Today's postings
- [Baren 39435] RE: New Baren Digest (Text) V48 #4902 (Jul 20, 2009) (Linda Beeman)
- [Baren 39436] Re: Tee Shirt Idea (Sharri LaPierre)
- [Baren 39437] Plywood (Tom Kristensen)
- [Baren 39438] off-topic, question re illustrating books (cucamongie # aol.com)
- [Baren 39439] Re: Plywood (Julio.Rodriguez # walgreens.com)
- [Baren 39440] RE: Plywood (jennifer kelly)
- [Baren 39441] RE: Plywood ("Mike Lyon")
- [Baren 39442] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
Message 1
From: Linda Beeman
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:03:12 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39435] RE: New Baren Digest (Text) V48 #4902 (Jul 20, 2009)
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I got some really nice cherry ply from Johnson's Workbench in Charlotte Michigan. http://www.theworkbench.com/ They are suppliers to cabinet makers and boatbuilders, etc. They ship it.
I didn't have any problem with it splintering. I just had to sharpen my tools a lot more than usual!!
Message 2
From: Sharri LaPierre
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:15:01 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39436] Re: Tee Shirt Idea
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So, maybe someone cuts the blocks and we send them around to the
people who want them, they print them themselves on the item of their
choice and send it on to the next person. We could sign up for the
blocks on a sign up page and send a list and addresses with each block
so the person who has finished printing knows who to send it on to.
Of course, there is the chance that the blocks would come to rest in a
studio where they would never be sent on.... In that case we would
either have to form a party of vigilantes, or rent a thug to get them
moving again.
I just posted some non-woodblock images on my blog and forgot to do
the labels/tags again. So, if it gets picked up by the forum I
apologize. If it doesn't and you're curious it is at:
http://www.barebonesart.blogspot.com
Harry, your latest block is wonderful! Such fun - hope you'll do the
rest of the fellows, too.
Cheers ~
Sharri
people who want them, they print them themselves on the item of their
choice and send it on to the next person. We could sign up for the
blocks on a sign up page and send a list and addresses with each block
so the person who has finished printing knows who to send it on to.
Of course, there is the chance that the blocks would come to rest in a
studio where they would never be sent on.... In that case we would
either have to form a party of vigilantes, or rent a thug to get them
moving again.
I just posted some non-woodblock images on my blog and forgot to do
the labels/tags again. So, if it gets picked up by the forum I
apologize. If it doesn't and you're curious it is at:
http://www.barebonesart.blogspot.com
Harry, your latest block is wonderful! Such fun - hope you'll do the
rest of the fellows, too.
Cheers ~
Sharri
Message 3
From: Tom Kristensen
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:09:27 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39437] Plywood
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After carving my little block for the Baren cairn project I was so
impressed with the Cherry faced plywood that Maria provided that I
made some enquiries to try buy my own. This plywood had a lovely
tough cherry veneer to hold the carved lines and a soft core to make
waste removal a breeze. Maria provided this link to Rockler who
supplied the sheets:
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=847&cookietest=1
I couldn't persuade Rockler to ship the sheets from the US to
Australia and for the same reason I decided not to try and import the
commonly used Shina plywood from Japan, instead, I had my own sheets
veneered locally. There are businesses who do nothing else than put
custom veneer onto 'core boards', either composite timbers or
plywood. You need only specify the type of timber veneer you want and
the type of board you want in the middle. You can also select veneer
cut from the log in a couple of styles and the elect the width and
the thickness of the strips - thicker and wider strips will be more
expensive. I had my veneer 'crown cut', which is the grain pattern
seen in most planks, and the standard thickness to save money.
The bulk of my boards are faced with American Cherry, but also some
with Western Red Cedar, some with Pinus radiata and some with
Tasmanian Oak - for different grain properties. When having plywood
veneered it is necessary to have a balancing veneer on the reverse
side of the board to prevent warping of the board, so you can pick
two different timbers, one for each side of the board.
There are hundreds of different types of plywood, finding a suitable
core board is much more difficult than finding veneer. The core board
should of course be easy to carve, if you explain your needs you may
be able to test the board with a blade in the warehouse. Regarding
the 'glueline' in plywood, which you can see on the edge of the
board, there are a range of glue technologies and most of the modern
glues are surprisingly soft - a little sticky to carve through, but
not tool blunting. There is no way of knowing how soft the glue will
be unless you try cutting through it, but as a rule of thumb the
lighter the visible glue line, and the less layers, the better it
will be for carving. The core board I use is made from Pycnathis
angolensis, a fairly rough board manufactured in South Africa, but
almost as light as balsa wood and very easy to carve. I have use core
boards of 12mm and 16 mm thickness. The structural properties of the
core board are very important, it needs to be light, but also free of
voids and it should be composed of thick layers. This type of plywood
tends to be cheap so it is not always ultra-flat which can be a
problem for the veneer process. I had my boards cut down the middle
of the sheet to improve the adhesion of the veneer in the press.
The cost of having the boards manufactured is cheaper than buying
plank cherry, but also has the advantages of coming in a large size
suitable for making large prints and is lighter to store. But, the
main advantage is that the plywood is much easier to carve - given
that most of the physical work in carving is removing the waste
timber. In printing, the plywood is almost as good as plank timber.
If you print extremely wet for goma zuri, the veneer will eventually
swell and corrugate, conforming to the fine lines of glue that hold
the veneer down. But, in normal printing with paste there is no
buckling of the surface. I have made many prints using these boards
and have never had the veneer come loose or had any other problems.
The boards do not warp or come apart even when damp for days. People
who like to seal their boards and/or use oily ink should have no
problems at all.
impressed with the Cherry faced plywood that Maria provided that I
made some enquiries to try buy my own. This plywood had a lovely
tough cherry veneer to hold the carved lines and a soft core to make
waste removal a breeze. Maria provided this link to Rockler who
supplied the sheets:
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=847&cookietest=1
I couldn't persuade Rockler to ship the sheets from the US to
Australia and for the same reason I decided not to try and import the
commonly used Shina plywood from Japan, instead, I had my own sheets
veneered locally. There are businesses who do nothing else than put
custom veneer onto 'core boards', either composite timbers or
plywood. You need only specify the type of timber veneer you want and
the type of board you want in the middle. You can also select veneer
cut from the log in a couple of styles and the elect the width and
the thickness of the strips - thicker and wider strips will be more
expensive. I had my veneer 'crown cut', which is the grain pattern
seen in most planks, and the standard thickness to save money.
The bulk of my boards are faced with American Cherry, but also some
with Western Red Cedar, some with Pinus radiata and some with
Tasmanian Oak - for different grain properties. When having plywood
veneered it is necessary to have a balancing veneer on the reverse
side of the board to prevent warping of the board, so you can pick
two different timbers, one for each side of the board.
There are hundreds of different types of plywood, finding a suitable
core board is much more difficult than finding veneer. The core board
should of course be easy to carve, if you explain your needs you may
be able to test the board with a blade in the warehouse. Regarding
the 'glueline' in plywood, which you can see on the edge of the
board, there are a range of glue technologies and most of the modern
glues are surprisingly soft - a little sticky to carve through, but
not tool blunting. There is no way of knowing how soft the glue will
be unless you try cutting through it, but as a rule of thumb the
lighter the visible glue line, and the less layers, the better it
will be for carving. The core board I use is made from Pycnathis
angolensis, a fairly rough board manufactured in South Africa, but
almost as light as balsa wood and very easy to carve. I have use core
boards of 12mm and 16 mm thickness. The structural properties of the
core board are very important, it needs to be light, but also free of
voids and it should be composed of thick layers. This type of plywood
tends to be cheap so it is not always ultra-flat which can be a
problem for the veneer process. I had my boards cut down the middle
of the sheet to improve the adhesion of the veneer in the press.
The cost of having the boards manufactured is cheaper than buying
plank cherry, but also has the advantages of coming in a large size
suitable for making large prints and is lighter to store. But, the
main advantage is that the plywood is much easier to carve - given
that most of the physical work in carving is removing the waste
timber. In printing, the plywood is almost as good as plank timber.
If you print extremely wet for goma zuri, the veneer will eventually
swell and corrugate, conforming to the fine lines of glue that hold
the veneer down. But, in normal printing with paste there is no
buckling of the surface. I have made many prints using these boards
and have never had the veneer come loose or had any other problems.
The boards do not warp or come apart even when damp for days. People
who like to seal their boards and/or use oily ink should have no
problems at all.
Message 4
From: cucamongie # aol.com
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:59:00 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39438] off-topic, question re illustrating books
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Hi folks, are any of you involved in ilustrating children's books? If so, how do you generally deal w/the financial part of it?
Do you do it as a commission in a lump sum or do you also make an agreement re royalties etc in the case of a book being published?
I am asking because I have had a couple of nibbles in that direction and am wondering what the general practice for this is, in case
I decide to pursue this direction.
Please feel to respond off-line, as this is not exactly woodblock material.
Many thanks
Sarah
Do you do it as a commission in a lump sum or do you also make an agreement re royalties etc in the case of a book being published?
I am asking because I have had a couple of nibbles in that direction and am wondering what the general practice for this is, in case
I decide to pursue this direction.
Please feel to respond off-line, as this is not exactly woodblock material.
Many thanks
Sarah
Message 5
From: Julio.Rodriguez # walgreens.com
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:51:15 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39439] Re: Plywood
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Tom writes:
"instead, I had my own sheets
veneered locally. There are businesses who do nothing else than put
custom veneer onto 'core boards', either composite timbers or
plywood. You need only specify the type of timber veneer you want and
the type of board you want in the middle."
Tom thanks, I think this is a great solution for those of us that have
problems or access to getting good quality
wood to carve...I bet here in the US there are quite a number of places
that can deliver this type of product..
Great suggestion....Julio
"instead, I had my own sheets
veneered locally. There are businesses who do nothing else than put
custom veneer onto 'core boards', either composite timbers or
plywood. You need only specify the type of timber veneer you want and
the type of board you want in the middle."
Tom thanks, I think this is a great solution for those of us that have
problems or access to getting good quality
wood to carve...I bet here in the US there are quite a number of places
that can deliver this type of product..
Great suggestion....Julio
Message 6
From: jennifer kelly
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 05:40:35 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39440] RE: Plywood
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Wow. Thanks for all the detail. Where in Oz did u learn hanga? I myself am picking it up from this site, and a a book I downloaded by Hiroshi Yoshida.
Jenny, Newcastle NSW
> After carving my little block for the Baren cairn project I was so
> impressed with the Cherry faced plywood that Maria provided that I
> made some enquiries to try buy my own. This plywood had a lovely
> tough cherry veneer to hold the carved lines and a soft core to make
> waste removal a breeze. Maria provided this link to Rockler who
> supplied the sheets:
> http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=847&cookietest=1
>...
Message 7
From: "Mike Lyon"
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:16:16 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39441] RE: Plywood
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LOVED Tom's description! THANKS!!!
A brief addendum:
In the US, you should be looking for 'cabinet grade' veneer-core plywood.
This should be available in 4x8 foot sheets in various thicknesses near you
in any good lumber yard -- there are several to choose from here in Kansas
City, population 1.5 million.
A1 -- A means 'perfect' front and 1 means 'perfect' back -- veneer core
means the core is wood veneer with grain of each veneer running 90 degrees
to adjacent veneer. This cross-grain veneer makes the plywood less
susceptible to warping (but not warp-proof) and makes it very strong.
Available with A side in various hardwoods -- cherry, ash, walnut, etc.
Usually the 1 side (back) is ash or birch or some such.
For oily printing, MDF core works OK -- but for watery printing, the MDF
will swell when damp, raising the carved edges and making them print darker
-- also MDF tends to 'squeeze out' more than veneer core during printing,
again, leaving a dark border around printed edges...
For machine carved blocks I usually use 1/4 inch ply (light and easy to
handle in large sizes. For hand-carving, I think 3/4 inch is easier and
much stiffer (duh)!
If you want GRAIN to appear strongly in prints, use Birch (swirly grain
printing) or Ash (lots of straight grain lines).
Soft wood plywoods (pine, fir) print VERY pronounced grain, especially when
left ROUGH (unsanded).
Cherry tends to print very 'flat' with little or no grain showing up in the
print, but some blotchy areas due to grain-curl can show up as uneven darker
areas even after careful sanding -- you can seal the surface with dilute
shellac -- this will make the surface less absorbent and therefore it will
print 'lighter' than the raw wood, but it'll even out any blotchiness from
curly grain.
-- Mike
Mike Lyon
Kansas City, MO
http://mlyon.com
A brief addendum:
In the US, you should be looking for 'cabinet grade' veneer-core plywood.
This should be available in 4x8 foot sheets in various thicknesses near you
in any good lumber yard -- there are several to choose from here in Kansas
City, population 1.5 million.
A1 -- A means 'perfect' front and 1 means 'perfect' back -- veneer core
means the core is wood veneer with grain of each veneer running 90 degrees
to adjacent veneer. This cross-grain veneer makes the plywood less
susceptible to warping (but not warp-proof) and makes it very strong.
Available with A side in various hardwoods -- cherry, ash, walnut, etc.
Usually the 1 side (back) is ash or birch or some such.
For oily printing, MDF core works OK -- but for watery printing, the MDF
will swell when damp, raising the carved edges and making them print darker
-- also MDF tends to 'squeeze out' more than veneer core during printing,
again, leaving a dark border around printed edges...
For machine carved blocks I usually use 1/4 inch ply (light and easy to
handle in large sizes. For hand-carving, I think 3/4 inch is easier and
much stiffer (duh)!
If you want GRAIN to appear strongly in prints, use Birch (swirly grain
printing) or Ash (lots of straight grain lines).
Soft wood plywoods (pine, fir) print VERY pronounced grain, especially when
left ROUGH (unsanded).
Cherry tends to print very 'flat' with little or no grain showing up in the
print, but some blotchy areas due to grain-curl can show up as uneven darker
areas even after careful sanding -- you can seal the surface with dilute
shellac -- this will make the surface less absorbent and therefore it will
print 'lighter' than the raw wood, but it'll even out any blotchiness from
curly grain.
-- Mike
Mike Lyon
Kansas City, MO
http://mlyon.com
Digest Appendix
Postings made on [Baren] members' blogs
over the past 24 hours ...
Subject: The Silk Cut Award for Linocut Prints
Posted by: Georgina
|
I was very happy to open a letter from the Glen Eira City Council and find that my print Marriage Line had been accepted in the above award. Anyone who is keen on linocuts should note that this award, which is highly regarded in Australia is open to international artists also. Check out the link and perhaps put it in your diary for next time. http://www.silkcutlino.com/  |
This item is taken from the blog The Linocutter has a new adventure.
'Reply' to Baren about this item.