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

Baren Digest              Sunday, 1 February 1998      Volume 02 : Number 055

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From: David Bull <davebull@asahi-net.email.ne.jp>
Date: Sun, 01 Feb 1998 13:02:48 +0900
Subject: [Baren 291] Re: various postings ... 

Time to catch up with a few things that flew by during the last week or
so ...

John said:
> ... a video called "Japanese Woodblock Workshop" ...
> On the "workshop" video, the knife tool was used first by
> cutting the outlines (at an angle sloping away from the 
> image), then following up with a counter cut to remove the 
> wood. This is in opposition to what I understand Dave does 
> which is to use the small gouge first to clear the wood- 
> almost to the outlines, then following up with the knife to
> establish a clean edge (am I right?).

Oops!  I'm not sure how this bit of misunderstanding came about.  I (and
others working in this tradition) always use the knife to cut the lines
first.  A 'counter-cut' is then sometimes used to clear away a sliver of
wood, but only if it is thought necessary (say, to make the cut line
more visible while work continues).

The procedure is almost always:
(1) cut the lines
(2) clear the wide waste with the 'marunomi' (round chisel)
(3) clear between the cut lines and the open areas with the 'aisuki'
(flat chisels).

On a very few occasions, a 'counter-cut' is made _before_ the main cut
is made.  This is when there are tight curves or difficult grain, and
the blade is 'expected' to break during cutting.  Releasing the pressure
on the wood by having the counter cut in place makes cutting the main
line less stressful to the blade ...

If my earlier explanations somewhere were unclear ... I'm sorry.

*****

Phil wrote:
> The video cleared up alot of questions but also there 
> are more questions to be answered. One other thing I 
> have found out about myself. I can ask all the questions 
> in the world but until I actually start doing something 
> nothing changes. Its in the doing that questions are 
> answered and more to be asked ...

Boy this rings true to me.  I'm now 'famous' (or I guess 'infamous')
among the workers in the craftsmen's association here for the number of
questions that I ask.  I wrote earlier about the shakuhachi teacher here
who actually stopped taking any more western students; 'They just ask
too many g%@*d%&# questions!'

I guess it's just the way our culture has trained us.  Each time I make
a visit to one of the guys (like the visit to Seki-san I wrote about a
bit earlier), I try and remind myself to avoid it as much as I can, but
of course it's impossible.

And now here on [Baren], who's main purpose is the exchange of
information, asking questions has naturally become a very important part
of our communication - of _course_ it has; we can't 'see' each other, so
words are the only tools we have to learn from each other.

*****

David wrote to Phil:
> I don't mean a great long literary adventure, but
> simply something that other 'newbies' could relate 
> to, and that more importantly, they could
> learn from (that we could _all_ learn from!).

Ray wrote:
>Did you notice Dave did not ask me to keep a journal?  

Actually Ray, I simply hadn't thought of it at that time.  You too are
an obvious candidate for such a contribution to the Encyclopedia.  It
can never become too 'full'.  If you would like to write something about
your experiences, please do so.  It will be accepted gratefully, and I
think would be read with interest by others following the same path.

*****

Matt wrote:
>On this subject, I think cherry wood can vary a
>lot also, and have the
>impression the cherry wood that Dave gets in Japan is
>harder than what we have
>growing here 

There's cherry and there's cherry.  When I order my blocks from
Shimano-san, I must always specify what sort of carving I will be doing
on them.  In the most general terms, he wants to know two things: key
block or colours?

For a piece of wood that will become the key block (usually carrying
finely carved lines) he will select wood from near the base of any given
tree.  This will be much harder and heavier than wood from 'higher up'. 
It will also have more knotted areas and 'burls', but those aren't as
much of a problem to a line block as they would be to a colour block.

For the colour blocks he will give me wood from the upper straight
portion of the trunk.  This is lighter in weight, and is generally more
of a pinkish shade than a reddish shade.  And of course it is more free
(hah!) of knots and imperfections.

*****

Graham wrote:
> I wonder if Dave is using boxwood......very hard 
> and durable for those very fine lines and embossing.

Yes, David is also using boxwood - but that needs a bit of elucidation.

So far I have used boxwood for only one print - one of my New Year's
cards (the one with the girl bouncing the coloured ball).  I had read
about the old master carvers using boxwood when cherry just wouldn't
'cut it' for the fine work they were doing, and had seen old blocks with
boxwood inlaid in those areas (the face) where the finest cutting was to
be done.

So of course I wanted to try it myself.  I asked Shimano-san to send me
a piece, and I inlaid it into a cherry block and cut that print.

Fantastic!

I broke the knife innumerable times at first, but once I started to get
used to the different feeling, it was very very enjoyable work.  It was
much more difficult to print, as the water does not sink in so readily,
but the benefits far outweighed these disadvantages.  And after printing
200+ copies I still cannot detect any visible wear on even the finest
lines of that image.

One day in December I went over to Shimano-san's place to talk about my
next year's printmaking plans (for 1999).  Among other things, I'm
considering the production of some delicate 'surimono' type prints, and
I want to do them on boxwood.

He wasn't so excited about this plan.  Nobody else wants boxwood these
days, and he wasn't even sure if the supply 'pipeline' was still in
place - it's been decades since he's sold any.  (The piece he sent me
the year before was just something lying around his shop - he hadn't
charged me for it ...).

But I pushed a bit, and he agreed to try and find some for me.  When we
get closer to the actual production time, he will send me some pieces,
and I will inlay them into cherry blocks, which I will then return to
him for final planing.

(For those of you who read this and want to try it - please hold off for
a while, and don't ask me to send some over ...  I don't want to push
him too far on this - at least not just yet.  I think you can probably
find some boxwood over there; that plant is pretty much world wide in
range.)

*****

Dave

P.S. There's a new 'page' on the Encyclopedia as of last night (check on
the 'update' page to find any new additions ...).

P.P.S.  The hiking trip was fantastic!  And now this morning, work has
begun on the final set of ten from the poets' series ...

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 1998 21:54:06 -0800
Subject: [Baren 292] Additions to my site. 

I believe I mentioned I was updating my site with some drawings. I have
done this as well as fine tuned it.

Have a looky-lou.

Graham
http://www.islandnet.com/~gscholes/

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End of Baren Digest V2 #55
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