Baren Digest               Friday, 21 March 2003       Volume 22 : Number 2166


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From: "Maria Diener (aka Arango)" <maria#mariarango.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 07:49:23 -0800
Subject: [Baren 21066] for Bea Gold  

Hi Bea,
Could you give me your new email address again? Did you change it? I just
sent you a message and got returned.
Maria

<||><||><||><||><||><||>
     Maria Arango
  Las Vegas Nevada USA
  www.1000woodcuts.com
<||><||><||><||><||><||>



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From: Julio.Rodriguez#walgreens.com
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 12:08:20 -0600
Subject: [Baren 21067] Calendar-2004 Tally - update 

The Calendar-2004 signup period is almost over. We still have openings for 
ALL formats. 

Need two more entries for PRINTS-only and four entries for PAGE.  POSTCARD 
and PAGE formats will be open theme, PRINTS-only will be two distinct 
calendars; Landscapes & Nudes (one opening left for each theme calendar). 
More info soon on print size and orientation. Remaining spots will be 
assigned on first-come basis. 

How many calendars/prints to make ? Seems many of us are quite busy with 
other projects and stuff so I have downsized the numbers of 
calendars/prints to make considerably. Even so, we will still be making 
approximately 195 calendars and have available for sale after artist's 
distribution about 135-140 calendars.  I think the number of prints
to send in is quite reasonable considering the six-month work period. 
Please let me know your thoughts on this.

Here is how signup is shaping up so far. 


PRINTS-only Calendar - Landscapes (40 prints needed)

Gilda Machado-Zimmerling - May
Ray Hudson - October
Joe Sheridan
Mary Jane Bohlen- February
Wanda Robertson
Jean Eger Womack - Summer
Richard Campbell - December
Frank Trueba - September 
Ruth Leaf - January
Carol Gilbert-Wagner
Carol L. Myers

*one opening

PRINTS-only Calendar - Nudes (40 prints needed)

Mike Lyon
Barbara Mason
Barbara Patera
Tony Redman
Cyndy Wilson
Jan Telfer  - May
Julio Rodriguez - March
Sharri LaPierre
Jeanne N. Chase
Patricia B. Phare-Camp
Bobbie Mandel

*one opening

POSTCARD Calendar - Open Theme
*we will need 50 prints from the 18 entries so far or 38 prints each if we 
reach 24 participants

Carol Gilbert-Wagner
Mike Lyon
Wanda Robertson
Kat Pukas
Barbara Mason
Jean Eger Womack
Dave Bull
Carol L. Myers
Mellissa Read-Devine
Richard Campbell
Louise Cass
Patricia B. Phare-Camp
Bobbie Mandel
Bea Gold
Jan Telfer
Bette Wappner
Julio Rodriguez
Gayle Wohlken - October

*** signup for POSTCARD format will remain open until 24 participants 
signup


PAGE Calendar - Open Theme (40 prints needed)

Mike Lyon
Julio Rodriguez
Maria Arango
Wanda Robertson
Thea Bendix
Gilda Machado-Zimmerling
Richard Campbell
Bobbie Mandel

****four openings remain

 
If I have misssed anyone or put you in the wrong place let me know right 
away. Are we making too many or too few ?

thanks....Julio Rodriguez

 

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From: Chromoxylo#aol.com
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 13:22:53 EST
Subject: [Baren 21068] Re: my order 

Dear Barbara,
I am disappointed that a week has gone by without a response to my email. Now 
I am told that the barens that I wanted to order will cost me $400.00 more 
than when I first contacted you, without any real explanation. You have 
neither acknowledged receipt of my money order or answered any of my other 
questions. I suppose that I expected too much from the Baren Mall and will 
weigh any other purchases accordingly.

Paul Ritscher

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From: barebonesart <barebonesart#attbi.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 10:57:08 -0800
Subject: [Baren 21069] Re: Baren Digest V22 #2165 

Thanks, Julio, for giving me credit for helping Rudolf do the LPE 1, but
alas, the truth is, Rudolf did that all by himself with no help from me.
After I received my portfolio I realized how very much this man had given to
this project and guilt moved in.  I then volunteered to do LPE II, so I
could feel I did my share for the group, but LPE II evolved into II and III
- - which is okay with me, at least until I find out what all is really
involved by doing II.  But, Rudolf, in his generosity, is helping with both,
and the truth is, he is doing the lion's share.

Cheers!
Sharri


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From: Barbara Mason <barbaramason45#yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 12:18:13 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Baren 21070] Re: my order #1744 4612 3182 



Hi Paul,I get all my baren "messages" on yahoo and do not read
them daily. Just too busy. I get all the mall messages on my
regular daily email, lbmason71#attbi.com, so if you had written
to me in person I could have responeded immediately. I still have
your original message in my inbox so had not forgotten it. I have
not been ignoring you, I am just overwhelmed with stuff to do. I
did get your check and deposited it yesterday....Your order for
___________________________________________________________
MBR020      $4.75       2     Hanga Bake - 15mm

MBR021      $6.50       2     Hanga Bake - 20mm

MBR022      $8.50       2     Hanga Bake - 24mm

was shipped on March 17 from Japan.  Your inquiry came at the time when things were falling 
apart as far as our relationship with our original baren maker. I have no control over
his leaving baren.....it is incredibaly hard dealing with different cultures with hand made 
items that take months to make. We currently just received  a baren orderd 6 months ago for 
a member in England who was promised three months at the longest. He was amazingly patient. 
I did not charge his visa until I was assured he had received the baren and was happy. If this 
were my own company I would honor the original price, however since it is not and I am not in 
control, the best I can offer is my apolgy that you are upset. If you had orderd the baren from 
the origianl source, it might have been 6 months or a year, as it is with the new maker. There 
are few people left in the world making these specialized hand made tools and they can only 
make so many. The lines are long and the price high. Baren makes 10% on orders and absorbs 
many costs that are not apparent to the casual observer. I contribute many hours to this and 
take nothing for it, probably donate lots of shipping as I never remember to get it back...
I just consider it a very worthy cause. So, I guess my response is if you want one of these barens, 
order it and pay more and wait.  We all just do what we can. I would have preferred to handle 
this off-list but here you go.Best to all,Barbara - Mall manager

> Chromoxylo#aol.com wrote:Dear Barbara,
>I am disappointed that a week has gone by without a response to my email. Now 
>I am told that the barens that I wanted to order will cost me $400.00 more 
>than when I first contacted you, without any real explanation. You have 
>neither acknowledged receipt of my money order or answered any of my other 
>questions. I suppose that I expected too much from the Baren Mall and will 
>weigh any other purchases accordingly.
>
>Paul Ritscher




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From: "Jeanne N. Chase" <studiojnc#prodigy.net>
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 16:02:59 -0500
Subject: [Baren 21071] Re: Selling calendars, baren expenses 

Julio

Could you give me the e mail for the calendar page at the Baren, for 
some reason I cannot get it.

Thanks
Jeanne N.


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From: Julio.Rodriguez#walgreens.com
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 15:25:26 -0600
Subject: [Baren 21072] Re: Selling calendars, baren expenses 
Here it is Jeanne.....

http://barenforum.org/calendar/

Julio


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From: David Bull <davebull#woodblock.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2003 08:30:04 +0900
Subject: [Baren 21073] Changes in the 'baren' world ... 

There have been some changes in the barens that we have on offer over in 
the Mall, and it seems like a bit more clarification might be useful ...

Since the Mall opened, we have been carrying the hon barens (hon='real') 
made by Kikuo Gosho. We selected him as our supplier partly because of 
his acknowledged reputation, but more simply, because of my personal 
association with him (he is the man who made most of the barens in my 
own toolkit).

We had no problems at all during the year or so we worked together in 
the Mall, and I believe we ordered a total of seven or eight barens from 
him during that time (is this right, Barbara?). But recently, delivery 
times were getting longer and longer, and it has come to seem as though 
he wishes to focus on his domestic market and is not so interested in 
taking care of overseas business.

So we have switched over to the barens made by Mr. Kikuhide Goto. (Are 
you going to be able to keep these names straight?  :-)   These two men 
used to work together many years ago, but went their own ways, and now 
work completely independently. Their reputation here in Japan is 
identical - they are both recognized as superb craftsmen and it's not 
really possible to rank the two of them ...  There are slight variations 
in style between their barens, but no fundamental difference.

(Goto-san _is_ slightly more expensive, and this seems to have perturbed 
a [Baren] member who had been corresponding with our Mall manager about 
the possibility of ordering some hon barens. But of course nobody is 
going to be forced to swallow a price increase, under any circumstances.)

It might be worth mentioning how these prices are decided. When I was 
visiting Goto-san the other day to make our business arrangements, he 
showed me the notebooks in which he calculates - to the _minute_ - how 
long each stage of the manufacturing process takes. Because he works on 
many barens at one time - switching between braiding the coil, to laying 
up the backing sheet, etc. etc. - he has to do this to keep track of 
things. Anyway, he does end up with a figure, in minutes, for each type 
of baren he makes ... 8-strand medium, 12-stand fine, etc. etc.  He then 
just takes his hourly rate and does the multiplication to get the 
total.  And his hourly rate is?

1,200 yen ...  or in the $ that most of you recognize ... $10.00

Ten bucks an hour, for one of the most skilled jobs on this planet. Why 
so cheap? Simply he doesn't dare charge more ... when you look at the 
prices on our Mall page, you can understand why ...
http://barenforum.org/mall/products/hon_baren.html

Goto-san seems to have a better balance of craftmanship/business sense, 
so we don't anticipate any bumps in our relationship. And actually, we 
have been working with him already, because he is the man who makes the 
Murasaki barens that many of you are using. And we have some news on 
_that_ front too. If you check the mall page:
http://barenforum.org/mall/products/barens.html
... you will find that the line-up of Murasaki barens has been broadened.

The normal Murasakis are now available in four sizes and two strengths. 
In addition to this, he has added two 'special' models, the Murasaki 
Soft and the Murasaki Super. They are made by the same man, in the same 
way, and working at the same hourly rate, but because they are made from 
tough cord instead of a zillion slivers of bamboo sheath, the price is 
very reasonable.

Anyway, that'll do for now. There are more Mall updates coming as soon 
as I get time to make the pages - a new line of cutting tools from 
Shimizu here in Tokyo, two new types of 'power grip' tools, a set of 
rubber hand grip knives, a whole new line of cost effective brushes, 
some new 'hakobi' brushes, and - something I know a few of you have been 
waiting for - Matsumura-san's new 'pre-cut' ukiyo-e printmaking kits are 
almost ready to go ...

But for me right now, it's time to turn the webcam on and get carving!  
Thanx ...

Dave
P.S. (shouldn't be just a PS ...)  Many thanks to Barbara for the 
day-to-day work in running the Mall and dealing with all the 
correspondence. All I do is make pages and then run away ... Barbara 
does all the real work!


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From: Barbara Mason <barbaramason45#yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 17:19:51 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Baren 21074] moku hanga weekly get together 

i

Anyone living within driving distance of my house in Aloha OR is invited to a 
weekly get together and work time making moku hanga blocks and prints. We will 
meet on thursday night from 6:30-9:30 or so....come any time. We will not meet 
on first thursdays as this is our monthly art walk. If you want to show up, email 
me off list and I will give you driving directions. If a better time would work 
for you, let me know, we are flexable up to a point! I will share all I know and 
hope everyone who comes will do the same....this will spur us on to get our 
exchange prints done!

Best to all,

Barbara





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From: "Robert Canaga Gallery" <rcg#robertcanagagallery.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 18:56:17 -0800
Subject: [Baren 21075] Re: moku hanga weekly get together 

Thanks for the invite Barbara but I have class Friday AM and Karate 
Thursday nights...
Maybe I could come up another time.
Did you get your medium from Kathy?
RC

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From: Myron Turner <mturner#Ms.UManitoba.CA>
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 21:37:53 -0600
Subject: [Baren 21076] Re: Calendar-2004 Tally - update 


Julio,
I'm afraid I haven't been fully following the Calendar discussions.
I would consider doing a full page Calendar--I see 8 people have signed
up and you need four more.&nbsp; Does this mean we are assigned a
particular month?
Myron


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From: Chromoxylo#aol.com
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 23:12:40 EST
Subject: [Baren 21077] Re: Changes in the 'baren' world ... 

My apologies to the group for putting off-line business on the forum. I have 
been ripped off by some of my suppliers lately and I am sorry if I came off 
wrong. Also sorry that I wasn't looking at the destination of my message. 
Thank you Barbara for the work you are doing. I know that it must be 
difficult and demanding (thanks to people like me) and I appreciate your 
efforts. Thank you, too to Dave for your lengthy explanation of the problem 
and resolution and also to your efforts to bolster the spirits of fumbling 
wood-block printmakers way over here. If you are still looking for a copy of 
'The Way of Wood Engraving' by Dorothea Braby, I have one for you for the 
library. Let me know and I'll send it out. I will look forward to getting my 
brushes and being creative and less impatient.

Humbly,
Paul Ritscher

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End of Baren Digest V22 #2166
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