[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking. Baren Digest Tuesday, 10 November 1998 Volume 05 : Number 339 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Gayle Wohlken Date: Mon, 09 Nov 1998 08:59:51 -0500 Subject: [Baren 2047] Re: Baren Digest V5 #337 Regarding carving thin lines, Richard said: > After the image > has been transferred to the block, wipe a thin layer of Elmer's Glue > over the lines. What a new idea! Does anybody else on Baren do this? Richard, do you eventually wash the glue off? I use oil based ink. Would the glue, if left on, do anything strange when topped with oilbased ink? Also you mentioned cutting two board for lines going two different ways. I could understand this if a portion of your design is for instance checkered. But what if you are doing a figure and it's vertical and you have the grain of the wood running vertically. Now you are carving, say, the horizontal eyes, the horizontal soles of the feet, the horizontal hem of the dress, etc. Do you cut one board with soles of feet lines, and eyes, and mouth and top of head and hem of dress, etc. Then another with the parts of the body that are vertical? * * * * Welcome to Lynita, also thanks to Dave for the list of Baren people, a few of whose names I don't remember they have been so quiet. Gayle Wohlken ------------------------------ From: StudioJNC@aol.com Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1998 09:46:23 EST Subject: [Baren 2048] Re: Baren Digest V5 #337 Thanks to Graham, Dave B and Steiner, I really appreciate your constructive remarks about my GGGGRRRR crooked lines. I especially took to heart Daves remarks about not trying to be someone that I am not. My love for drawing took me into the task of attempting to make my woodblock prints like my drawings. But a drawing is a drawing and a woodblock print is a woodblock print. So I will go with the flow of the wood again. Yes, Gayle, I will be happy to have a ":Gayle Wohlken" in my possession!!!! The Baren has been my support group and I would not be without you all {that Georgia influence again} Back to the drawing board, whoops, woodblock. Cheers {thats what spending 2 weeks in England will do. Jeanne PS; Welcome to the Baren, Lynita. ------------------------------ From: Shimizu Date: Mon, 09 Nov 1998 10:59:46 -0500 Subject: [Baren 2049] Re: Again, Tokuriki Thanks for all the warm "welcomes". Eager to try Richard's glue tip for hardening the wood surface. Speaking of glue, does anyone have suggestions for repairing slips of the knives? I can remember seeing Tokuriki chuckling away as even he made repairs to mistakes, but unfortunately, I don't know what he was using. Lynita Kagarise Shimizu (from Pennsylvania Dutch stock, not Japanese) Connecticut ------------------------------ From: Wanda Robertson Date: Mon, 09 Nov 1998 08:53:50 -0700 Subject: [Baren 2050] Re: Again, Tokuriki Funny you should mention and tell us about Tokuriki. I received the copy of his little book "Woodblock Printing" yesterday. I sat right down and read the whole book. It is, without doubt *the* best book on woodblock printing I have gotten my hands on (so far). His sweet and generous spirit comes through even with a translator. I was going to write and ask if he is still living. In the "about the artist" section it states that he was born in 1902, the 13th generation of a family of artists. How wonderful! I feel so fortunate to have been able to find a copy of this little book. Maybe it's an omen of some sort. Wanda/Oregon ------------------------------ From: jimandkatemundie@juno.com (James G Mundie) Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1998 13:59:20 -0500 Subject: [Baren 2051] Fear Not, Gentle Woodcutters, or How Bad Art Can Save Your Career Gayle wrote: >I pulled my first print last night and really liked it until I started >looking at the lines. Places where I knew I carved well showed little >splits. (I used poplar, to which I'm accustomed). My style is bold >so that was okay, but I wasn't prepared for those splits. Ordinarily they >wouldn't bother me, but after seeing the quality of work we have from other >Baren members, I feel pretty insecure. Now I feel I must do the whole thing >over on another kind of wood. Gayle, [this is a long one, folks] I'd like to add a bit to Dave's ideas on the benefits/downfalls of influence. As a case in point, I will use an experience I had with a friend on Friday night: Like many other cities, Philadelphia has monthly "First Friday" events during which all the galleries have opening receptions, etc. I usually hate attending this to-do because the crowds of drunken and obnoxious gawkers combined with often downright terrible things hung on the wall make for an unpleasant evening. However, a friend persuaded me to accompany her this month as some people that she knew where having openings and we could all go out for drinks and dinner afterwards. As it turned out, we made a late start and only had time to hit one or two of our intended stops. My friend was trained as a printmaker (woodcut and lithography, mostly), but lack of a print shop has led her to explore other artistic outlets. In recent years, she has been doing these amazing and provocative things with textiles and embroidery but hasn't attempted to show them publicly because she felt they didn't represent 'high' art. She felt the things she was making didn't seem to fit any particular niche like paintings or sculpture. In two different galleries that night we came across objects in the very mediums she has been toying with; but these things on display were utter crap -- ill-conceived, poorly constructed, devoid of content, and _ugly_. What my friend decided was that if this junk could be shown in a respectable gallery, she could certainly get her own work "out there" because it was lightyears better. Seeing that stuff was just the kick in the pants and self-esteem my friend needed to realize the value of her own work. Don't fret over whether your own work is 'good enough' for everyone else to see. If you work as hard as possible in your art to please yourself, you will exceed most other's expectations. You may never be completely satisfied with your work (if you are, you might as well stop doing it), but the drive to make it better in your own eyes will push your work to new heights. Also remember, there is always someone out there who will look at what you do and say, "I wish _I_ could do that!" Mise le meas, James Mundie, Philadelphia USA ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1998 16:57:11 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Baren 2052] Re: Baren Digest V5 #337 Richard wrote: >wipe a thin layer of Elmer's Glue over the lines. Somebody wrote: >What a new idea! Does anybody else on Baren do this? Some time back I explained the use of Varnish before and after carving the block. If you apply two very thin coats (Varnish cut 50% with thinners) it will tough up the wood to allow very fine lines. This is especially important with Basswood which is much softer than cherry. The advantage is that when printing with water base pigments it won't desolve and is reinforcement. Granted it is not strong as the glue, but heck you can't have everything. Graham/Victoria BC ------------------------------ From: mkrieger@mb.sympatico.ca Date: Mon, 09 Nov 1998 19:11:58 -0600 Subject: [Baren 2053] Registration Mary Krieger/ Winnipeg Richard asked how do I keep things lined up? Well, I'm not entirely satisfied with my solution but it will do until I find something better. I did try using kento, the carved key marks in the corners of my blocks but something always seemed to be going wrong. I think the problem was not with the kento but with me. I would measure twice and still cut them in the wrong place or decide to print the block upside down on the second colour or some other bizarre idea. Now I carve my blocks right to the edge. I have the plywood cut by the lumber yard to two standard sizes. Their saw is sharper and causes less chipping at the edge. By using standard sizes it is easy to add blocks in and saves money on framing as matts and frames can be reused for different images (also simplifies pricing - I just decide on one price for each size and for colour/black and white.) I print my blocks face down on the press. This helps reduce the paper dropping into the block and picking up more ink than I intended. I also don't get any embossment. I'm not sure still if the lack of embossment is an advantage or disadvantage. I use a little jig made out of heavy cardboard or scrap foam core to line up the block on the paper for the first colour. This keeps me from printing crooked, a habit that I found infuriatingly hard to break. After that, I eyeball it. It's not as bad as it sounds. With the print face up on the press bed and the same block (for the most part) being printed again, I line up the small irregularities of one edge, check that the adjacent sides seem about right and gently drop the block down. It is close enough for my work and the little bit of vibration that one gets from the overlapping successive printing is also part of the effect. Thanks for asking, Richard. Mary Krieger http://www.mts.net/~mkrieger ------------------------------ From: Jean Eger Date: Mon, 09 Nov 1998 22:25:13 -0800 Subject: [Baren 2054] Re: Baren Digest V5 #337 Welcome Lynita Shimizu, I look forward to your insights and suggestions about traditional printmaking methods. You have a wonderful sounding name. Please tell us a little bit about how you happened to study in Japan. Your sentence, "My watercolors started looking like they should be woodblocks so in '74, I wandered to Japan in search of a teacher," was pregnant with adventure. I love the way you use the Japanese words so fluently--Hanga and mokuhanga. What is the difference? Also, I want to more formally welcome my woodcutting comrade Donna Fenstermaker (DeArt1@aol.com). I urged Donna to come on board because I know what a great artist she is, and especially for all her good work on the California Society of Printmakers and for organizing a women woodcutters group which meets in her studio twice a month, of which I am a member! It is so hard to work in isolation. One always needs the input, information, comradery and good cheer from fellow artists. I am so grateful to Donna for not accepting excuses why I can't drive through the night through the "maze" at the foot of the Bay Bridge--with cars madly changing lanes every which way, at high speeds, to get to her studio. There I can work on my woodcut for our "cutting women" print exchange. Then on the way home I took the newly opened direct route back to Richmond which directs my car to an overpass that feels like it is seven stories above the ground--not good for one who is afraid of heights. But if I can make it to Oakland for the cutting women group, I get news of print shows all over this Bay area and beyond, great technical tips, and most of all, I get to work next to some really dedicated women artists. Thanks to Donna, who is a real leader! Welcome to Baren, Donna! Jean Eger ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V5 #339 ***************************