[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking. Baren Digest Friday, 26 February 1999 Volume 06 : Number 461 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Cucamongie@aol.com Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 08:04:15 EST Subject: [Baren 3220] Re: Ink and Barens >what is a ballbearing baren? I visualize something like a bean bag. I know I'm not April but I have used her ball bearing baren - and will be buying one for myself in the near future - it truly feels like using a power tool. It is the usual disk shape w/ball bearings on the bottom, so it rolls over the paper. If you're using thin paper to print, it's best to put some sort of barrier paper in between so you don't tear up the print paper. It's particularly good for printing big areas of a print - it can sometimes be hard to get these big areas smooth, and this type of baren makes it a lot easier - and you don't have to press down nearly as hard - Best regards, Sarah ------------------------------ From: Cucamongie@aol.com Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 08:10:48 EST Subject: [Baren 3221] Re: brush softening John wrote: > I would like to issue a general S.O.S. on brush softening: John - the point of singing the brush & rubbing it against the dragonskin is to split all the hairs of the brush so you have more brush to pick up the paint. It doesn't necessarily feel so soft even when it is well-conditioned. Try it out - it sounds like it's probably ready to use - good luck! Sarah ------------------------------ From: David Bull Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 23:02:08 +0900 Subject: [Baren 3222] Re: Ink and Barens Elizabeth wrote: > What is a ballbearing baren? I visualize > something like a bean bag. Could you supply a cross-section sketch??? There is a pic on the page at: http://www.woodblock.com/encyclopedia/entries/001_02/001_02_frame.html *** John wrote: > I would like to issue a general S.O.S. on brush softening: Sounds like you're generally doing the right sort of thing, but maybe a couple of things ... I've been told by printers here that before rubbing the brush on the sharkskin, it helps to stand it in a pan of warm water for a couple of hours to soften the hair. When rubbing, really bear down and dig in. You should see a sort of brown dust start to build up on the skin right away - fragments of hair. Ten, fifteen minutes should be more than enough. Some sharkskins are great ... some don't work at all. As for that stuff you are using, I really can't say ... The purpose of this softening is to ensure that no lines are left in the pigment on the block when doing the final delicate brushing. > the brush still pretty seems scratchy against my skin. It should feel almost like sable when rubbed against your cheek ... (But don't get the idea from that, that you _can_ use a sable brush. The hairs must be firm and stiff, or you'll never get good smooth coverage on the wood. It's just the _tips_ that must be soft ...) Dave ------------------------------ From: Cucamongie@aol.com Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 09:35:15 EST Subject: [Baren 3223] Re: Ink and Barens Dave wrote: > (But don't get the idea from that, that you _can_ use a sable brush. > The hairs must be firm and stiff, or you'll never get good smooth > coverage on the wood. It's just the _tips_ that must be soft ...) I think that's what I meant when I said that the brush doesn't necessarily feel so soft -- - -- Sarah ------------------------------ From: Gayle Wohlken Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 10:31:49 -0500 Subject: [Baren 3224] Re: Baren Digest V6 #460 Graham said: > I some how thing you guy's Gayle and Jeanne should be taking a workshop. > Your flustration is beyond our tolerance. (<; > > I know of a good one in Sidney this summer. (<: That probably wouldn't be a bad idea, Graham; however, Jim's retired and I don't work. I play with art all day if I can. I guess I'm saying it might cost more than I can afford right now. And how can we know for sure you won't greet us wearing that plastic raincoat. I know you said you wouldn't, but.... :--D Gayle ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 07:32:43 -0800 Subject: [Baren 3225] Re: Ink and Barens >Eliz wrote, >>To Graham......Notice in the latest issue of the Smithsonian Magazine an >article about your wonderful Canadian impressionist artist Emily Carr. As >they observe, she is sadly unknown in this country. Emily Carr is one of Canada's icons. She lived and worked out of Victoria not Vancouver as you mentioned Gary. Her little cottage in Oak Bay, which is a part of Victoria, has be preserved and is now a museum art gallery dedicated to her. She is more famous out here than the Group of Seven. She is better known here than say Jackson Pollock, Georgia OKeefe, Peter Swarren. etc etc. A.Y. Jackson was one of the founding members of the Group of Seven. Does anybody know the names of the artist that comprised the Group.? Regards, Graham ------------------------------ From: "Jean Eger" Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 07:38:36 -0800 Subject: [Baren 3226] Re: Baren Digest V6 #460 GRaham, If buy 10 board feet of basswood for $85, that's $8.50 per board foot. Then if it is resawn to 20 board feet for $35, that brings the price to $120 for 20 board feet. So it would cost $6 per board foot ultimately, if my math is right. When I get the boards back from them I'll let you know what they look like. Goody, you will come visit us in the Bay Area with your wood! Glad to know the prospect of working with rice paste is daunting to others. Jean Eger ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 07:51:07 -0800 Subject: [Baren 3227] Re: Baren Digest V6 #460 Gayle wrote.... >I guess I'm saying it might cost more than I can >afford right now. Yes I can relate to the limited income thingy.... It is to bad we weren't closer and you could drive over to attend. If you guy's do any camping there is a provincial campsite a mile down the road and it would be very convenient. Jim could do the cooking and you could get cooking. Just a thought. Graham ------------------------------ From: "Jean D Parus" Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 12:50:18 -0500 Subject: [Baren 3228] new membeintro Hi, I'm an artist and am introducing my self as a new member. I am a 74 graduate of the School of Museum of Fine Arts in Boston,Mass. where I majored in technical painting & sculpture. I have only cut one woodblock print in my entire life , though I have done quite a few etchings and aquatints. I have always been interested in woodblock, however, did not like most of what I had seen and could find no good information to learn the techniques of the prints I did like (mostly Japanese). Last year, I stumbled across some Kuniyoshi prints on the web and David Bull's site and it completely captured my imagination. Unfortunately, I don't have a homepage to show, but am hoping to get one up in 99. I am carving a print of a dragon in cherry and tried to get the message to a few members of Baren about a good site to get clear face cherry. I am using a hodge-podge of tools that is a combination of what I had on hand (dental tools, dremel, small chisels ... etc.) ... even though I have graduated from an art school, I am a beginner in this endeavor and am hungry for all the info that I can get. I read some posting where someone was trimming brushes? When I get this e-mail thing down, I have some good stuff to throw into the info heap on that one since I have trimmed brushes for years... like many "starving artists" I have taken jobs in sign shops and they regularly trim brushes set in quills that remind me of the Japanese brushes used for calligraphy. They set them on pieces of glass (ground or roughened)and trim them with razor blades. Often they shape the hairs with starch or vegetable oil to get it to lie in an orderly fashion so that they can get clean cuts to shape the edge of the brush. Its only the old-timers ... almost a lost skill to hand letter(and shape their brush) ....I know its not woodblock but if anyone wants to exchange info on that subject ... I know a little and would like to hear any tips or information on Japanese calligraphy brushes too. I think that the Dick Blick art supply catalog has a good book on brushes in general .I used the rice paste & paper to put my first picture onto the block , however, I envision a time when I will want to paint directly on the block (hence the interest in brushes). Nice to meet you! -- Jean D Parus -- ------------------------------ From: Gregory Robison Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 21:40:33 +0300 Subject: [Baren 3229] Re: Baren Digest V6 #460 Kampala, 25 February 1999 Jean wrote: >If buy 10 board feet of basswood for $85, that's $8.50 per board foot. Then >if it is resawn to 20 board feet... Alas, a board foot cannot be created by this sort of alchemy, regardless of how reasonable the sawyer's charges seem. A board foot is a unit of volume equal to the cubic contents of a piece of wood one foot by one foot by one inch. Sawing is never additive, from the point of view of board feet. Each additional pass through a piece of processing equipment does add costs to the (ever diminishing) board feet of the part or product. Just a point of terminology. Still, go for the best price you can get! ------------------------------ From: Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 11:00:07 -0800 Subject: [Baren 3230] ink buildup to Elizabeth, Ink build-up can be a problem. There are a few ways I try to deal with it. First of all I us the thinnest layers of ink I can which means using the largest smoothest roller available for applying the ink. I print using the reduction method which means printing one layer of ink over another but to keep layers to a minimum I also use multiple blocks with only one family of colors per block. One for blues, one for yellows, etc. I also vary the pressure of the press. Generally I lighten the pressure just slightly as the layers build up. This allows the newest layer to be laid on top without being smashed into the previous colors. And one more variable to work with is the dryness of the inks. Usually I have no trouble with printing over fresh ink, sometimes however and this seems to happen mostly when I am adding a final layer of black, the inks mix to much muddying the color. When this happens I let the print dry for a few day to a week and then print the fresh ink over the dried ones and the color stays intense. No matter what we do the ink does become a texture on the surface of the paper unlike the watercolor method which is absorbed into the paper like a dye. to Kirsten, I think I sent work to that gallery over 10 years ago. At the time the cost was $50-70. something in there. They hung the work for a month and then kept slides on view for a longer period. I received some nice comments but never sold anything and moved on to more fruitful endeavors. $1,000.00 is a complete rip off and sounds like a very successful scam for the gallery owners, assuming of course anyone is foolish enough to send them money. maybe we should open our own gallery, send out prospectus, charge hundreds, retire early.... spend our free time creating art. Andrea ------------------------------ From: Julio.Rodriguez@walgreens.com Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 14:46:51 -0600 Subject: [Baren 3231] re:Group of Seven 1920-1932 Graham...........this from a web-site on the net..... http://www.tomthomson.org/intro01.htm "The great purpose of landscape art is to make us at home in our own country." Algomaxim "This quote, and the ones that follow, were called "Algomaxims," a word created to express the sentiments of the soon to be created Group of Seven. In 1920, J.E.H. MacDonald, Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, Franklin Carmichael, F.H. Varley and Frank Johnston officially formed this now famous group. These were painters bitten by the Canadian north who, for the first time, took on the task of painting the great power, scenery and spirit of their land. This truly Canadian art movement was started, not by professional painters, but by a loose association of acquaintances who travelled north from Toronto on their vacations to paint and relax. The modern Canadian so called 'school', was inspired as the result of a direct contact with nature itself. " JULIO {:-) ------------------------------ From: "Jeanne N. Chase" Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 15:57:19 -0500 Subject: [Baren 3232] Re: new membeintro Welcome to the club, Jean. We now have 3 Jeans. Your information on trimming brushes was really informative. Already you have something of value to share with us! Jeanne ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 14:40:01 -0800 Subject: [Baren 3233] Re:Group of Seven 1920-1932 Julio wrote.... >"This quote, and the ones that follow ... Hurray.......you get the prize Regards, Graham ------------------------------ From: Gary Luedtke Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 17:56:57 -0500 Subject: [Baren 3234] Re: Ink and Barens Graham wrote, >A.Y. Jackson was one of the founding members of the Group of Seven. >Does anybody know the names of the artist that comprised the Group.? Yes Graham, I've studied and admire the work of most of them, particularly Tom Thomson and some of Fred Varley's, and the other fellow whose name escapes me right now, did some spectacular falls and Fall scenes. I'll think of his name later. Not Casson or Milne, or Carmichael or Johnston, but the other one. I remember it as possibly a Scottish name? Clarence Gagnon did some terrific work also, though not a Group member, actually some of the finest by my book, especially his illustration paintings for "Maria Chapdelaine". Those are the most awesome collection of paintings I've ever seen. Absolutely astounding sense of color, dramatic lighting, theme, and so on. You're right, Graham, about Emily Carr being from Victoria. I pulled out one of her books last night and read a bit. Klee Wyck. Sounds like she was quite a character, kinda like you, Graham. She pushed her baby buggy down the street with her pet monkey in it, and was taken as a real "nut" by the community. Of course the similarity ends before the nut clause, Graham, as we know better. You're just a cellophane raincoat flasher! Gary ------------------------------ From: David Bull Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 08:29:08 +0900 Subject: [Baren 3235] New URL Here's a goodie that came in this morning: http://spectacle.berkeley.edu/~fiorillo It's a comprehensive web site on the Japanese print; not 'how to make them', but scholarly material on their artistic and historical aspects. Great stuff! Dave ------------------------------ From: Sherpsm@aol.com Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 18:54:37 EST Subject: [Baren 3236] Re:Group of Seven 1920-1932 Graham When I am in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver or any Canadian City I always see what the local museum as in the Group and its extended members. The US is deprived of this powerful work. Joe ------------------------------ From: "Gregory D. Valentine" Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 19:11:50 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Baren 3237] Group of 7 Graham-- the Group of Seven: Tom Thomson (died before group was formed,) Lawren Harris, F. H. Varley, J. E. H. MacDonald, Franklin Carmichael, Arthur Lismer, A. Y. Jackson (all original members,) A.J. Casson, L.L. FitzGerald, Edwin Holgate (new members added in the early thirties.) From 'The Best of the Group of Seven', Joan Murray, Hurtig, 1984 Some of us yanks have heard of them, and Emily Carr, too! ------------------------------ From: (Daniel Kelly) Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 23:22:58 -0500 (EST) Subject: [Baren 3238] Another round Hi all, Do to Julio's suggestion, I'm back and listening. I'm glad to know there are two types of forums and hope the facts on woodblocks are ready to be carved up. D ------------------------------ From: David Bull Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 13:32:01 +0900 Subject: [Baren 3239] I received this email this afternoon, and after taking a quick peek, think that many of the [Baren] members will find the web site quite interesting ... Dave Received: from Sashadezyn@aol.com Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 18:18:43 EST To: editor@woodblock.com Subject: Invitation I'm impressed by your site and organization. I am an artist and I work for a web-site in San Francisco called http://www.artmecca.com I'd like you to consider linking your articles to our artnews section. Also feel free to link yourselves in the Mecca links area. If you would like you may offer 5-10 of your members a 6 months free cybergallery with no obligation to continue**,see note/addendum. The average charge for 6 months, 18 images, 2 links, a personal bio and a 30 second audio is $60.00. We will have e- commerce in 3 weeks time and art auctions scheduled to start in April. So plan ahead. We've recently been getting a lot of nationwide attention and have new affiliations with the noted San Francisco Open Studios, Crafts Report, and two art-book research links; one of the top five sites and one large educational institution. Our vision and goal is to be a worldwide art portal, for artists, galleries and all related research institutions pertaining to the arts. We are linked with over 1200 Art Museums worldwide and all major search engines and are growing at a rapid pace. ~**Kindly consider this aspect of the invitation good for two weeks from this date~ Thanks again and best wishes, Alexandra Manion 415-512-7003 1-800-414-4230 alex_artmecca@hotmail.com sashadezyn@aol.com ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V6 #461 ***************************