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Message 1
From: Mike Lyon
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 07:26:31 -0600
Subject: [Baren 26669] Re: The White Line Epic
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Harry wrote:
>Meanwhile, has anyone thought of using the whiteline cuts as intaglio by
>pushing the ink into the gouged lines, cleaning the surface of the block
>and printing the filled lines.... or even colouring the surface and print both?

As you might imagine, Harry, these techniques have all been explored (for
more than 100 years)! Woodgrain in ukiyo-e is more or less all
intaglio-printed -- certain woods have a more open grain (hollow tube
bundles partially exposed) which holds more pigment and vehicle than the
closed surface and so prints darker (more pigment goes into the paper in
those areas)... There are a couple of good images of this sort of
technique near the bottom of this page:
http://www.ukiyoe-gallery.com/deluxe.htm -- the backgrounds are likely
printed from katsura wood, I think. There seems to be a certain width of
line where this effect begins to occur -- wider and the deeper areas do not
print (relief), narrower and they definitely print dark (intaglio), and in
between they sorta print relief and sorta print intaglio -- oak and ash
seem to have pores right on the cusp and generally print relief if brushed
out with the grain and intaglio if brushed out across the grain...

Some contemporary printers seal the surface of the wood with shellac (or
varnish or the like) and then make fine scratches through the smooth and
impermeable surface of the finish -- the sealed areas print much lighter
than the bare wood surface, and the fine scratches hold a lot of ink and
print much darker. The smooth surfaces may be squeegeed prior to printing
which leaves the scratches inky but the surface even less so which enhances
the difference.

A few years ago, Tony Kirk at Norwalk, Connecticut's Center for
Contemporary printmaking showed me a rejected block from one of Helen
Frankenthaler's large woodcuts which had been finished and scratched in
just that way... Here's an example of her work showing some of that kind
of technique: http://www.artnet.com/ag/fineartthumbnails.asp?gid=900&aid=6467

Paul Furneaux (Scotland) used the same sort of technique in his
press-assisted woodcuts during his residency at the CCP and you can see a
photo of him brushing up one of his blocks here:
http://www.scottishculture.co.uk/yota/album/pages/069_tif.htm

Kinda excites the imagination, doesn't it??!!!!

-- Mike


Mike Lyon
Kansas City, Missouri
http://mlyon.com

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Message 2
From: ArtfulCarol # aol.com
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 08:31:33 EST
Subject: [Baren 26670] Merrie Harry
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Dear Harry and Fellow Experimenters,

No wonder it is called Merrie Old England. I always get a kick out of what
you say.

Harry, your idea of printing the white line as intaglio using the ink from
the incised lines after wiping the wood reminds me of the methods used at the
Crown Print Press when I took a week's printing class there. It involved
acids, masks, dust, "stations", maybe even gloves, but not in that order. It was
brilliant , but too complicated for me to contend with. As I remember my
experience there, I would be clueless in searching for the area to bring my
piece of copper for the next step in the procedure.
I enjoyed the week very much but--
You might surmise that this technique did not suit my art characteristics!
Good for a laugh and I do...

Try your method when the temperature goes up in Engalnd and let us know.
It is 8 degrees F. here, but not too cold for imagination.

Carol Lyons
Irvington, NY

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Message 3
From: FurryPressII # aol.com
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 09:38:32 EST
Subject: [Baren 26671] Re: The White Line Epic
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I have printed wood engraving blocks as intaligo prints. It works for very
short editions because the pressure needed and the dampness of the paper effect
the wood engraving block. An important thing to note is that the engraving
must be very shallow to work esp. compared to the engraving for a relief
print. Now if you change the material from wood block to corian block it
engraves very well for intaligo. In some ways it engraves better than copper as
you have no burrs to worry about removing. And it wipes very cleanly. Also
with corian you should not engrave as deeply as you would for relief printing.
The paper has only so much give even if wet and you will get white lines
instead of black if the paper can't be pushed in as deep as you engraved. With
corian you could print the block intalligo as well as relief with one pass of
the press.

On another subject I will be have a one man show of prints at the Unicorn
Cafe in Evanston Il Jan 3-30 2005

john center

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Message 4
From: Mike Lyon
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 08:46:11 -0600
Subject: [Baren 26672] Re: The White Line Epic
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John Center wrote:
>On another subject I will be have a one man show of prints at the Unicorn
>Cafe in Evanston Il Jan 3-30 2005

Wahoo! Congratulations, John -- I imagine it will be a GREAT and very
interesting show -- I was admiring the bound book of your prints with a
friend a few days ago and really enjoyed your work again -- this is
wonderful news!

-- Mike


Mike Lyon
Kansas City, Missouri
http://mlyon.com

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Message 5
From: "marilynn smih"
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 07:09:50 -0800
Subject: [Baren 26673] RE: Baren Digest (old) V29 #2896
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Harry, you might need to run for cover to keep warm, but not from Bareners.
Experimenting is wonderful and i appreciate your thoughts on new techniques.
It would seem my experimenting is either with color overlays or with design,
not printing or carving. But I am learning. I reread the Baren
enclyclopedia, good to give continued learning as i work, grow and have more
questions. I recommend it to all who are stll wanting to learn, go back
after you have learned the basics and review it, because there is a lot in
there to know. Harry have you tried the powdered pigments from Baren? I
brought a good supply with me, but have not started the printing phase. but
they are very inexpensive and have heard they are wonderful. Postage from
Japan is high, however. When i order i try to buy something expensive. like
a lot of paper and than throw in the pigments, as the postage is the same up
to a certain weight. I know the akua kolor will roll on a plate, but since
you are using brushes why not try regular watercolor? Maybe mix in a little
glycerin with them or use that grainy addiive, gads my brain is getting old!
It occurs also to me that your idea of filling the lines and also using
the surface might work as a combo oil and water image.
Too bad you can't come to Baja to defrost it is 78 here today.
marilynn

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Message 6
From: L Cass
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 11:35:12 -0500
Subject: [Baren 26674] Re: The White Line Epic
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Mike -
Thanks for the super links -when looking at them I found the ukiyoe gallery
reference particularly interesting and was intrigued by the 'gauffrage'
section and David Bull's prints of Fuji, I think - now here's a dumb
question -re the various examples of embossing in prints- is a separate
block cut for these patterns or areas?
Also couldn't really discern any detail from the Frankenthaler pics on my
screen
Louise Cass

www.LCassArt.com

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Message 7
From: Mike Lyon
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 11:24:41 -0600
Subject: [Baren 26675] Re: The White Line Epic
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Louise Cass wrote:
>re the various examples of embossing in prints- is a separate block cut
>for these patterns or areas?

Yes, usually... David Bull describes several techniques here (among
others): http://www.barenforum.org/encyclopedia/entries/012_01/012_01.html
-- use the 'search' box on the homepage of http://barenforum.org to search
the encyclopedia for "embossing" and again to search the archives for an
astounding resource!

-- Mike

Mike Lyon
Kansas City, Missouri
http://mlyon.com

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Message 8
From: "Harry French"
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 20:21:23 -0000
Subject: [Baren 26676] Frank's print exchange with a UK school
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Christmas Greetings,
You may recall last month I did a children's print workshop with the St. Peter - at -Gowt School in Lincoln, UK to celebrate the #21 Baren exchange. Frank Trueba very kindly offered to exchange one of his prints with any pupils who produced prints during the day. I sent 60 ish prints of varying standards to Frank in California and today on the last day of term the pupils all received their wonderful coloured prints. I enclose a web page of this very special event.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/h.french1/PRESENTATION.htm

Harry, on behalf of a happy and excited school.

PS I've weakened.........I've promised to go back again next term!

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Message 9
From: Mimi Fujino
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 15:52:32 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Baren 26677] Re: Baren Digest (old) V29 #2894
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Please do not send me the (old) of the Baren Digest.
I'm now receiving two copies of it everyday.
Thanks,.
Mimi Fujino

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Message 10
From: David Bull
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 09:07:02 +0900
Subject: [Baren 26678] Re: 'Old' Digests ...
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> Please do not send me the (old) of the Baren Digest.
> I'm now receiving two copies of it everyday.

As there are perhaps quite a number of relatively 'new' Baren members
who weren't here when we switched our Digests to a new system last
year, it might be worth explaining what is happening here, and why you
are receiving two digests.

You receive the 'old' digest directly from the Majordomo listserver
that runs the Baren list. We cannot control the formatting of that
Digest, and it is usually full of garbled HTML code. What we did to get
around this is create an alternative version of the Digest - the 'new'
version - without garble, and started sending that to all subscribers.

So you no longer need the 'old' version, but if we remove your name
from the Majordomo list, you will be unable to post to Baren ... (It
doesn't have a 'vacation' setting that would allow you to stay on the
list, yet not receive that 'old' Digest.).

So ... long story short ... we have no way to avoid your receiving both
versions, the garbled 'old' one, and the 'clean' new one. But the
solution is simple - please just set your email filters so that the
'old' version is rejected and discarded automatically. I can't give you
specific instructions on how to do that, as each mail client program
has its own system, but look for 'Filters or 'Rules' in your software.

Thanks for your patience; receiving two versions is a small price to
pay for having the clean readability of the 'new' version also in your
mailbox, we feel.

Dave

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Message 11
From: Cucamongie # aol.com
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 20:46:45 -0500
Subject: [Baren 26679] woodcut intaglio
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Harry, I took a class a year or two ago in woodcut intaglio, and what we used was a diluted mixture of acrylic paint (mixed with some kind of extender that helped it from being too thin, I'm not sure exactly) and the acrylic mixture was squeegeed over the board, wiped with a damp rag, etc. and printed I liked the woodgrain that this type of printing would show, but the acrylic paint was not my favorite look, plus the block needed to be washed right after printing so the acrylic would not dry in the grooves in the wood. It would be interesting to try it with actual ink.

best wishes
Sarah

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Message 12
From: juan Guerrero
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 22:28:52 -0600
Subject: [Baren 26680] white line prints
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HARRY:

Great Idea!!

And what about white intaglio lines, like "bokashi" after printing all the
colors? (may be using a press, if you are using western paper)

>has anyone thought of using the whiteline
>cuts as intaglio by pushing the ink into the gouged lines, cleaning
>the surface of the block and printing the filled lines.... or even
>colouring the surface and print both?...

Juan Guerrero

Alternative e-mail:
2ojos#ozu.es
www.juanguerrero.tk

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