, but I couldn't imagine using it for my own work; it would be like using those big ol' bottles of Crayola tempera paint to do serious work on canvas, or substituting construction paper for hosho. Switch to something more suitable and I think you'll find that you've made a collossal leap forward. Mise le meas, James Mundie, Philadelphia USA ------------------------------ From: David Bull Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 11:22:37 +0900 Subject: [Baren 1148] Hideshi's pigments I got a letter in Japanese this morning from Hideshi-san, who wanted to explain a bit about the pigments he uses, and their lightfastness. He thought it was better if I put the English here ... *** from Hideshi Yoshida *** The Japanese term for 'lightfast' is 'teichakuryoku ga tsuyoi' (Fixative strength). The pigments I am using are called 'Liquitex'. These are very lightfast and will not come off the paper even if it is rolled tightly. After drying they are not affected by water. But I have to say they are difficult to print with. When I first tried them, it was so difficult, I stopped using them for a couple of years. They are even strong in direct sunlight, although leaving them exposed to this is obviously not recommended. Before using a pigment I think you should do some tests. Take two prints made with the same pigments, and leave one exposed to sunlight for two months, while the other is kept in a protected place. At the end of this time, compare them, and if there is no difference, I think that pigment is probably OK to use. This summer season is a good time to try this. But red pigments are usually the weakest. Getting some Liquitex in a tube to try it will not be so expensive. Some inks are very expensive. The inks I'm using are black, blue, reddish gold, blueish gold, silver and brown. These are all OK. *** end from Hideshi *** James wrote: > It seems that successs is to be found by firing away like mad > until you hit something. This 'machine-gun' approach is exactly how I handle the publicity for my exhibition each year. I prepare literally hundreds and hundreds of 'flyers' and announcements, sending them to every media outlet, newspaper and magazine that I think will have even the remotest chance of being interested in what I do. Of course most of them will be 'binned' immediately, but it doesn't take too many 'hits' to get what I need ... It's not a very elegant approach, but it works. Dave B. ------------------------------ From: David Bull Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 15:55:26 +0900 Subject: [Baren 1149] One-point lesson Here is this week's 'One-point' lesson (contributed by David Bull) ********** ********** ********** (#13) Keeping the paper in order ... I read an article about printmaking quite some time ago in which the writer (who I think was an etcher), spoke quite disparagingly about woodblock printmaking. In his mind, it was a very unsophisticated craft, and I remember that one of the reasons he gave for his dislike was the variability of the materials used - the paper and wood. During the printing process they won't 'stand still' but are always expanding and contracting. It seems he wanted a bit more stability. For me too, back when I had less experience, this variability was a huge problem. Every time I picked up a block it seemed to be a different size, and as the moisture in the paper decreased during the process, the sheets of course got smaller. As I gained experience, I gradually got better at maintaining a constant level of moisture in the paper, but the blocks are more difficult to control. During a run of a hundred sheets or so, the wood absorbs moisture and inevitably starts to expand. Putting water on the back side helps keep it flat, but won't stop the general expansion. It is thus very common that in any batch of prints, the printed area on the later sheets in the batch is wider than that on the early sheets, and this difference can sometimes be quite considerable. When one moves to the next block, it is important to keep this difference in mind, and to watch carefully as the printing progresses. The early sheets should register with no problems, but at some point during the run the difference will start to become apparent, and it will be necessary to adjust the position of the kento slightly, 'pulling' it back to account for the slightly wider paper. It may be necessary to do this a few times during the run. It is thus vitally important that the order of the sheets in the stack is not disturbed. If they are mixed up at all, with 'wide' sheets being shuffled together with 'narrow' ones, proper registration of further colours will be completely impossible. Before I learned this, I was in the habit of taking spoiled sheets from their proper place and putting them at the front of the pile, thus thinking that I would use these defective sheets as 'pioneers', as Fletcher calls them. Maybe on some images, those without critical registration, this is possible, but for delicate work - 'everybody in his place' is the rule to follow ... ********** ********** ********** Next week, 'If you can hear it ... it's too loud!' 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. ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V4 #210 ***************************