Today's postings

  1. [Baren 40346] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V50 #5086 (Jan 3, 2010) (Marilynn Smith)
  2. [Baren 40347] Unturned Stones (Linda Beeman)
  3. [Baren 40348] Re: Color Reduction (Lana Lambert)
  4. [Baren 40349] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V50 #5085 (Jan 2, 2010) (cjchapel # casco.net)
  5. [Baren 40350] RE: New Baren Digest (Text) V50 #5086 (Jan 3, 2010) ("Phare-Camp")
  6. [Baren 40351] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V50 #5085 (Jan 2, 2010) (eli griggs)
  7. [Baren 40352] Re: New Year print has been uploaded to the site (Jean Womack)
  8. [Baren 40353] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
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Message 1
From: Marilynn Smith
Date: Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:32:03 GMT
Subject: [Baren 40346] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V50 #5086 (Jan 3, 2010)
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Conor,

Your questions are a little confusing (at least to me). What I think
you are saying is that you are picking up color from areas that you do
not want to print. If that is correct than you need to cut your areas
deep enough so that when you ink the plate it does not go into spaces
you don't want to pick up ink. If you have large areas that are cut
away totally than yes you want to try to avoid inking them. You can
leave say a quarter inch border along these large areas, but cut deep
enough that you are not putting ink into those areas. That can help
to hold your paper up and away from the spots you do not want to hold
ink. But be sure not to ink the border. You need to cut deep enough
so that the ink will just stay on the surface. Also when you use a
brayer use thin layers and don't over ink. Too much ink will also
spread.

You do not want to try to cover up ink that goes into areas you don't
want it to be in. You want each plate to run with only the image you
have carved. It should be clean and clear for each and every layer.
It is good to start light to dark, but don't expect your darker layer
to cover up anything. In other words you do not want little specs of
color that are not part of your mage to be anywhere on your paper. So,
1. Cut deep enough so that ink does not go into unwanted areas.

2. Try not to get ink into large cut out areas, and possibly use a
border to hold up your paper.

3. Use thin layers of ink, starting from the middle out. Over inking
will cause your ink to spread.

4. Do not expect later layers to cover up ink spots that are not part
of our design.

Good luck, it is easier said than done. Practice practice practice.

Marilynn
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Message 2
From: Linda Beeman
Date: Sun, 03 Jan 2010 18:16:43 GMT
Subject: [Baren 40347] Unturned Stones
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Thank you all for your comments on my blog about Unturned Stones.

To answer Andrew's question: there are 8 blocks and the print size is 10 1/2 x 14 1/2".

I only use cobalt blue, cad. yellow, cad. red, indigo and sumi for colors in my prints. I mix everything from them. I just started doing that this year. I did take a cue from Annie B. on this print and mixed a wee bit of white in for the water block.



www.lindabeemanprintmaker.blogspot.com
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Message 3
From: Lana Lambert
Date: Sun, 03 Jan 2010 18:45:31 GMT
Subject: [Baren 40348] Re: Color Reduction
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Hi Conor!
Welcome!  I'm taking a break from my own printing at the moment and would love for an excuse for a digression.

"Trying to save time on my last print I ended up with lots of small areas
of color that were very close to each other and I spent a lot of time trying
to clean up the mess of oversized brayers in small spaces getting into the
wrong areas."- So, I'm guessing that when you say this that there were areas of Different color that you wanted to print that were too close together for any brayer not to miss.  At first I thought that you meant your negative spaces were filling in and I thought "well, that sounds like too much ink." If it's just a matter of the fact that you made a tight fit for yourself, maybe try a masking method.  I want to say "pochoir" is the right term but someone feel free to come out of the wood works to correct me.  Mask off the block under some mylar and cut out the areas of one color.  Ink up the whole thing and only the areas of the block that are supposed to be that color will get inked.  You can make as many masks as you want. 
I'm not sure I get what your next idea about shellac is because I've never used the stuff.  Are you talking about over printing? Maybe you can clarify for me.
At any rate, nice to have you around and welcome to Baren Forum!
-Lana
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Message 4
From: cjchapel # casco.net
Date: Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:16:49 GMT
Subject: [Baren 40349] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V50 #5085 (Jan 2, 2010)
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Conor, You might find some answers by watching the Karen Kunc videos
on youtube. Keep us up to date on your progress.
C. Chapel
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Message 5
From: "Phare-Camp"
Date: Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:23:31 GMT
Subject: [Baren 40350] RE: New Baren Digest (Text) V50 #5086 (Jan 3, 2010)
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Hi Connor:

welcome to town! You have several choices in this matter. I personally
would probably do all of them as I'm into mixing it up...

1. if the print is small get some clear office transfers. They're cheaper
than art acetate but you will need to use art acetate if your print is
larger than 8.5 x ll inches. Print your keyline onto the transfers, one for
each color (use one for more colors if those colors aren't close to each
other). Now cut the color section your stencils...

2. if the color area is too small for a brayer use a stencil brush to brush
the color onto your block. You can do this with or without a stencil.
Using a stencil brush gives you tighter control with areas that are small or
when two different colors are very close to each other.

3. You can also stencil the ink directly onto the print itself. This
technique is called "Pochoir: A stencil print that does not involve a
screen. Usually pigment is brushed across the openings of the template.
Often the brush marks are discernable."
http://www.spencerart.ku.edu/collection/print/glossary.shtml

Hope this helps you out! Like I said, me, I would probably use all three
techniques. Now I must get off the computer, today is free entrance into
our local art museum and I'm taking my grandson out for brunch and some
museum hopping...

Happe Noo Yirss!

Patti Phare-Camp
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Message 6
From: eli griggs
Date: Sun, 03 Jan 2010 23:54:14 GMT
Subject: [Baren 40351] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V50 #5085 (Jan 2, 2010)
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You can make and use some daubers from rubber balls of various sizes, cut in two and covered with thin leather, chamois or deer skin. Gather the ends of the leather above the cut halve of a ball and tie it off, trim if necessary, and use this for a handle.

Roll-up your ink on the ball and use this to roll out the ink onto your block.

The beauty of ball daubers is they can roll out tiny amount of ink if needed and larger areas limited only by the size of the donor ball.

I put an illustration in the "One-Point Lessons" section on Baren awhile back so take a look if you are unclear about what it should look like.

You can also make inking daubers with other fillers, like sand, but these are pounced upon the ink plate and the block and are rather larger.

Eli
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Message 7
From: Jean Womack
Date: Mon, 04 Jan 2010 07:53:31 GMT
Subject: [Baren 40352] Re: New Year print has been uploaded to the site
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Gosh, that's awfullly pretty, David.

Jean Womack


*One kind word can warm 100 winter nights
*Japanese proverb

Digest Appendix

Postings made on [Baren] members' blogs
over the past 24 hours ...

Subject: The Cold Push
Posted by: Pistoles Press


After wading through a New Year's Day hangover, I set about my goal of beginning the final printing of my Trilobite Series for the show I have due in April. My goal was 5 editions for each trilobite I had the color block and key block finished for an edition of 30 prints each (so I would have to print 35 all together to account for mistakes). This was to be completed by the end of the weekend. I already had the paper cut and resting in my plastic humidor box. I had begun the printing back in October when I was intent on printing with my soil ink. That would have been such a great print. Alas, it was not in the stars and so rather than waste resources I dried out the remaining paper and set the project aside to deal with the hell of moving out of my studio. I still have the "ink" I processed from soil. Maybe one day I will print with it.

I got up this past Saturday and set up my printing station/drafting table. I have a canister of premade McClain's brand nori paste but when I reached for it I saw that it was getting on the low side. I decided that if I'm going to go with the Amazonite and Malachite pigments that I might as well roll out the process and cook up my own paste too. I had purchased a bag of rice starch that I keep in a cobalt blue apothecary jar and it that makes it feel like my little treasure. I'm still keeping an eye out for a suitable steamer trunk to keep all my preground pigments in so I can really pile on the atmosphere. I trotted down to the kitchen with my tattered copy of "Japanese Book Binding" by Kojiro Ikegami and my mysterious blue jar and my husband asked if I was cooking up potions today. I should have taken a picture of the nori steaming and bubbling away on my stove but the truth of the matter is I . . .
[Long item has been trimmed at this point. The full blog entry can be viewed here]

This item is taken from the blog Pistoles Press.
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