[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking. Baren Digest Tuesday, 28 December 1999 Volume 09 : Number 835 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Daniel Dew" Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 10:06:20 -0500 Subject: [Baren 7293] Re: Xmas Message ... Wow, I joined your group on Thursday and by today I've recieved 48 e-mails! Unfortunately, my original question was never answered: to this date, I've only done lino cuts, can I still play? Dan Dew ------------------------------ From: Wanda Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 07:29:52 -0800 Subject: [Baren 7294] Welcome Dan! You bet! It's only a hop, skip & jump from lino to wood! Welcome, Dan! I don't remember seeing your original question, though. Tell us all about yourself. Wanda ------------------------------ From: "Daniel Dew" Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 11:14:41 -0500 Subject: [Baren 7295] Re: Welcome Dan! Well, as you already know, my name is Daniel Dew. I was a student at the Art Academy Of Cincinnati from 1979-1982, majoring in printmaking (etching & litho). Since then, I've become a family man and business man. During the day I am the Vice President of an Equipmenty Leasing Company. We finance equipment for businesses and schools (hey, anyone need a press financed?). During my off time, I've been a painter, sculptor, handyman, etc... In 1997, I did my first lino-cut as a way to explain to my nine year old daughter about Gutenburg. Well, she learned about relief printing and I was hooked. Since then, I've had my work in a few shows and I am hoping to get my work into the show in Miami. Stay tuned, I will try to scan some of my stuff and post it so you can see what I do. I'm excited about the print exchange. Most of my stuff is reduction block work, using up to 16 colors. I work in mainly water based ink as well. I know, I know, but it looks so cool. It's nice to know that you are not alone, I get tired of explaining to people I know about what a relief print is and why the image is backwards! See ya soon :) ------------------------------ From: CHRISTY BLANK Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 10:22:32 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Baren 7297] Re: Statements in our Work. Wanda asked me to tell you about myself.. Well, I'm an art teacher by trade and a printer by preference. I have been printing for 7 years and work mostly in intaglio and wood. I live just outside of Dallas, Texas. I love history. I have a degree in it and have been a member of an historical recreation group for 11 years now. My favorite period is the Renaissance. (If I ever become independently wealthy I want to learn German and attend the art school in the top floor of Durer's house. It's so cool, any one been there?) I really have enjoyed the personality of the group. I look forward to my first exchange. Christina ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 10:27:09 -0800 Subject: [Baren 7298] Re: Welcome Dan! >I'm excited about the print exchange. Most of my stuff is reduction block >work, using up to 16 colors. >It's nice to know that you are not alone, I get tired of explaining to >people I know about what a relief print is and why the image is backwards! Dan, Welcome Two thingies I can respond about or is that to..... Obviously too much grog... One thingie....... >I work in mainly water based ink as well. I >know, I know, but it looks so cool. The water base pigment is the real stuff. The oil base stuff is greasy kids stuff..... Oh....it's not even 2000 and I am at 'em. Two thingies It is good to be a disciple and educate the dummies. Ops, big trouble now.. Graham Compliments of the Season ------------------------------ From: Jack Reisland Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 21:55:59 -1000 Subject: [Baren 7300] Re: Washi > http://www.kippo.or.jp/culture/washi/index_e.htm I had a chance to read through this site last night, very interesting, I recommend it too. Thanks for pointing it out. Jack ------------------------------ From: Julio.Rodriguez@walgreens.com Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 14:01:34 -0600 Subject: [Baren 7301] Re: silly question Hi this is off topic....but maybe someone can help me out ....maybe Jack ? I got an old manual that's been sitting for years (20+) and the pages are now "stuck" together really bad....probably from humidity or whatever.....Is there a way to separate the pages without tearing the whole thing apart ???? I have it soaking in a tub of water....hoping that the pages will come apart ???? HELP !!!! I don't think I can replace it...(it's from an old Zenith Trans-Oceanic Radio circa early 60's). Any help would be appreciated... Julio ------------------------------ From: "Philip Smith" Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 13:17:46 -0800 Subject: [Baren 7305] Re: silly question charset="iso-8859-1" Julio, ' tub of water???Hummmm,..... I was going to suggest hanging it and steaming gently,........but this work. Philip ------------------------------ From: Studio Dalwood Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 20:50:52 +1100 Subject: [Baren 7306] Methyl Cellulose Welcome Christina, glad you're out of lurking and looking forward to seeing yours and all the other works in #5. It has to be as exciting as the dragons? Graham, yes it does attrach printmakers. This was my first exposure to it. As a media for chine colle. The method I saw was the dry powder was sprinked onto the colle whilst it was on the plate (on the press bed) which seemed wastful to me. Making it up as a paste seems to be a much better idea. The other use (which I have been using) is as size in my hand made paper. Still working on the proportions, but the paper seems to be nicely sized from what I have done so far. Thanks for the paste recipes, didnt have them. Now that I have learned that PVA is not as acid free in the long term as I was first led to believe, it gives even more incentive to use it. Thanks everyone for the states info, specially the url, now I can look them up. Josephine ------------------------------ From: Gary Luedtke Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 17:44:11 -0500 Subject: [Baren 7307] The Ultimate....... Nothing to do with Graham's earlier posting. Dave, I noticed our membership has grown considerably and yet the members page has remained pretty much the same for the last year. I was just looking at it a moment ago, and had to laugh at your silhouettes for those with no photo i.d. We posted recently about your surimono where the deceased artists studio has a silhouette of him on the wall, a kind of spiritual reminder, and noticed the silhouettes you use for the male members with no photo look amazingly like you! Nice touch! Your spirit does of course pervade Baren throughout, but I like the subliminal suggestion anyway. I was looking for some e-mail addresses to send thanks to for the dragons I have received. Not to clutter up the Baren postings with them each time I receive one, I thought maybe we had folk's e-mail addresses somewhere, as the list Pete sent out had street addresses only. Pete, do you possibly have a listing of e-mail addresses for those participating? Some are on the Baren Gallery page, but others are not. Thanks. Gary ------------------------------ From: David Bull Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 08:19:06 +0900 Subject: [Baren 7308] New members ... Mostly 'Administrivia' ... *** Welcome to the new members who 'popped up' this week ... May I ask please, that those of you new to this list head over to the main web site at: http://woodblock.com ... and browse through the FAQ you find there - the one about 'list rules and etiquette'? You will find there such info as 'Please don't send attachments to the list' ... (A couple of attachments came in this morning, but were luckily 'trapped' by the server before re-sending out to everybody. They were 2Mb in size, and took me 12 minutes to download. As I am located a long-distance telephone call from my nearest ISP access point, that sort of thing can be not only frustrating, but expensive.) If you have pictures you would like to show the group, please upload them to the woodblock.com FTP site at: ftp://woodblock.com/incoming ... and then send me an email (off-list) letting me know that they are there, as I don't check every day automatically ... Thanx *** Oh, by the way, the two illustrations I received this morning have been re-sized for easier downloading, and you can see them at: http://woodblock.com/forum/members/dew/psalm137.jpg http://woodblock.com/forum/members/dew/proverbs31.jpg Interesting pictures, Dan! And yes, we have no problems with lino work - - it's so closely related to 'normal' woodblock work that there is no reason to discriminate against it. There are even some materials in the Library on using lino - check out the stuff by Ernest Watson in there ... *** It's maybe also a good time to repeat again, a request for everybody - new members and old - to try and trim off the 'unused' quoted material that tags on at the end of many postings. Although _you_ may not find these quotes annoying in any way, those members who subscribe in the 'digest' format find it extremely bothersome. Please try and help make life easier for them. *** Exchange #5 is now more than halfway subscribed, and I suspect that by the middle of next week, when things on the list get back to normal after the holidays, the remainder of the spaces will fill in quite quickly. If you've been waiting for your chance to be an 'Exchanger', then don't wait too much longer! *** I received an Exchange sign-up from 'Sharri LaPierre', but can't find her on the membership list for [Baren], so have left her off the sign-up sheet. Sharri, are you perhaps here under a different name? Let me know, please ... *** Maria, the coordinator for Exchange#4 (which should be wrapping up very soon now) is still apparently on holiday, so may I step in and remind those participants who haven't done so yet, to please go the the web site and fill in the information on your print title, etc. http://woodblock.com/forum/exchange/exchange_4/exchangedetails.html Dave ------------------------------ From: Julio.Rodriguez@walgreens.com Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 17:40:17 -0600 Subject: [Baren 7309] Florida Dan Dan writes: "Wow, I joined your group on Thursday and by today I've received 48 e-mails! Unfortunately, my original question was never answered: to this date, I've only done lino cuts, can I still play?" You are lucky....it's slow season here at baren, wait till some of the regulars recover from the festivities or return from far-away places....48 a day is more like it! Regarding linocuts .......while the techniques are somewhat similar........the Baren exchanges are only open to WOODBLOCK prints. Obviously you can reference the Baren encyclopedia, participate in the forum, teach us some stuff, read an online book, etc, etc.......but I think the line is drawn at the exchanges....only handpulled woodblock prints are acceptable. Welcome aboard for exchange #5. Speaking of linocuts....has anyone used TUCONIL as an alternative to methyl cellulose ? I heard is pretty strong stuff, hard as a floor and you have to dilute it like 1:1000 to get it to working strength! It's also very slippery stuff. Julio (feeling stupid for being in icy-cold Chicago while 90% of my relatives live in balmy Florida!) ps. Gary; I sort of started a list of emails based on exchange participation 1-4....if you need any specific ones, send me a private email...I'll dig thru. ------------------------------ From: Julio.Rodriguez@walgreens.com Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 17:46:21 -0600 Subject: [Baren 7310] new web-sites Found a couple of interesting sites dealing with galleries/exhibitions while doing some research for the library show.... Graham....this one is right up your alley!!!! http://www.slowart.com/parasite/ Also check out this one by the same group.... http://users.aol.com/slowart/info.htm http://users.aol.com/slowart/images.htm Check out the "fatties"....... Julio ps. I wonder how many new dragons have made their way to my backyard today ? So far eleven have arrived... www.skokienet.org/bandits/jcrstuff/dragons.html ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1999 17:15:54 -0800 Subject: [Baren 7313] Sample of Kozo Philip, I got the chance to day to test that paper.... When I wet the paper there is so little body to it, that picking it up is a problem. I looked to see what side to print on there was no way of telling the smooth side from the rough side when wet. You have to mark the back, on a corner with a pencil, so you know the side you need to print. Even then the paper is so thin that it was hard to tell which side had the pencil mark. Having struggled through that I found that when printing one colour it was fine. Printing two colours that were close register was all but impossible. The paper is so flimsy that the kento cuts on the corner would not easily position into the corner without the paper bunching and therefore throwing off the registration. When I applied a third colour the paper was saturated and the pigment beaded over the previously printed area. I recomment you use this paper for sending notes and letters to your friends ..... they will be impressed by what looks like hand made Japanese THIN paper. My thinnest paper is probably 5 or 6 times thicker that this stuff. It may have been cheep and it is. You get what you pay for. I hope you didn't by a lot. Graham ------------------------------ From: "John Ryrie" Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 12:47:32 +1100 Subject: [Baren 7314] Re: silly question Welcome Christine is there information available on this school in Duress's house or an address where I could get some info? Welcome also Dan I like the prints your signature is good to. Julio One way of getting pages apart is with starch past, working it in between the pages with a brush. This will soften the stuff that's sticking the pages together but is thick enough to not Soak through the paper to much. But as you have soaked the whole thing in water then the best thing is to leave it as long as it takes to separate. The important thing is to not rush it wet paper is very week and you can't force to come apart before it's ready. You will need to re bind the book there are a lot of books on this subject. When the pages do come apart putt them between blotting paper or boards as you would to dry etchings, and leave for several days this will ensure that they dry flat. If the pages are not clearly numbered be shore to make a note of there order. I hope this is of some help. John ------------------------------ From: "John Ryrie" Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 13:41:05 +1100 Subject: [Baren 7315] Re: Statements in our Work. Welcome Christina I think out of the venues on this subject so far this is the one that I can relate to most, though I liked Dave's ideas as well. For me the Idea or subject of a work is only a catalyse for the making of a work of art. What I mean is that I think of the subject as a bit like a Mantra or a Koan is to meditation, something you must get passed before real creativity can begin. What gives me the greatest pleasure when I am working is watching the images come out I can't anticipate nor would I wish to weather they will be dark, light or funny. Attempting to control my work in these way would be to suppress my creativity. There's a quote that I like from John Cage, speaking to Philip Guston. I don't have it hear but the gist of it went: "When you are in your studio and begin to paint, all of your teachers, critics, contemporaries and the artists of the past are with you. Slowly as you proceed to work they begin to leave one by one. Then if you are very lucky even you, your self will leave". John ------------------------------ From: Jack Reisland Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 05:19:52 -1000 Subject: [Baren 7317] Re: silly question > I got an old manual that's been sitting for years (20+) and the pages are now > "stuck" together really bad OK, now that it is in a tub of water, leave it there until the pages separate, don't pull it apart or you will lift the ink. Gently separate the pages when they will come apart easily. Once it is all separated, you will have to carefully unbind the whole thing. How is it bound? Not glue, I hope. Once you have all the pages apart, you can dry them between blotters, with pressure, rather like drying prints. Remember, the paper will have very little wet strength, unlike washi, so be very careful. Lift them out of the water with something under them to support it. Change the blotters often so that it dries quickly, or you will get mold. Once every thing is dry, you can rebind it. Good luck, and welcome to the world of book restoration. Jack ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V9 #835 ***************************