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Message 1
From: Tibi Chelcea
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:01:16 GMT
Subject: [Baren 45264] Re: Pasting a large sheet of paper on the woodblock
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Here's the latest in this mini-project. I've tried to use Yes paste, and it
worked quite well, but it had two major drawbacks:
- I could not really wet&peel the paper, the paper would just peel off
entirely instead of revealing the drawing.
- If I'd add just a little bit of oil, the original design would show
pretty clearly. Normally, that would be the end of the story. However, due
to the nature of the design, I'd have to carve it (a) using only 1mm and
1.5mm U-gouge chisels and (b) extremely close to the original design when
cutting (less than 1/3 mm off); with these restrictions, it was hard to cut
cleanly through that paper and still see the original lines.

So, instead, after cleaning the block, when applying layers of acrylic
gesso on the block (I normally gesso the blocks before cutting), decided to
paste directly on the gesso. The entire block was covered, but not yet dry;
it worked very well to paste the paper. The most important thing was to use
a roller to straighten the paper as it is pasted -- with this, I did not
have any air bubbles, paper shifts or unexpected rips. After letting it dry
for a day, I could easily wet and peel the paper; since the gesso is
acrylic, it means that the tonner in the original design transfers from the
paper to the block, which allows for peeling paper very close to nothing.
After carving the design, I simply washed the block with a dish sponge and
soap to eliminate all the remains of the paper.

I'll have to see whether this could scale easily to larger sheets of paper,
or whether this was a lucky break. But, it seems promising.

Tibi

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Message 2
From: Tibi Chelcea
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:34:47 GMT
Subject: [Baren 45265] Re: Exhibition Question
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Congratulations for the show. Here's a few answers, hopefully they help.

- In general, it's better to produce more work and select later. If for no
other reason than because it's well know that the quality of work generally
improves with practice.

- In my opinion, it's vastly better to have a theme rather than a grab-bag
of works. Don't make the theme overly restrictive, since the works might
get too repetitive, but don't make it too general either. What exactly is
the theme, depends on the work that you've done already and what would
interest you. If you can, find a large wall or floor and lay down all the
works that you might consider putting in the show; look at them for a
while, see if you can discern some threads/concerns/themes in there. Once
you identify the themes, see which ones would be of interest to you to
continue making work for the next year or so. This might also give you the
title of the show and a statement/description for press releases.

- Price of work = P + N*H + F, where:
- P = price of materials
- N = number of ours spent making the work
- H = hourly pay you think you deserve (be realistic, probably you won't
be able to command an hourly pay equal to your day job -- you're just
starting as an artist)
- F = extras based on the fame of the artist (since this is your first
solo show, probably F is zero or whereabouts)
If you sell prints, you should divide by edition size. Well, that's the
theory, at least. In practice, a lot of people are much more emotional
about the prices, and base them on other factors. You could do that, but it
does not hurt to compute the prices using the formula above -- it would
give you an anchor.

- Under vs. over-valuing: Try to compute the prices as above; that would at
least give you a starting point and drive you a bit farther from totally
subjective price decisions which give rise to this question.

- Frames: I have no clue what a peg frame is (and a google search was not
too illuminating). It's usually a good idea to have the works presented as
nicely as possible. Custom frames would be great, but they cost a lot of
money, which you might not get back. If you have some stock frames (frames
of standard sizes) that you could use, go ahead -- they're cheaper than
custom frames. Try not to use frames that are too ornate or in wild colors
and distract from your work.

- Things to know: try to advertise as much as possible. I don't mean buying
expensive ads in newspapers/magazines. Create a postcard design and have it
printed in 100+ copies (here in US it can be done for about 17$); you could
send the postcards to different publications, place a few in various places
around town (coffee shops, at other art centers, community centers). See if
you make an email list of people that deal with arts in your town/region;
send them an email with the press release and one or two images. Don't
forget to invite family/friends (you could send them a more formal version
of the press release).

- Finally, at the opening: enjoy yourself. You're the star of the night,
the people that are there, are there for you and your work.

Tibi

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Message 3
From: vizart # mail.com
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:20:43 GMT
Subject: [Baren 45266] [spam]
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[spam]

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Message 4
From: Viza Arlington
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:07:45 GMT
Subject: [Baren 45267] Re: Hi
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i think someone hacked my mail.com account because i didn't send the
above comment.
viza

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Subject: Tsushima-san's Hokusai print is done!
Posted by: Dave Bull

This item is taken from the blog Mokuhankan Conversations.
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