[Baren] the mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking Baren Digest Monday, 31 July 2000 Volume 12 : Number1097 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Gayle Wohlken Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 10:03:53 -0400 Subject: [Baren 10733] Re: Baren Digest V12 #1096 Speaking of swastikas--my son, for a jr. high school history class project (they were able to choose whatever they wanted to create) made a latchhooked pillow with a giant swastika. It was a replica of the nazi symbol, colors exact. It was stunningly attractive. He kept it in his room on his bed and we thought nothing of it. One day my friend, who is German, came over and I was showing her something upstairs. She peeked in Shane's room and saw that on the bed and let out such a shriek of disbelief that I told Shane he'd better find someplace else for it. I believe he gave it to that teacher for his World Wars collections. The Swastika is a beautiful design and it's too bad it became the symbol of such evil. * * * Maria, those engravings! Beautiful feeling of the West, and those roads just beckon. * * * Graham, I'm having trouble with woodcuts since I got home. I can't figure out my image size now with those kento measurements added in. I can't seem to figure the math (my worst ever subject). Every time I draw it up, I have it wrong. I guess I'm used to working with wood the same size as the image, now I have to figure all this extra space, and my design won't fit in. I have lots of wood already cut to size and I need to use it. I know you allow an inch and a quarter away from the design for the kento, but every time I do it, the kento doesn't fit or is lined up right under the image instead of off to the side an inch and a quarter away. I'm getting frustrated about these kentos. I have one of Matt's jigs with kento carved in, but my wood is always too big for using it. So, let's say my wood is 8 1/2 x 11--what's the biggest image I can put on that (portrait orientation) and still have a kento in the right place? Gayle ------------------------------ From: "TSHACK" Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 07:56:43 -0700 Subject: [Baren 10734] Re: idle hands-Eichenberg Exhibit I believe that in India, the footsteps of the Buddha were represented with a swastika in the heel, signifying that he left this imprint when he walked. I believe it symbolized spirituality or purity. Dwight ------------------------------ From: dcgoldleaf@uswest.net Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 09:39:21 -0600 Subject: [Baren 10735] chemical safety When working with dry pigments, I would strongly advise one to use gloves and mask. And to even have a sheet glass that is used just for mixing. If precautions are taken, there is no danger. The premixed pigments sound even better. We only get one ride on this merry-go-round of life so why waste it. Leon ------------------------------ From: "Jean Eger" Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 00:51:19 +0900 Subject: [Baren 10736] Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 08:54:01 -0700 You may use a swastika in your work, but you should be prepared to have your work banned and yourself shunned because you have associated yourself with the Nazi oeuvre. I, myself, stated that I am not Jewish, even though my mother's mother was Orthodox Jewish. However, my friend, civil rights lawyer and printmaker Barbara Millman, told me that no matter what I thought I was, the Nazis would say I was Jewish and act accordingly, just from what I look like. Jean Eger http://users.lanminds.com/~jeaneger ------------------------------ From: "Maria Arango" Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 09:58:56 -0700 Subject: [Baren 10737] Re: whistle while you engrave Georga-on-my-mind wrote: > maria > these are beautiful when you say that your ink is a mix of copper and > umber do you mean metalic ink? Yep! I get gold, silver, copper and graphite inks from Graphic Chemical. They are difficult to work with because the metallic particles sink right on the slab and on the block. They are also almost solid to roll out and I almost gave up on them until I started experimenting and mixing them with plate oils. A #5 or #7 plate oil works best. Drawback is that the inks then become transparent, but especially if you use the #7 oil, a very thick syrupy stuff, the metallic particles are suspended and flow out beautifully. Another way of working with these inks is to mix them with a standard transparent color, like umber or any clean red. The metallic particles will float on the color and the effect, while barely visible, gives the print a curious attraction. Yet another point when working with these inks is that they eventually will fill your cuts because some metal sinks on every print despite being suspended in medium. This means that you have to stop the presses and hold the barens and clean the block completely after about 10 prints for a woodcut. On the engraving, every 3 prints or so I lost most of the sky, so I cleaned, reloaded, re-proofed, re-printed. Tedious, but I love the way they shine. If you use the ink straight up, you will find that you can almost get a guilded effect on the print. It is difficult to catch on a scan, but look at: http://www.printmakingstudio.com/outwood/leapers.html for some fiery copper flames. Happy guilding! Maria <><><><><><><><><><><><> Maria Arango, Printmaker Las Vegas Nevada USA http://www.1000woodcuts.com Follow along! quest1000woodcuts@hotmail.com maria@mariarango.com <><><><><><><><><><><><> ------------------------------ From: "Maria Arango" Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 10:26:22 -0700 Subject: [Baren 10738] op Here is another venue for those who want to expose themselves :-) "Our website, http://www.iKreate.com, is a free, open community, both for creative people and for anyone interested in seeing new creative work. We're trying to bring together a wide variety of useful resources, as well as all sorts of creative work, to really make the community valuable to everyone. If you have a chance, please check out our website, and if you like, please feel free join us and add your work to the community! We're hoping to become a central hub for amateur (and professional) creative people, and we could use all the support and interest we can get!" <><><><><><><><><><><><> Maria Arango, Printmaker Las Vegas Nevada USA http://www.1000woodcuts.com Follow along! quest1000woodcuts@hotmail.com maria@mariarango.com <><><><><><><><><><><><> ------------------------------ From: B Mason Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 10:18:07 -0700 Subject: [Baren 10739] engravings Maria, I too loved your new prints. Just little jewels, they are! have you tried mixing the metalic ink with transparent base and setswell and printing it over your first color? it seems to me that this would work. I haven't used metalic ink, although I have used the graphite. Anyway, very nice work, we are keeping you! Barbara M ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 10:32:49 -0700 Subject: [Baren 10740] Re: Baren Digest V12 #1096 >So, let's say my wood is 8 1/2 x 11--what's the biggest image I can put >on that (portrait orientation) and still have a kento in the right >place? > Gayle, Hi, Not a problem.... Here is a drawing that explains all. (Document [Kento layout.pdf] under separate cover) The document requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can then print it and have a hard copy for future reference. If anybody else wants this please advise. Graham ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 10:45:12 -0700 Subject: [Baren 10741] Re: engravings >Maria, >I too loved your new prints. Just little jewels, i missed something here.... please send my a url so I can looky lou. Graham ------------------------------ From: Cucamongie@aol.com Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 13:52:51 EDT Subject: [Baren 10742] Re: Baren Digest V12 #1095 In a message dated 00-07-29 21:25:27 EDT, Barbara wrote: << Sarah, I see you mentioned akua kolor for hanga, I know this stays wet a long time, but is not really rewetting when dry. Do you use damp paper with >> I have been printing in the hanga method, with wet paper, using a little less rice past w/akua color than w/regular pigments. I brush it on, print w/a baren and do everything in the usual hanga method. The colors come out great! For those who have my "Lady & 4 Dogs" print, for example, I used Akuakolor for every block except for the brown spots on the dog and the key block, and Barbare, the 3 Squirrel Monkeys print you have of mine was also printed w/this ink, so you can see that the colors are brilliant and color fast. I find that I can print larger areas more smoothly with less effort with this ink, perhaps because it does have some wetting agents. I haven't been having any trouble w/rewetting the blocks & using them again. I'd be happy to answer any more questions folks may have about this stuff. The only colors that were initially not so good were the earth colors, which I found too thin, but the last batch of earth colors I got from Susan are much thicker & work great. best wishes Sarah Hauser Cucamongie@aol.com ------------------------------ From: "Arye Saar" Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 18:15:02 +0200 Subject: [Baren 10743] Re: Baren Digest V12 #1095 Mike, Beside the issue of the swastika: I'm very much interested in your symmetrical designs. Is there a way to actually see some of your work? I've worked with what i call "Ornamentics" - Geometrical Designs - for many years. I learned that about 50 years ago. Arye ------------------------------ From: Mike Lyon Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 14:00:13 -0500 Subject: [Baren 10744] Re: Baren Digest V12 #1096 At 10:00 PM 07/30/2000 +0900, you wrote: >I find that in the beginning of a new project, it is useful to get some >face-to-face instruction. Do you have any recommendations of who I >could study with? I am presently in Kansas but I am willing to move if >there is an exceptional teacher that I could apprentice/study with. Also, I >would be willing to attend an art institute or some other school if one >proves to have an excellent program. Hi, Cate -- you can't apprentice with me, I'm unexceptional (and I've only printed Japanese style for about four years anyway, so I'm a novice), but I'm competent, and you're welcome to visit. We could sit and print together if you like -- I'm in Kansas City -- 816-213-3666 -- studio is at 2026 Broadway just South of downtown in what's called the 'Crossroads Arts District' Mike ------------------------------ From: ArtfulCarol@aol.com Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 15:23:19 EDT Subject: [Baren 10745] Re: Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 08:54:01 -0700 Jean: About the Holocaust: It wasn't about what you looked like but what your heritage was. Carol ------------------------------ From: ArtfulCarol@aol.com Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 15:41:47 EDT Subject: [Baren 10746] Where we get our ideas. Regarding a subject that was discussed last week: How do I get my ideas for abstractions in woodblocks: Examples: Since I am concerned with the integrity iof the English language, I have a Corrupted Language series, consisting of improperly used words or phrases. For instance: "ya know", "he goes...", and "like..." I abstract the letters to make a balanced composition. When I'm finished you don't realize the print is based on words, ya know. My aim in this is to make an eye-catching design. More: Last time on vacation I noticed the size and shape of the soap in the dish changing every day. This time I am making quick daily sketches of same. How the soap is put in the dish is entirely automatic. The sketches will comprise a series of abstractions throughout the week.Looking at the series in order , I will select and carve the most interesting. Really! What a vacation! Will I ever get out of the room? Carol in Chautauqua, NW New York ------------------------------ From: "Bill H. Ritchie, Jr" Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 17:43:37 -0700 Subject: [Baren 10747] Re: idle hands About swastikas and other symbolics (semiotics?) and my apologies ahead of time for not reading, first, the NYT article. The following is not a gut reaction, IMHO, but that of a scholar who loves science fiction and freedom. I think William Ivins, Jr taught me how communication is more effective the more simplified the form when he related symbolism to printmaking, resolving complex tonalities, textures, etc. into simple, exactly replicable forms. The swastika worked because it is an extremely simplified form, easily printed and otherwise reproducible, memorable. The Volkswagen, too, was Hitler and his gang's ideas. "Give them what they want," was the idea. Simpletons, I think, was what they believed people to be, and could only be led effectively with simple symbols, songs, easy-to-remember cliches, etc. "Give them the government they deserve," in the lyrics in "Evita" by Andrew Lloyd Weber. "Coke--it's the Real Thing," etc. And, printmakers alert, words like cliche, medium, effective communications, etc. are in the domain of effective communications in humans, animals and machines. For better or worse, we are practitioners in an art that has a dark and a light side, I think. If I could, as a member of the printmaking artists community, I would launch a reversal of the "swastika-effect," undo and outdo Goebels, Goering, Hitler and their media people (radio was their stongest point) and restore the true, "light" and spiritual value of that spiral. We are hostages of these people, still, as long as we allow them to live on in more artfully constructed stories, myths, games, instruments, etc. Have you heard the one about media people telling us that their work, whether it's newscasts or advertising, "mirror society as it is" and don't "cause" the illnesses in society? Other symbolics--the Greek Key, the fasces, the pyramid--lend themselves to instant impact when used by masters of communication. Artists trade with politicians, religious leaders, merchants, etc. in providing the right color and shape combinations, the correct symbols, phrases, lyrics, etc. to lead people and solidify goals. Maybe the question is, what is a goal to share? One of my favorite authors, Arthur C. Clark (2001: A Space Odyssey), in "Childhood's End"--paints a scene of the Earthling, Stormgren, asking the Alien, Karellen his opinion on controlling humanity: "'All political problems can be solved by correct application of power. . . . the operative word is *correct*. The efficient solution requires about as much power as a small radio transmitter--and similar skills to operate it. How long do you think Hitler's career would have lasted if, wherever he went a voice was talking quietly in his ear? Or if a steady musical note, loud enough to drown all other sounds and to prevent sleep, filled his brain night and day? . . .'" I think about stuff like this. Does anyone else, while they are carving or printing? But I wouldn't use a swastika in a print if I intended to be available (publishing) and offering it for sale in the US now. Or any other country served by the Internet. Or the NYT. First, I'd want assurance that our audience worldwide returned to the earlier, positive cultural meanings of the symbols, and banned the fascist jailers forever. Note that I *DO* use a spiral in my work and it could, if it were published in a world where the four freedoms prevail, evolve to the crisp, clear shape of the swastika. And if our community of artists, scholars and gentle people prevail, these freedoms will come again. ------------------------------ From: Vollmer/Yamaguchi Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 23:45:46 -0400 Subject: [Baren 10748] Praise of Washi Barbara, if your prints bleed, it may be because the paper is not sized enough. It pains me to hear you are using Rives. You are making things difficult for yourself! Hanga was designed to go with washi, Japanese handmade paper. It really does work better with Japanese paper. I've found a great substitute for the expensive real washi, a sulphite paper called "hanga-shi" from Hiromi. It is a heavier weight than Rives, and behaves similiarly to washi. Only problem is that it's a bit yellow in color. After working in Japanese woodcut for quite a few years, it has become increasingly clear to me how important to use good paper. Nishinouchi from McClains, if you can afford it! Hanga-shi is about $3 (Hiromi 310-998-0098), Nishinouchi (McClain's 800-832-4264) is about $14. April Vollmer 174 Eldridge St, NYC 10002, 212-677-5691 http://www.aprilvollmer.com ------------------------------ From: Vollmer/Yamaguchi Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2000 00:17:39 -0400 Subject: [Baren 10749] Re: Baren Digest V12 #1096 Gayle, and Graham, too, I think there is a confusion between "binder" and "paste". Gum arabic is the binder for watercolor and gouache. Nikawa, or animal hide glue is another binder, the binder in sumi ink. I mix gum arabic with pigment dispersions for my color. Akua color uses gum arabic as a binder and glycerine to slow drying. (Maybe there is honey in there, too!) Rice paste (or methyl cellulose, a substiute) is not as strong as a binder. It functions to make the color on the block print smoothly, if it is not added the block will print splotchy, 'goma zuri' texture. It is applied ON THE BLOCK so you can adjust the proportion. For example, if you are printing a large flat area you need more. If you are printing fine lines, you add less paste so the color won't blob up around the lines, or fill in fine narrow cuts in the wood. GAMPI NEWS: I had the pleasure of printing a kyogo on gampi today! I wanted to let you know it works great, the only drawback is that it costs $12 a sheet. It does work really well, though. I had a student who did a very complicated key block she wanted to transfer to another block. We printed her block, including the kentos, onto this dry gampi. Very thin, transparent paper, with a sort of crispy sound when you shake it. It was great because it printed clearly without stretching. Then we put a thin, even layer of paste on the second block, and carefully laid down the kyogo. It was a LITTLE tricky to keep flat, but it worked. It is so transparent it is easy to see through and to cut through. Very cool addition to transfer possibilities! Happy printing! April Vollmer 174 Eldridge St, NYC 10002, 212-677-5691 http://www.aprilvollmer.com ------------------------------ From: Julio.Rodriguez@walgreens.com Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 23:32:30 -0500 Subject: [Baren 10750] Kansas City Bomber.... No..I am not talking about Raquel Welch.....but rather.....Warning!!!!!......fellow bareners Cate, Gary and Mike....you better bolt down all your belongings and get ready for a major earthquake......... if I read Maria's post correctly sounds like she's heading your way.....I don't think your state can handle five Maria's at one visit........your best bet is to put a roadblock at the state lines and take all her carving tools away......... Good luck and may the patron saint of all printmakers be with you...... ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 21:43:43 -0700 Subject: [Baren 10751] Re: Baren Digest V12 #1096 >Gayle, and Graham, too, I think there is a confusion between "binder" and >"paste". Gum arabic is the binder for watercolor and gouache. Nikawa, or >animal hide glue is another binder, the binder in sumi ink. I mix gum >arabic with pigment dispersions for my color. April.... Thanks for this. I thought I had heard somewhere on this server that some one was using Gum arabic in the printing process. I knew that is was the binder for the likes of Winsor Newton Watercolours. I assumed they were using it in place of..... Thanks again. Graham WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD? According to............ THE BIBLE And God came down from the heavens, and He said unto the chicken, "Thou shalt cross the road." And the chicken crossed the road, and there was much rejoicing. ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V12 #1097 *****************************