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

Baren Digest               Monday, 24 August 1998       Volume 04 : Number 254

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1998 09:09:10 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 1431] Re: Baren Digest V4 #252 

Gary wrote:
>Thanks for the tip, I won't buy a 1440 then.    
>...Are you doing graphic type things with 360 or
>lettering and such?   For lettering and text the 360 is great, but I get
>too many lines, even if they are faint, in a 360 graphic.
>
>How's the weather up there?

The stuff I am printing are brochures that have to be slick and well printed.
They are as good as any high quality magazine.
Most magazines are printed at 133 up to 150 line screen so the 360 equal this.

If you are getting lines at 360 maybe you should align your head.....ops
sorry.... heads.  Chech the mannual or on screen help for instruction.

Is yours an Epson 800,  with 4 colour ink fountains.

The weather......fabulous.  Just a couple of days of rain in the last 2
months.  Just blue bird days and warmer than most years, getting up to 80
degrees.

Graham

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1998 09:09:11 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 1432] Re: G&G conversation 

Dave wrote:
>Gary, surely you meant 'invading your surf' ...

No Dave....I,m sure he meant "turf"....
'Surf' is what Gary does on his computer.  (<;  when he's not......well you
know.

Graham

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1998 09:18:28 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 1433] Printing press 

Hi John,

Did you get the information you wanted re the Patrick Press?

Graham

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From: Gary Luedtke <GLuedtke@compuserve.com>
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1998 13:01:57 -0400
Subject: [Baren 1434] Re: G&G conversation 

Dave,
We're going to have to bring you up to speed, here, on this humorous
repartee.   "Invading your _surf_"?    While yes, that would have been more
accurate, the surf is my domain, I claim it.  Graham has the pounding,
crashing waves as they try to beat down these lighthouses of his Canadian
seacoast.   That and the fishermen out lounging on the oily, shiny swells,
in their dinghies, ( or is that "thingies"?  eh?), as well as these nudes
we see on his page, that for all I know are his "bed and breakfast clients"
sitting for the rent.  

When I think of "surf", I think Hawaii, and surfing, not Vancouver's knotty
inlets of rock and spray.  We'll have to call that something else.   Got
any suggestions?   Japan has a lot of rough coast, what's the word they use
to call it?  

Gary

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From: Gary Luedtke <GLuedtke@compuserve.com>
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1998 13:17:01 -0400
Subject: [Baren 1435] Re: Baren Digest V4 #252 

Graham, as to your note re: computers,
No, mine is not an 800, but a lower model they don't sell anymore, the
Stylus II.   I just got it back from warrantee repair and frankly haven't
looked at anything printed in 360.  They replaced the color heads so maybe
that was the problem, I'll have to go back and check it.    

When you do your brochures, do they use your computer work to copy? or do
they do their own?  I didn't quite follow this process.  

What's the latest word with these Quebeckers?   When does Nunavut become a
reality?  What is going on in Canada???   ( I should ask that same question
about the _U.S._ , right?)  

Do we only have two Canadians represented on Baren, or are there more?  

Off to lunch.  Crack an egg on the walk, flip it over lightly, salt and
pepper.   The heat continues here in the midwest.  Step on asphalt,it's
soft as carpet.

Gary

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From: Gary Luedtke <GLuedtke@compuserve.com>
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1998 13:20:02 -0400
Subject: [Baren 1436] Re: Baren Digest V4 #252 

Oops, I misread yours, Graham, _you_ are doing the printing.  How do you
get them glossy?  Do you use the glossy photo paper Epson puts out or
something else.  Do you have as good of luck printing on thicker stock, or
do you use standard weight paper?

Gary

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From: April Vollmer/John Yamaguchi <aprilvollmer@altavista.net>
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1998 15:03:22 -0400
Subject: [Baren 1437] Good Tools 

Jean:I was interested in your description of your class with Katherine
McKay. I met her when she was giving a demonstration at the Japanese
Cultural Center in San Francisco in conjunction with a travelling show of
prints we were both in, put together by Elaine Chandler of McClain's.

A very nice person...I think there is some reason to be authoritarian when
first teaching hanga. There is never enough time to describe the reasons
for everything, so it's simpler to start by saying, 'just to this!'

She travelled in Japan and interviewed a lot of artists, so she has some
interesting stories. It was great to meet her at the exhibition, and see
her print.

She was printing with poor quality watercolor, though, and had to
compensate for the lack of pigment in the watercolor by printing each color
many times over. She also lacked a good baren, and was using a homemade one
covered with chamois.

Her desert landscapes are quite beautiful. Which may prove you can make
good prints without good tools (but I think they would have been even
better with a good baren!)

April Vollmer

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From: jimandkatemundie@juno.com (James G Mundie)
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1998 15:22:31 -0400
Subject: [Baren 1438] 80 hours a month? Luxury! 

Dave wrote:
>>A few years ago, I did a rough calculation on just how many hours I
>>spend in any given month on making the print.  It worked out to about 
>>80 hours - from hanshita preparation, through carving, and finally
>>printing.

To which Graham said:

>Hmmmmmm.....
>I wish......
>When I read things like this I wonder why it take so much time 
>creating rather than doing.  I spend that much time (80 hours) on average just
>creating an image......then come all the other stuff.

Graham, I think we're exerting all that extra enrgy courting our muse. 
And a fickle thing she is, too.  Dave has the luxury of working from a
set design, but you and I are working from scratch (more power to you,
Dave, for streamlining the whole thing for yourself).

I've never bothered to count out how many hours I spend on any given
image because the finally accounting would just be too staggering.  Most
of my time seems to come from the planning stage-- figuring out just what
it is I want to make.  Then comes all of that revision of sketches, and
putting it down on the block.  Then the cutting starts, and the
spontaneous revisions with blade in hand.  Then some time to stop and
reflect on just what it is that I'm doing.  Then some time to get
distracted by another project.  More cutting... proofing... coffee...
perhaps more cutting... printing.  And then comes all of the extra work
of framing and presentation! 

But have you noticed how this inspiration for a new work can come in
little bursts?  I sometimes go for weeks or months without an idea, and
suddenly I have fifteen and want to do them all.  Very inefficient is our
muse.

Sla/n go tamall, y'all,
James Mundie, Philadelphia USA

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1998 13:07:27 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 1439] Stuff. Oh .... and Freezing. 

Gary wrote....
>How do you get them glossy?

I have a friend in the printing industry who is able to get me commercial
print paper, ' Luna glossy #80' that is glossy beyond anything you can buy
at retail level.  Even the Epson paper pales by comparison.

>Do you have as good of luck printing on thicker stock,

We print on a 9pt card stock without any trouble.
Have you visited the Epson site?  http://www.Epson.com/home.shtml

>What's the latest word with these Quebeckers?

Still acting like spoiled brats. After 30 years of the whining we are
getting pretty fed up.  Did you ever hear the comment by Don Cherry. He was
a colour man for CBC at Hockey intermissions and says what a lot of people
wouldn't dare.
He  phrased the situation beautifully on National television.

 "It's a funny thing, they don't want the Canadian flag but
    they want our money," said Cherry. "I've never seen such a
    bunch of whiners in my life. . . . These people are whiners.
    If they want to leave, why don't they leave?"

I got in big trouble and told off when I posted the above on a Print List
Server in Quebec
"BIENNALE.EN" : Distribution de la liste <biennale.en@listes.cgocable.ca
I think Ray is still chuckling about it.

Anyway the next 6 months should be interesting politics there.


>What is going on in Canada???
Watching Clinton so we learn what bed not to get into.

>Do we only have two Canadians represented on Baren, or are there more?

I think I'm it........unless you are counting Dave.  Recommended to a
person in Winnipeg to look in but have not seen any signs yet   Are you out
there Mary????

>these nudes we see on his page, that for all I know are his
>"bed and breakfast clients"  sitting for the rent.

I am working on getting them to pay me, for sitting, while I do the drawing.
When I get 'Rich and Famous' then this will become the case .

Printing related matter just to keep this posting legit.

The last time of froze my paper between printing sessions I thought it was
printing with more texture when I thawed it out. I was wonder if the
freezing swells the fibers and caused the increased texture.  I am going to
put this throught the paces some time this fall just to examine precisely
and change cause by freezing.
Matt..... have you ever experience this???  and why not....(<:

Graham

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From: Gary Luedtke <GLuedtke@compuserve.com>
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1998 18:16:00 -0400
Subject: [Baren 1440] Stuff. Oh .... and Freezing. 

Graham and all,

I thought Bev Byerley was perhaps a Baren member.   She, according to her
site, lives on Vancouver Island, Comox Valley?   Is that anywhere near you,
Graham?   Very nice work.  Check out her site at
<http://mars.ark.com/~bbyerley/beverly.html>    Different media.

I have visited the Epson site, Graham.  Never tried their glossy stock
however, I prefer the "flat" look, more reminiscent of actual prints.  But
of course for brochures, glossy is the way to go.

As far as what bed not to get into with Clinton, I believe he lies standing
up and sitting down, don't need a bed.  

Didn't somebody else talk about keeping their paper in the freezer?  
Sounded familiar.  

Back out to cut the lawn.   Your 80's sound refreshing Graham, hope we see
some of that in a month or so.

Gary

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From: David Bull <davebull@woodblock.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1998 07:43:53 +0900
Subject: [Baren 1441] Re: Freezing in Canada 

Graham wrote:
>The last time of froze my paper between printing sessions I thought it was
>printing with more texture when I thawed it out. 

Interesting that you should mention this just now Graham, because I'm
also 'experimenting' with this.  

As I described in that recent newsletter I've been keeping my paper in
the fridge in between printing sessions.  Not the freezer - just a
regular shelf on the fridge.  But with the hot summer weather I've got
the temperature control turned right down, and  found last month that
the top layers of the stack were actually encrusted with ice when I
brought them out each time.

And yes, there did seem to be a change in the paper.  You said
'texture', but I think the sizing became softened somehow - I had to
start using an 'ategami' protective sheet on the back of the printing
sheets, because the baren was starting to abrade some of them.  And as
for the finished prints, I'm _sure_ that they feel a bit softer to the
touch, with some of the 'crispiness' of the sizing missing.

My freezer isn't big enough to handle these oban sheets, but next time I
do a smaller print (for the exchange I guess), I'm going to freeze it
rock solid and see what happens.

I look forward to hearing how your experiments turn out ...

Dave

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End of Baren Digest V4 #254
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