--- Go to the Opening Page of the [Baren] web site ---

Message 1
From: Shelley Hagan
Date: Sat, 16 May 2009 13:44:29 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38916] japanese style printing
Send Message: To this poster

All this talk about barens has reminded me that I am very curious to explore
traditional Japanese printing methods. In college we were taught western
printing styles and therefore this is what I use today. But there is a
subtlety to the Japanese method that I am intrigued by. There is something
about it that appeals to my methodical (my husband might say 'tediously
focused') nature.

Computer lessons aside (which are amazingly comprehensive, thank you Julio,
Dave, and ALL OF YOU! for this) are there any workshops in and around Texas
coming up? At one point there was talk of a summit in San Antonio but I
don't know what has become of this. I do much better with personal
instruction and could benefit from a class/workshop.

Thanks,
Shelley

• [Back to message index]

Message 2
From: Jennifer Martindale
Date: Sat, 16 May 2009 14:07:49 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38917] paper size
Send Message: To this poster

Has anyone some recipes or tips about DIY sizing paper? (Not the measurements but painting gloop on paper).
I have been getting blurry prints on some papers and having altered the dampness of paper, and the runnyness of
the pigments, it occurred to me that the paper may not be pre-sized. I have been buying from various sources, and
this is not a question that had occurred to me to ask.

• [Back to message index]

Message 3
From: Sharri LaPierre
Date: Sat, 16 May 2009 16:08:16 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38918] Re: Printing line block over color via inkjet
Send Message: To this poster

Eli,

I have tried printing the line block over color fields from an inkjet
printer and it was quite a chore. Getting the registration down took
me forever. That experiment was several years ago and I am somewhat
more computer literate now, but we are speaking in minute degrees. I
think I could have carved the color blocks much faster than I could do
them in Photoshop. On the good side, though, is that the inks have
held up very well - no noticeable fading as yet. And, it was a fun
experiment. Don't ask how I resolved the registration problem because
I tried every way possible and don't recall what I finally used. You
can see the print at:

http://web.mac.com/barebonesart/iWeb/barebonesart/full%20circle.html


Cheers ~
Sharri

• [Back to message index]

Message 4
From: "Ellen Shipley"
Date: Sat, 16 May 2009 16:35:35 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38919] Re: Printing line block over color via inkjet
Send Message: To this poster

I know one guy -- actually a master printer instructor of mine -- who showed
us a print he'd made using both an archival printer and a press. It was
beautiful and impossible to tell apart (at least to us) from regular woodcut
prints. I thought the registration would have been the tricky part of the
process. Nothing I wanted to mess with.

I believe tho the black was actually the woodblock and the bokashi effect
was giclee.

Ellen

• [Back to message index]

Message 5
From: Graham Scholes
Date: Sat, 16 May 2009 16:45:34 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38920] Re: hon baren congrats!
Send Message: To this poster

Hi April,

I will try to pull out just the bit about wrapping a baren from my
DVD. The problem in doing this is the size of the file for e-mailing.

It is an excellent demonstration by Noboru Sawai the master printer in
Vancouver.

Regards
Graham

• [Back to message index]

Message 6
From: Margaret Chaney
Date: Sat, 16 May 2009 19:35:17 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38921] Re: Cabrillo and MECA woodcut classes/personal note
Send Message: To this poster

Sorry to hear about your Mother April. I'm sure a lot of your artistic
gift came from her.

Margaret Ross

• [Back to message index]

Message 7
From: David Bull
Date: Sat, 16 May 2009 22:42:14 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38922] Re: Combining woodblock and other methods
Send Message: To this poster

> Has anyone here used, or knows of someone whom does,
> an ink jet printer with 'archival ink' to either print the
> black-lines of a 'woodcut', to a hand-coloured print or
> 'print' the colours before printing a key-block?

This was common in the Meiji-era here in Japan. At that time, they
were exploring every which way to do printing (for commercial
applications), and this one was common. Registration is easy.

First step is to print the 'key-block' - outlines of the design, and
include the registration marks _in_ the printing. Don't _use_ the
registration marks ... just make sure they are printed together with
the outlines - as though they were part of the design.

Then, trim the paper carefully _to_ the registration marks.

After that, go ahead and print the colours normally in the wood-blocky
way ...

Dave

• [Back to message index]

Message 8
From: ArtSpotiB # aol.com
Date: Sat, 16 May 2009 22:48:06 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38923] Headers
Send Message: To this poster

Hi There Friends.

Would folks please take a little time to change the headers when the topic
changes too? I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks.

ArtSpot Out
Benny in California

• [Back to message index]

Message 9
From: eli griggs
Date: Sat, 16 May 2009 23:14:37 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38924] Re: Combining woodblock and other methods
Send Message: To this poster

Thanks for the info folks.

David, how have these hybrid prints accepted by the pubic, collectors and museums? Are they simply old advertising and part of the history of Japanese printing or do people see more than that in them?

Eli

• [Back to message index]

Message 10
From: "Eva Pietzcker"
Date: Sat, 16 May 2009 23:30:13 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38925] Re: hon baren
Send Message: To this poster

Dear Dave and April,

thank you for the congrats! Yes, it truely was a BIG moment when they arrived, and even bigger when I printed with them the first time...

April, yes, it was great to see a perfectly tied baren... I hope I will arrive there one day...

Dave, my barens were numbered with 1366/1367. Do you maybe know: did Mr. Gotou in fact make so many barens?

Best wishes,

Eva


.

• [Back to message index]

Message 11
From: David Bull
Date: Sat, 16 May 2009 23:47:18 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38926] Re: Combining woodblock and other methods
Send Message: To this poster

> David, how have these hybrid prints accepted by the pubic,
> collectors and museums?

Such questions are kind of irrelevant ... this was not 'art', just
'printing'.

You run across them now and then in the browsing bins in the shops in
Kanda, the 'book district' (such as is left of it). Because they show
baren rubbing marks on the back - which most people accept without
question as being the mark of a 'wood block print', they just pass as
regular prints ...

The technique was most commonly used by the men who made the
reproductions of paintings for this kind of publication:
http://www.baxleystamps.com/litho/shimbi_shoin.shtml
... and ...
http://www.baxleystamps.com/litho/ogawa/kokka_gallery.shtml

Dave

• [Back to message index]

Message 12
From: David Bull
Date: Sun, 17 May 2009 00:28:29 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38927] Re: hon baren
Send Message: To this poster

> Dave, my barens were numbered with 1366/1367.
> Do you maybe know: did Mr. Gotou in fact make
> so many barens?

I just phoned him to find out, and he says that those are the numbers
for the _coils_ he has made (the 'shin'), starting with the first one
he produced professionally, 30 odd years ago. That's the heart of the
baren, so that's what he considers the main piece of work. (He also
makes replacement 'ategawa', but those aren't part of the numbering
sequence.)

He has a separate numbering sequence for the Murasaki barens.

Also, he apologized to everyone for his 'terrible' English, but I told
him that the general feeling was that we 'got the idea' behind what he
was trying to say, and that his writing style helps us understand his
gentle character.

He's glad to hear that his work is being appreciated ...

Dave

• [Back to message index]

Message 13
From: eli griggs
Date: Sun, 17 May 2009 05:30:56 GMT
Subject: [Baren 38928] Re: Combining woodblock and other methods
Send Message: To this poster

> David, how have these hybrid prints accepted by the pubic,
> collectors and museums?

>Such questions are kind of irrelevant ... this was not 'art', just 'printing'.

David, I'll have to disagree. The world is full of things that started off being mundane and ubiquitous, artifacts which have, in the passage of time and the changing perspectives of generation, been embraced as art, including all sorts of prints and the various mediums and techniques involved.

Eli

• [Back to message index]

• Subscribe/Unsubscribe to [Baren] here
• Switch your Digest subscription between 'Plain Text' and HTML here
• Upload your image to be used in these Digests here
• Send your 'ads' for the monthly Ad Roundup to [ads@barenforum.org], before the 15th of the month.
• Most recent statistics on our website are here
• Contact the group managers here
• [Baren] members: if you have a printmaking blog, or a website with a published ATOM feed, and wish it to be included in our daily checklist, please write to the Baren Blog Manager here. (If your blog also contains material other than woodblock-related items, we can only add you if the woodblock posts will be 'labeled' as such. The Blog Managers can provide details.)
• A list of Blogs/Sites currently being tracked by our feed scraper is here