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

Baren Digest              Monday, 19 October 1998      Volume 05 : Number 317

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From: David Bull <davebull@woodblock.com>
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 22:22:07 +0900
Subject: [Baren 1899] The Exchange ... cases 

Notice for Exchange participants:
I received a package from my case maker this afternoon - the sample
cases for the [Baren] exchange.  It looks kind of neat - not fancy at
all, but simple and attractive.

I've put a few photos up on the page at:
http://www.woodblock.com/temporary/case.html

It's going to take a while to make these and get them shipped over to
Jim's place (especially as it will collide with Xmas mail ...).  So
although I'm not going to bug you at the moment for more info on the
prints themselves, I do need the final commitment for the cases soon.

The cost - including maker's invoice, sales tax (unavoidable), shipping
from him to me, and then sea parcel post from me to Jim - works out at
just under 2500 yen per case.  At the rate of exchange as of a few
minutes ago, that's just about $22 (but it's going up and down day by
day - two weeks ago it would have been only $17!)

Here's what to do:
1 - check the photos on that page, and decide if you want one or not.
2 - if 'yes', check off the form on that page to 'submit' your
confirmation to me.
3 - head over to your Post Office, get an International Money Order for
the equivalent of 2500 yen, and send it off to me.
4 - I will be placing the order with the maker on November 15th - for as
many cases as I have received confirmations and payments.
5 - He has promised to send them to me by December 15th, and I will then
send the entire package by sea mail to arrive at Jim's place by late
January, in time for him to wrap everything up on February 1st, the
final deadline date for the exchange.

Dave B.

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From: Steiner <steiner@mbox.kyoto-inet.or.jp>
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 22:30:15 +0900
Subject: [Baren 1900] knives' cutting edges 

from Richard Steiner/Kyoto

Speaking of knives, which no one was so I thot I would, my knife maker,
Mr Inoue, gave me some information recently which I want to pass along
to the other Barenettes.  While I do sharpen my own knives on a
superfine, man-made stone, and teach my students to do so,  quite some
years ago I bought a Motor Sharpener (made in Japan; flat leather disk
type) and when no one is looking, rush to use it.  A 10 minute job is
finished in 5 seconds.  Great.  What Mr Inoue mentioned was that, when
finished sharpening the blade, the invisible (but feel-able) metal curl
that occurs on the other side of the blade needs to be removed (we knew
this) with the very minimum of strokes on the stone or
leather.  Otherwise, the edge of the blade, on that side, will be
"sharpened" to a less than optimum acute angle, thereby making the
carving of the blocks just a little more difficult.  That was news.  I
also learned from another source that the wheel-type sharpener, usually
pressed layers of cloth, is inferior to the flat disk sort of
sharpener, usually leather.  Why?  Because when sharpening the knife,
the curve of the spinning cloth wheel cannot help but curve the knife's
edge at the same time, rendering it less strong, less resistant to
chipping.  The flatness of the leather disk merely sharpens the knife
edge and nothing more, which is just what it is supposed to do.

Steiner/Kyoto

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From: Bill Ritchie <ritchie@emeralda.com>
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 08:58:39 -0700
Subject: [Baren 1901] Re: Jean and Van Gogh 

Dave Bull's comment about the Japanese characters reminded me of something
I learned when I was learning Japanese and spent a little time there.

My friends and I exchanged ideas--philosophizing over tangerines and tea
for many hours. My tiny Japanese and their tiny English made it quite a
slow process. We sat around a table, my legs cramped under the tablecloth,
which captured warmth from the little heater underneath.

It was November in Tokyo, and already pretty cold.

"Biru-san," my friend Michitaka Nakahara said, "in Japan, we put an idea on
the table, in so many words. You may pick it up from the table, but it is
not the idea I put there. In picking it up, it changes, no doubt, from what
I meant."

This makes a kind of oxymoron, doesn't it? In the West, of course, when we
say "Nine O'clock, sharp!" we think it's cast in bronze, carved in stone,
on the schedule, planned, etc.

In Japan, I think, "Nine O'clock, sort of."

Thus the Westerner perceives art differently. I am of course a foreigner,
but I think I sort of understand, and I really liked Dave's comment on
Jean's art.

Thanks!

Inventor Bill H. Ritchie, Jr.

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From: Elizabeth Atwood <elizuno@midcoast.com>
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 16:48:50 -0500
Subject: [Baren 1902] Book for Marco 

Marco.......For woodblock information in addition to the Japanese method, I
would suggest that you look into MANUEL OF WOODCUT PRINTMAKING by Walter
Chamberlain. It is published by Chas. Scribner's Sons, New York. It has a
wealth of material including a brief history of printmaking.
I selected it to use as a text for students.
I have another suggestion...but I can't find the volume at the moment in
order to give the  full information on publisher, etc.

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From: April Vollmer/John Yamaguchi <aprilvollmer@altavista.net>
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 23:54:11 -0400
Subject: [Baren 1903] Science and Color 

As Dave points out, color is so changable...not only from the pot to the
wood to the paper, but from bright sunlight to nighttime tungsten light, it
keeps on changing. I've had mixed results with tube watercolor, too, but
then there are lots of kinds of tube watercolor. The Wilcox Guide to
Watercolor describes the ingredients of most watercolors, whether they are
lightfast, etc. A very useful book for those who use tube watercolor.

And useful for its general discussion of pigment for those who use pigment,
too. I will work on writing up a description of my approach to mixing
pigment for use in hanga printing...unscientific as it is!

I do find some colors print brighter with some calcium carbonate added.
Cobalt blue is deeper, I think because it reflects more light. They get
chalky if you add too much, though.

April Vollmer

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From: Jean Eger <jeaneger@LanMinds.Com>
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 23:34:07 -0700
Subject: [Baren 1904] Re: Baren Digest V5 #316 

Dear Dave,
	Thanks for the compliment--being compared to Van Gogh.   I am glad you
were thinking of the Asian-lettering-as-aesthetic-object, not the admitted
craziness of the artist.   I was pretty sure the words meant oranges
because there were pictures of oranges all over the box.  In fact, I think
I asked Tomoko what it meant because I am wary of using foreign letters and
words when I do not know what they mean.  I am always lured by the "other."
On the other hand, perhaps that shows a lack of adventurousness on my part.  

One who is adventurous is Bay Area artist Raymond Saunders  who collages
found objects from the large and wonderful Chinatown neighborhood of
Oakland. He is mentioned by my friend Alice Fong, a monoprinter from
Sacramento:
http://users.lanminds.com/~jeaneger/fong/fong.html
She wondered if he knows what the words mean.

If you get a chance, you should see the traveling exchange exhibition of
prints from the faculty of the Printmaking Department of the China National
Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou, China, now on view at the Chinese
Cultural Center in San Francisco (through November 1. This was organized in
Portland.  The prints are wonderful and mostly woodcuts.    
Sincerely,

Jean Eger

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From: David Bull <davebull@woodblock.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 16:12:36 +0900
Subject: [Baren 1905] Re: Science and Color 

April wrote:
> As Dave points out, color is so changable...not only from the pot to the
> wood to the paper, but from bright sunlight to nighttime tungsten light, it
> keeps on changing.

Did any of you hear the story on NPR's Weekend Edition this morning?  It
was a feature about the new 'Solex' light bulbs, which are now starting
to be used in museums and art galleries all over the place.  

The person who created this new bulb was trying to find a way to enjoy
art work under natural light, but without the 'inconsistency' of natural
light (e.g. night-time, clouds, bright sunshine, etc.)  He tested many
colour 'temperatures' and devised this bulb, which the story claimed
gave a completely 'natural' illumination. The Van Gogh exhibit at the
National Gallery is lit with them (Van Gogh again!), as were some of the
exhibits at the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester. People from the
gallery described how the art work looked completely different, and much
more attractive, under this illumination.

I don't know if they are available 'in a store near you', but if they
_are_, you might consider checking them out ...

For myself, I am quite interested in this.  My workroom faces south, and
I have huge problems with mixing colours in such a room, with its wildly
variable illumination.  But if I close the curtains and mix my colours
under illumination from light bulbs, I never really know what I'm
getting ...

Dave B.

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From: Cucamongie@aol.com
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 08:30:35 EDT
Subject: [Baren 1906] dave's post re van Gogh 

In response to Dave's post regarding van Gogh (who was certainly an artist
that inspired me), when I went to see a show of Kuniyoshi prints in
Philadelphia in June they had two prints from van Gogh's collection in the
show -- which had thumbtack holes in them since apparently he just carelessly
had them tacked to his wall -- which of course led me to question how he had
the money to buy these prints if he supposedly was totally broke, and why he
would treat these prints so carelessly if he had to scrape the money together
to buy them -- I tend to think there must be some exaggeration of his
"poverty-strickenness" -- something to think about, anyway... also an amusing
story regarding van Gogh - I've been working with fifth-grade kids painting
banners which will go across the road for the NYC Marathon, and one of the
kids asked me if I had "seen van Gogh."  Thinking he meant had I seen his
paintings, I said, "Yes, I think his paintings are fantastic."  Then the
little boy said "but have you met him?" I went on to tell him about van Gogh a
bit, then the boy said "well I guess since they didn't have TV then, painting
was the best thing to do" -- 

well enough for now, this is getting long -- 

Sarah Hauser 

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End of Baren Digest V5 #317
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