[Baren} the mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking Baren Digest Tuesday, 4 July 2000 Volume 11 : Number1065 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Artsmadis@aol.com Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 09:25:16 EDT Subject: [Baren 10291] Re: Updates << if i do the oily technique do i need the varnish? >> I've been advised to use sanding sealer [available from paint stores] It keeps the oil based ink from soaking into the wood and especially if you are doing hand printing facilitates cleaning the woodblock after printing. Also has some slight strengthening effect on the wood. I use it diluted about half with mineral spirits [paint thinner] as otherwise it seems a little too thick. Darrell ------------------------------ From: Gayle Wohlken Date: Mon, 03 Jul 2000 11:08:31 -0400 Subject: [Baren 10296] Maria's Quest > Now before anyone starts making hurtful comments again about sausage > factories, think of this: this is the way I work, always have done things > fast, always have done things with nearly uncontrolled energy and with all > my heart and soul. There seems to be a couple kind of artists and both are legitimate. What Maria does is born of explosive energy and is a fruit that must be eaten while it is ripe or it will lose its exciting flavor. Other artists can make a wonderful wine from fermenting the fruit a long time. Neither in my opinion is the only way. We need to carry our own star within and let it lead. A note about our trip West. All the bareners we met, we like! Jim and I were shown the most gracious hospitality from Bea and Jack Gold, Jean Eger, Barbara Mason, and Graham and Marnie Scholes. I could write a chapter of a book about each of them, and did keep some notes in a little journal I carried with me. The class at Graham's studio broke the ice in the lake of my fear to try hanga. People, hanga is fun!!! If you don't expect too much from yourself from your first trials, you will be happily surprised that your design actually will look something like your original drawing. Don't be afraid to try it. Don't let all the technical talk on Baren scare you. You will be exhiliarated to discover it's more fun than it sounds. And the results are somewhat rewarding. My suggestion is to make your first design bolder and simpler, and you will come closer to getting what you want. Down the line, after you've done a few different prints, then you can try to do some pirouettes across the blocks. Anyway, if all works out, my first print will also be my exchange #6 print. One note about the people at Graham's workshop. There is nothing like working with a group of people you kind of knew before you met them. It was like coming together with a bunch of cousins you had always known you had but never met til now. Baren's people are terrific in 3-D. Watching a photo come to life is nothing short of a miracle. Gayle Wohlken ------------------------------ From: Vollmer/Yamaguchi Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 11:45:20 -0400 Subject: [Baren 10297] Re: Baren Digest V11 #1064 Danielle from Montreal, my mail to you was returned, could you let me know the proper address? Thank you! April Vollmer 174 Eldridge St, NYC 10002, 212-677-5691 http://www.aprilvollmer.com ------------------------------ From: B Mason Date: Mon, 03 Jul 2000 10:43:25 -0700 Subject: [Baren 10298] New prints Dave, I thought these were really lovely and please tell your friend so. http://woodblock.com/temporary/hagiwara01.jpg http://woodblock.com/temporary/hagiwara02.jpg It would be nice at some future date to set up an exchange with a Japanese club. We talked about this in the past, perhaps your friend could set it up when he retires. I think that 90 prints is a lot, but some of us may be brave enough. Would they trade with people who used oils instead of water based pigments? Barbara M ------------------------------ From: "Jeanne Norman Chase" Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 14:54:48 -0400 Subject: [Baren 10299] Know How You Feel re; mucho prints Maria Get to it kid!!! I know exactly how you work and feel. I usually have a large painting in the works , a couple of drawings, an etching or two and a woodblock or three. When I am passing through one room , I come to a sudden halt and work on whatever, then on to the next thing. I have so many ideas that if I live to be 150, I will still have all these fermenting in my brain, and they have to get out. Sure , they all do not turn out wonderful, some are deep sixed (like exchange 6, I just put it in the round can), and then you start again. I feel like I am always in a frenzy, but I like it. !!!!!!! There does not seem to be enough hours in the day for me. I want a ten day week, I want a 78 hour day!!! Goals are neat. I think they are the spark of creativity. Keep on a cuttin' and a printin' Maria Gayle Wonderful to hear from you again. It has been a little quiet around here with you, David, Barbara , Wanda and all the other workshop people doing their thing. Josephine Love your fantastic tree. Wow, it makes me want to look at the forest from you point of view. Ps. Has anyone here been so mad at their work that they have fleeting moments of giving it up. My Exchange 6 just got tossed. Very disappointed. Maybe woodblocks are not my thing and sometimes i think I should go back to my painting, drawing and etching. But then that wood stares up at me and out come the knife again. GGGGRRRRRR Jeanne N. ------------------------------ From: "Daniel L. Dew" Date: Mon, 03 Jul 2000 16:30:32 -0400 Subject: [Baren 10300] Giving it up Jeanne, Please don't give it up! Your work is too beatuiful and has such "feeling". Don't deprive the rest of the world of your work, try something different or new, but just don't quit. dan dew Tampa, FL ------------------------------ From: Lynita Shimizu Date: Mon, 03 Jul 2000 17:51:30 -0400 Subject: [Baren 10301] Sad News Just received word from my niece in Japan that my dear teacher, and that of several other Baren members, Tomikichiro Tokuriki, passed away on July 1, at the age 98. More than being a master printmaker, I will remember Tokuriki-sensei for his generosity, his willingness to open his atelier to those eager to learn, and his warm heart. It has been many years since I last saw him, but the influence of his positive character will always be with me. Regards, Lynita ------------------------------ From: "Rudolf Stalder" Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 20:57:05 -0700 Subject: [Baren 10302] Re acryl, printing procedure to Barbara M. Thanks for your comments. In summary you said in favor: Ò I think an artist could use acrylic ink, you could use a retarder, which would be already present in screen printing ink to keep the screens from filling in.Ó And against ...Ó I was specifically referring to the acrylic tube paint. ....As the ink is usually dry by the time it is printed when you have 30 kids doing it at once, you need a rewetting ... Ò A brief description of my printing procedures: First I prepare about 3 spoons of acryl-based-screen-printing-ink. Then I apply a rather low amount of ink on the printing-plate using a middle-size roller. Special care is taken that all relief parts get covered. This takes about 30 minutes for a plate of 40x60 cm After that I perform a basic imprint using a press applying a rather high pressure. Then I finish the print adding ink where needed and transfer it onto the paper mainly by manual pressure. This - the fine and artistic part of the printing procedure - takes about 20 minutes. Then the whole cycle restarts by adding about the same amount of ink on the ink-preparing-plate as was used for the printing. At the end of the whole printing session I clean the printing-plate with water using a teeth-brush, let the water trop off, put it for a short time in-between papers, dry it with a hair-dryer and fix it with clamps (or screws) on an other plate to prevent it from getting distorted. Critical is not to use too much ink, as the rollers of the press will invariably press it in the carved areas demanding eventually to clean the whole plate. If the area to be printed is rather small, it is done without using the press. The drying of the ink has never been a problem so far. This procedure allows to create about 10 single-plate prints per day or 10 three-plate-prints per 3 day. Depending on the familiarity with ink, paper - I use a rather thick paper - the press and the printing-plate and its size, higher numbers can be achieved. Rudolf Stalder (http://www.rst-art.com) ------------------------------ From: "john ryrie" Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 12:37:40 +1000 Subject: [Baren 10303] lots of prints I have been doing prints for about 21 years now, last year I tried to count them all this turned out to be difficult, there isn't room in my studio and I no longer have copies of all of them. I know however that I passed the 2000 mark a long time ago. I never had this as a goal the print's were just in there and had to come out. I imagine I will do at least that many again before my time's up. John http://www.geocities.com/laddertree ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V11 #1065 *****************************