[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking.

Baren Digest               Sunday, 4 January 1998       Volume 02 : Number 030

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Sat, 3 Jan 1998 10:47:30 -0800
Subject: [Baren 128] Re:Indigo 

*A way back when this question was asked.......
>> Dave, Can you speak a bit of how to handle indigo? What type of
>> alcohol to use, and how?

The answer was.....
>For myself, I use 99.9999 stuff I get from the local pharmacy, but I
>know that a lot of the older guys don't go to that trouble.  They just
>dump a swig of 'sake' in the bowl.  I don't know much about the
>chemistry involved, but that makes me wonder about the sugars and stuff
>that must be in there - where do _they_ end up?  The alcohol itself just
>evaporates ...

*I gather it is in powder form?

>Because I make so few prints, I don't keep a stock of prepared pigment,
>but just grind up a bit of indigo as I need it, soak the resulting
>powder in alcohol for a few minutes, and then grind it some more with
>water as needed.  (Then glue, etc. ...)

*What do you use indigo for??  I use to use it when I did watercolours but
so little that I could count it on one hand in 15 years and then only as a
neutralizer.

>(Actually, I should admit that I 'cheat', and keep some ochre and earth
>colours in my box.  He doesn't need them, but I have a hell of a time
>making different browns without them ...)

*Earth colours are vital for me.  So why is it cheating to use them?

Graham

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From: David Bull <davebull@asahi-net.email.ne.jp>
Date: Sun, 04 Jan 1998 07:31:24 +0900
Subject: [Baren 129] Re:Indigo 

> Can you speak a bit of how to handle indigo? ...
> *I gather it is in powder form?

Well, yes and no.  It is in a dried hardened form, quite 'chunky', but
broken up into smaller pieces and powdery where it has been banged
around.  When I get a new batch of it from the pigment supplier, some of
the chunks are quite large and I can see that they fit together into a
circular shape.  It seems that some kind of indigo liquid was prepared,
and then let stand to dry in the bottom of a container.  This was then
broken loose, banged up into smaller pieces, put into bags, and sold
that way ...

In the mortar it crushes up into quite a fine powder.



> What do you use indigo for??  I use to use it when I did watercolours but
> so little that I could count it on one hand in 15 years and then only as a
> neutralizer.

I'm not sure how to answer this.  I use it when I want the colour
'indigo', or when I mix it with other pigments to get greens, purples,
or browns ...  It is one of the foundation colours of the traditional
Japanese palette.

 
 
> >(Actually, I should admit that I 'cheat', and keep some ochre and earth
> >colours in my box.  He doesn't need them, but I have a hell of a time
> >making different browns without them ...)
> 
> Earth colours are vital for me.  So why is it cheating to use them?

Well, I put the word 'cheat' in quotes ...  I was simply trying to imply
that my skills at mixing colours are far below those of the skilled
printers here.  They really use an incredibly small range of pigments -
and when you look at the ukiyo-e prints of the past, and look at the
astonishing range of colour and tone there - well, to my mind anyway,
it's just amazing.

On one of my first trips to Matsuzaki-san the printer, I had showed him
a sample of a particular red shade in a book illustration, and had asked
"How on earth do you make this colour?  I've tried and tried, but just
can't find it!"

He replied something to the effect that I had chosen the wrong verb -
one didn't 'find' colours, one 'made' them.    Then he looked at it for
a moment, turned to his pigment box, and pulled out a couple of
things.   A bit of this, a bit of that, and then a dab of 'sumi' ... a
swirl of the colour onto a piece of junk wood standing nearby ... then a
quick impression on a piece of the 'test' paper that he keeps standing
by ...     He pulled it off and put it side-by-side together with the
sample.  Other than the difference from the fresh 'wet' glisten, they
were identical.  Bang on first time!

And everytime no doubt ...

Dave

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Sat, 3 Jan 1998 23:11:44 -0800
Subject: [Baren 130] Re:Thymol 

Hi

A month or so back when we had the discussion going about mould on our
paper, I mention a product that Noboru uses.
It is in fact Thymol crystals.    You put about 2 crystals in one liter of
water.  I use distilled water.
It is suppose to help with the mould problem.  It is not a cure just a
slower downer thing.

Graham

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Sat, 3 Jan 1998 23:13:17 -0800
Subject: [Baren 131] Re:Indigo 

Dave.

Thanks for the info on indigo.  It is a good colour and one should stay
with it.
I can understand when you talk about the mixing of colours.  It does take
years...or better I say continual mixing on every occasion possible. I
don't know if you have ever just sat down and played with colours.

I have 2 reds, 2 yellows, 2 blues, burnt sienna, yellow ochre. The three
primary colours reds yellows and blue range from a cold to a warm colour,
which gives me lots of latitude to mix any shade I want all the way to
black....Well almost black.

Graham

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End of Baren Digest V2 #30
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