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Message 1
From: Lawrence H Pinto
Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2012 13:12:01 GMT
Subject: [Baren 45688] Response to Oscar: the Tokyo Exhib Larry saw was not by "amateurs"
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Dear Oscar,

I'm so glad that you liked the part of my post about the moku hanga show in Tokyo a few weeks ago. I sent a photo of the name label for one of the prints to George Jarvis in Akita, Japan and he corrected me, saying that the show I saw was put on by a printmaker's association with high entrance standards, and that these people were not simply "amateurs." I made this mistake because when I asked if the people were professional I was told that they were 'not professional', meaning that their main livelihood was not earned by printmaking. This unlike the teachers who have come to mi-lab to teach us, whose livelihood is earned by carving or printing and would be considered 'professional' Japanese people.

George went on to explain to me that there are levels of moku hanga printmaker's associations in Japan and this was the 2nd most difficult to get into

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Message 2
From: Gillyin Gatto
Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2012 15:12:31 GMT
Subject: [Baren 45689] maple for carving
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hello bareners

a thought for Linda and Carol re: carving woods

if you can find some MAPLE - as in an old table top

i have found it to carve very easily and not chip much

my all time favorite tho remains yellow cedar

hope this helps

Gillyin

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Message 3
From: Jeff Simpson
Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2012 15:59:32 GMT
Subject: [Baren 45690] Re: maple for carving
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I find maple too hard, and it dulls my blades. I have used it, though.

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Message 4
From: Kristine Alder
Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2012 16:45:44 GMT
Subject: [Baren 45691] Exchange 54 sign-up continues
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Wow! We are off to a great start on the sign-ups for Exchange 54, the Moku-hanga challenge!

Since we are the Forum for Woodblock Printmakers, this is an outstanding opportunity to represent this traditional Japanese technique for creating prints. I would encourage everyone to get involved. If you are new to the forum and have questions, well, that's what this is all about! Those who are more experienced are willing to offer help to those with less time behind the baren. Fear is only a crutch that keeps you from reaching your full potential!


For more information on this exchange or to sign up, go to: http://www.barenforum.org/exchange/exchange_54/exchange_54.html

Your Exchange Manager,
Kristine


Kristine Alder
Baren Exchange Manager
St. George, UT
Art Educator/Printmaker/Book Artist
Co-President UAEA
email: alder@pineview.org
imakeprints@hotmail.com

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it,
but that it is too low and we reach it." --Michelangelo

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Message 5
From: Andrew Stone
Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2012 16:53:52 GMT
Subject: [Baren 45692] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V60 #6040 wood and mold
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I had mold issues with my Maple print after over 10 days in a damp pack (see my blog entry "Epilogue" for photos and the whole story). www.rospobio.blogspot.com

Interestingly I had added a few drops of grapefruit seed extract to the water I used to dampen my damp pack and paper (it has known antibacterial/antifungal activity) and while untested I was amazed at how long I was able to go until that fateful day...... "Gee, this paper pack is doing great". My long printing sessions, coupled with my now famous indecision during printing about colors and a sudden heat wave led to mold in my almost-finished prints...(only the European papers--my Japanese paper didn't mold.).
I had been too erratic in putting the paper away in the fridge/freezer as it was too big.
I hope to try a real trial: newsprint/Washi/European paper water vs. water and grapefruit seed extract in a plastic bag.....see how long they go at room temp....before mold strikes.
(I was printing for over a week).
Hanging in the sun didn't help.
Foxing is visible in all the copies I left yellow.

RE: Wood; Shina is not a perfect solution; I had tons of problems with seams printing my last go round and while it is probably your best bet for plywood on big prints I still like cherry, and poplar--if lightly sealed (warps badly otherwise) is cheap and can be found in decent sized boards.
And the wood gives a nicer printed surface than the softwood the Shina is made from.
I have used Maple (really hard to carve but slips won't come off either), Cherry (better), Birch and Alder. For all the hardwoods keeping your tools sharp is paramount; I work with a strop and a sandpaper faced board (1000 grit) for touching up as I go. ( Oh and I've broken a few tools along the way--but not recently).
Just scored a piece of boxwood and I'll let you know how it goes.

Andrew (yes-my-last-print-got-moldy) Stone
rospobio.blogspot.com
>
>

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