[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking. Baren Digest Sunday, 13 June 1999 Volume 07 : Number 595 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: David Bull Date: Sun, 13 Jun 1999 00:51:38 +0900 Subject: [Baren 4635] Re: Shark skin saga Gary wrote: > I don't know how large your sharkskins are but when I mounted one last > year I did it this way without any problems. I used no glue at all. I > simply stretched the wet skin over the mounting board and used upholstery > tacks around the edges. Put a lot of them in because as it dries, it gets > tight as a drum and will pull out the tacks if you don't have enough in. > Still tight as a drum a year later. But how much has it been used? Remember, the brushes are wet when they are rubbed on the skin, which thus starts to soften up again as it is used. Without a support of glue underneath, I wonder if it would become loose and floppy. Should be OK I guess if you just do one brush once in a while, giving the skin time to firm up again, but if you are the kind of person who saves up a bunch of brushes to do all at once, then you might run into problems. *** Jeanne wrote: > Utagawa Kurimasa, ... printed in 1888. > Does he sound familiar to you? You perhaps mean Kunimasa ... who was one of a zillion 'Kunixxxx' artists working in that era, which was Ukiyoe's last gasp before the printing presses rolled in ... *** Roxanne wrote: > Praemium Imperiale Award, ... > Dave, do you know who any of the past recipients of this award have been? Sorry Roxanne, but I don't follow this sort of thing. I see the notice go by in my newspaper every year, but don't pay much attention to it. I did notice that this year's award went to Kiefer, and if I see any follow-up stories with more info, I'll post them ... *** I got a request in the mail yesterday, and I can't answer it - but maybe one of the [Baren] people can ... > I'm wondering if you can help me find a book I once saw - it featured > about 7 or so contemporary japanese printmakers and had great examples > of their work, step by step so you could understand the process they > went through to create their art. I believe the name was something like > "Contemporary Japanese Printmaking (Printmakers?)" or "(Seven?) > Contemporary Printmakers." Do you know of it? If you do, I'd sure > appreciate getting the actual title and author so I can do a search for > it. > > Thanks a bunch. > > Melanie Bartmess > mbartmess@worldnet.att.net Thanx Dave ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 09:02:22 -0700 Subject: [Baren 4636] Re: Pigments Jack wrote.... >Are these dry pigments, or in a water carrier? The prices seem similar to >those at Sinopia, theirs are dry. They are at: http://www.sinopia.com . >They are located in San Francisco, and may or may not be more convenient for >some people. At least for me, shipping from Canada is a little steep. Water carrier and liquid form Have them shipped via post. It is the cheapest and trouble free way. Graham ------------------------------ From: woodcuts@concentric.net (D. Joseph/R. Sexauer) Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 08:18:02 -0800 Subject: [Baren 4637] Re: Baren Digest V7 #593 Jean wrote: > My mother has an etching that your father (I think) made of a man >in a wide brimmed hat with his face all in shadow. That was your father, >who was a famous printmaker, right? Dear Jean, Unfortunately, no relation, at least that I know of. I believe your mother's print is by Donald Sexauer, who teaches in South Carolina? He & I are more or less contemporaries, although he has a few years on me. Roxanne ------------------------------ From: Sherpsm@aol.com Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 13:38:03 EDT Subject: [Baren 4638] Re: Shark skin saga Graham Have you tried a spray adhesive? Something like "Spray 77" It is fairly strong, sprays on and is similar to a contact cement. Good luck. Joe ------------------------------ From: Sherpsm@aol.com Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 13:57:49 EDT Subject: [Baren 4639] Re: Book "Contemporary Printmaking in Japan" Melanie wrote: > I'm wondering if you can help me find a book I once saw - There is a book that I have and I am not sure if it is the one you are refering to: Contemporary Printmaking In Japan by Ronald G. Robertson With the Techniques and Prints of Six Leading Japanese Wood-Block Artists 170 Illustrations plus 35 in color. by Crown Publishers, Inc. New York copyright by Zokeisha Publications Lmited, Japan 1965 The Artists included in the book with their the work are: Umetaro Azechi, Hideo Hagiwara, Sho Kidokoro, Hiroyuki Tajima, Fumio Kitaoka and Hodaka Yoshida. Joe S. ------------------------------ From: "Jeanne N. Chase" Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 16:16:42 -0400 Subject: [Baren 4640] Lights I am about to change ALL of my lighting in my studio. There is virtually no North light at all. My main room, where I do my Oil painting and drawing is the darkest of all and I have the tubular lights that cast a yellow glow. (they just went out}. In my print room I have lights that affix to various drafting tables and the print area. With all of the experience out there, what seems to be the best choice for lighting. Should I concentrate on tubular lights or single lights that can be moved from place to place. I know there are daylight bulbs , but are those the best. I notice that Dave has a movable light. What bulb do you use for your woodblock printing. I realize this is probably a simple question, but I believe it is an important one and I welcome your input. Jeanne ------------------------------ From: April Vollmer/John Yamaguchi Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 16:41:27 -0400 Subject: [Baren 4641] Sophia, Italy, BC Vacation news: ITALY was great! I saw only a few woodcuts, and oil base at that, though there was a Hokusai show somewhere in Milan. We opted for Piero della Francesca instead, only because we didn't have time for both. I don't know how Italy ended up with such a large proportion of the world's art, but it sure was a pleasure to soak it up for two weeks. Lots of new ideas for crazy cross-cultural prints. Gregory and Arafat, hope you can get in touch in Sophia! I do love these odd printmaking communications. Great that Baren can put us in touch with one another! I look forward to reports from Graham's class in B.C. too. It sounds like I will have the pleasure of meeting a few bareners this August myself at my Elderhostel Horizons class. I have enjoyed reading all the shark info from Graham and Jack, but I personally don't do shark! I will be using the second best, but much simpler, metal dragon skin! Roxanne I am envious of your shop! I finished grad school ages ago and have to supply my own computer. Wish someone would buy me a G3! I am teaching a hanga workshop at the Lower East Side Printshop this summer, but they have no computer department. I look forward to visiting you one day, though! (And BTW who is Frogman??? Must be something good if Karla H. is there.) I was not able to squeeze in a visit to Santa Reparata printshop in Florence. (We tried to keep to less crowded spots: Siena, Arezzo, Padova, Rimini.) It sounds like a great place, hope to visit one day (perhaps to meet Jean Eger's friend Linda Goodman?). I will be interested to hear more reports about their program, from Lezle perhaps? I heard that Karen Kunc will also teach there. I did have an opportunity to visit the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice. Very nice place, with some great old presses, and right on the Grand Canal. They have a year long printmaking program with some additional summer classes. Very nice people. They do a lot of handmade book projects. And Barbara Mason, do let us know about the Portland Symposium...it would be fun to have an excuse to visit Portland and meet the famous ELAINE. April Vollmer ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 14:21:56 -0700 Subject: [Baren 4642] Re: Shark skin saga Gary wrote: > I don't know how large your sharkskins are but when I mounted one last >year I did it this way without any problems. I used no glue at all. I wondered about just stapling the things to a board. Thanks I will try it. Graham ------------------------------ From: Jack Reisland Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 11:27:53 +0000 Subject: [Baren 4643] Re: Lights Jeanne wrote: > With all of the experience out there, what seems to be the best choice for > lighting. Should I concentrate on tubular lights or single lights that can > be moved from place to place... I posted something about this some time ago, but rather than look back through the archives for it, I will do it over. I use fluorescent tube lighting in my restoration studio, where accurate color matching is important. The tubes I use have a color rendering index (CRI) rating of SP65. The CRI rating is a measure of the lamps ability to render colors "naturally and normally." Sunlight is considered 100, so the higher the CRI rating of the lamp, the closer to sunlight. I get my lamps from Grainger Industrial Supply. They have over 350 locations, and can be found at grainger.com . Since accurate color rendering is not important for carving, you might consider supplementing ceiling light with a bench top lamp to provide brighter light to help see the design on the block surface. Jack R. ------------------------------ From: Jack Reisland Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 11:45:15 +0000 Subject: [Baren 4644] Re: Shark skin saga Graham wrote: > I wondered about just stapling the things to a board. Thanks I will try it. Keep in mind that most staples will rust all to heck in a short time, if you care. Probably don't need red iron oxide in all of your brushes. Jack ------------------------------ From: Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 20:18:17 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Baren 4645] Re: Book "Contemporary Printmaking in Japan" Melanie wrote: > I'm wondering if you can help me find a book I once saw This is from Ray H in Vermont. Another possibility might be the book Evolving Techniques in Japanese Woodblock Prints by Gaston Petit and Amadio Arboleda, published by Kodansha International Ltd in 1977. The six artists with example prints are Morozumi Osamu, Miyashita Toko, Noda Tetsuya, Funasaka Yoshisuke, Yoshida Hodaka, and Matsumoto Akira. ------------------------------ From: judy mensch Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 21:39:24 -0500 Subject: [Baren 4646] Re: Baren Exchange #1 MGC show To the members of the first Baren Exhchange Portfolio- Here are the people that want to be in the MGC print show: Sarah Hauser, Ray Hudson, April Vollmer, Jean Eger, Haydee Landing, James Mundie, Jeanne Norman Chase, John Amoss, Julio Rodriguez, Roxanne Sexauer, Gayle Wholken, Hideshi Yoshida, Don Furst, Andrea Rich, Elizabeth Atwood, Ray Esposito, David Bull, and Richard Steiner. Please send a check for $20. to Judy Mensch, Exhibition Committee, Manhattan Graphic Center, 481 Washington Street, New York, New York 10013. Make the check out to the Manhattan Graphics Center. This will cover plexi, backing and L hooks for hanging the show, a postcard for the opening, and what ever is left for wine etc.. at an opening in October. We'll use April's copy of the portfolio. If you've got any questions, let me know. Judy ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V7 #595 ***************************