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

Baren Digest              Monday, 2 February 1998      Volume 02 : Number 056

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From: amoss@mindspring.com (John Amoss)
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 1998 11:05:28 +0300
Subject: [Baren 293] layering color 

Hello woodblock "barens"-
I have been trying follow the sage advice given: "do, then ask". The
trouble is that questions keep popping up like knots in  wood while I am
carving.... it is hard to break the aforementioned "western information
addiction".
Anyway, here my query:
In what order should colors be printed- with transparent colors
specifically? As I understand, commercial offset follows cyan, magenta,
yellow, then black. My watercolor experience suggests the opposite-  warm
colors are applied first while cools are reserved for later in order to
keep color layers clean.
Aside from the keyblock being first, does color order matter? Warm first?
Light colors first?
Back to the "do" part for this apprentice.

- -john

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 1998 09:46:34 -0800
Subject: [Baren 294] Re: various postings ... 

>From Dave,
>There's cherry and there's cherry.

That's right I was trying to get some Japanese cherry locally.  No go.  "Rien"
The difference between Japanese and Canadian cherries is the grain of the
wood.  It is much finer in Japan. Must be the climate, although we have
close to the same here on the coast. At any rate the stuff available here
resembles the strength or dominance of grain you would find in pine.

>From Dave,
>>I think you can probably find some boxwood over there; that plant is
>>pretty much world wide in range.

I tried.  The only wood available is in natural state of 2-3 inch round
pieces. It is imported from Europe.
One would need to convert it into boards.  Lots of cutting planing and
gluing to come up with a reasonable size block.
The timber is compact and pale yellow in colour.  The grain is fairly
straight to slightly irregular, with a very fine and even texture.  Weight
varies from 830-1140 kg/m-3 (52-71lb?ft-3), average Secific gravity .91.
Think I just move on.  Some one told me about a false boxwood. Looking into
that now.

..........................
Dave said.
>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 ...

Welllllll I should hope so.  All this gallivanting and cavorting around has
to stop.

Cheers

Graham

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 1998 09:47:49 -0800
Subject: [Baren 295] Re: layering color 

John wrote,
>In what order should colors be printed ...

I handle the colours the same way as I do in watercolours.
Lights first to darkest is the usual practice. The one important factor
about printing with watercolours is you CAN print a light colour over a
dark with out causing a mud problem.  This is because the pigment is
impressed into the paper and not laying on top as with watercolours and
therefore susceptible to lifting and mixing with the new colour going down.

The factor that determines what colour goes down first in both sports is
not so much the temperature but what result you want in the end results.
For instance if you are layering two colours of the same value the last
colour down will influence the bottom colour to a greater extent.
Therefore if you want a warm muted green then applying the red last, will
achieve this.  Conversely putting the green on top will give you a cooler
colour.
This is all very complex and as I wrote a few weeks ago it take the rest of
our lives and then some to get it right.

Just thinking about the sequence of printing in the commercial offset....
no always does it follow the sequence you mention above.  Again the printer
some times changes this depending on what effect he want.  I recall the fun
we use to have with Clairol cartons trying to please the heavies with the
'just right hair colour'  The run of the mill stuff is most often as you
stated however.  I had 25 very interesting years in the fine packaging
business.  Yes, I miss it even after all this time.  Sighhhhh

Graham

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From: Phil Bivins <pbivins@ac.net>
Date: Sun, 01 Feb 1998 13:02:36 -0500
Subject: [Baren 296] Re: various postings ... 

I am wondering what we should call the "newbie's journal". Maybe we could
use what the Japanese would call "Apprentist Journal" or maybe "Beginners
Mind Journal". What do you fellow "Barens" think?

Phil

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From: julio.rodriguez@walgreens.com
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 1998 12:23:20 -0600
Subject: [Baren 297] New Member 

My name is Julio Rodriguez and I am a new member here at Baren. I came across 
this forum two weeks ago and since then I have had trouble staying away. My 
congratulations to Dave for putting together such a great web site and for his 
dedication to this wonderful world of Moku-Hanga. His work is truly inspiring ! 
I have spent the last few days going over the Baren archives and find this 
forum truly refreshing. 
As my first  contribution, I would like mention a few books that would be of 
interest to beginners. I live in the Chicago area and I am blessed with a 
wealth of literature thru the local libraries. Perhaps the more accomplished 
members of Baren can elaborate on these books ( or others).  

Japanese Print Making, by Toshi Yoshida (son of Hiroshi Yoshida one of the 
founding members of the sosaku--hanga movement), 1966. Toshi's prints are 
contemporary in style but the book covers the traditional techniques and has 
some nice photos on putting together a baren.  

Moku-Hanga: How to make Japanese wood block prints, by Keiko Hiratsuka Moore 
(daugther of Un-ichi Hiratsuka), 1973. This book deals briefly into history and 
then is all how-to. The book is simple to read and the techniques and drawings 
are easy to follow. 

Evolving Techniques in Japanese Woodblock Prints, by Gaston Perit & Amadio 
Arboleda, 1977. Deals mostly with the combination of traditional & contemporary 
techniques. The book has hundreds of photos of Japanese artists (craftmen ?) at 
work. It also has a chapter dedicated to Japanese papers and the technique of 
making paper by hand. There is a section that covers the work of six artists in 
a step-by-step fashion that gives a wealth of insight into the work and passion 
of these men.

Wood Block, Cutting & Printing, by Manly Banister,1976. This little book (5x7), 
could easily be overlooked by someone looking for traditional Japanese 
techniques. The word japanese is only mentioned a few times (in relation to the 
baren tool) and the author does not discuss history or artists. It's kind of a c
ute book with animal prints on the cover and could easily be passed over as 
something aimed at children. What I think might be of benefit are the 
photographs in the book. They are mostly sharp close-ups taken at low angles 
that really show the wood blocks at their best. There is also a good chapter on 
starting out in color printing with 2-4 blocks. If you are a beginner and 
anxiously read with knife in hand....this book will take thru your first steps 
quickly.

That's it for now, again thanks to everyone involved with Baren and I hope to 
be hearing from you soon.

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From: Ray Esposito <brassring@brassring.org>
Date: Sun, 01 Feb 1998 13:29:46 -0500
Subject: [Baren 298] Newbie Journal Title 

Phil wrote:

>I am wondering what we should call the "newbie's journal". 

As one of the "newbies", my suggestion is to use whatever phrase the
Japanese would use since, although we cover many subjects, Baren is
basically about wood blocks and mostly Japanese wood blocks.  

It should be in Japanese  We could all stand a little language education
and Dave uses Japanese in much of his website anyway.  Surfers would be
curious what the phrase meant and would look in.  We know what it means,
so......no confusion.  My two cents.  

Sunday is studio and darkroom cleanup day.  I hate scrubing floors.  Back
to the scrub brush.  Bye.

Ray

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From: Phil Bivins <pbivins@ac.net>
Date: Sun, 01 Feb 1998 16:14:31 -0500
Subject: [Baren 299] Re: New Member 

Welcome Julio and thanks for your input. Hope to hear more from you. 

Take care, Phil

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Sun, 1 Feb 1998 14:06:52 -0800
Subject: [Baren 300] Re: New Member 

Welcome aboard Julio.

Thanks for the names of the books.

Wondering if you could supply the ISBN #'s

I have found that it is the fastest and easiest way for our local book
store to search the data bases of the world.

Regards
Graham

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From: Ray Esposito <brassring@brassring.org>
Date: Sun, 01 Feb 1998 21:02:25 -0500
Subject: [Baren 301] To Post or Not To Post 

Guys

I originally sent this to Dave because I didn't know if it was too
tongue-in-cheek for Baren and asked if it was okay with him.  Turns out he
decided to put it in the enclyopedia without my knowing it, typos, jokes
and all.  Talk about being desparate to get "something" in the encylopedia.
 (Dave, I may be a klutz with tools but pleeeeasse let me correct the typos
- - pretty please.)

Anyway, I decided to share the story with you.  By the way, I had a real
difficult time finding the encylopedia.  Does everyone know where it is?  I
thought it was part of Dave's site since that is where everything else
started.


Addressed to all the newbies looking in:

When I decided to become an "artist", a studio was a must have.  I rent a
three bedroom townhouse.  The master bedroom has been converted into my
library and I need a room to sack out.  That left the last small bedroom as
the studio.

Tables were the first priority.  I had a large square table I will use to
clamp my etching press to when it arrives.  I also have a drafting table
but it is small and reserved for hand coloring photographs.  To accommodate
my art needs I knew if I used tools of almost any kind, disaster would
strike.  Taking the easy way out, I used two old heavy printer tables,
spread them apart and placed a 1"x 3'x8' piece of plywood across them.  The
printer tables have excellent storage under each and it is very stable.
Both this and the square table are covered with freezer paper over
newspaper to produce a soft comfortable work area.

The rest of the bedroom, oops, excuse me...my art studio, is filled with a
microwave on a storage table and refrigerator.  (I have to be close to my
diet Pepsi and I'm too lazy to walk downstairs.  If I need the space in the
future I can move both to the library.)

This limited and crowded space presented a problem when I joined Baren.
Once I learned something about wood block cutting I realized I needed to
have a facility preparing wood before I began cutting.  Uh oh....I would
have to put a hammer and saw and all those other tools in my hand.  This is
equivalent to Bonnie and Clyde walking into a bank.  Stick 'em up, Esposito
has a hammer......

The only space left was a long but not too deep closet.  I nailed 1x4's
around the wall and dropped another piece of plywood over them to make a
full closet workbench.  Don't laugh.  In the hands of Matt, Julio, Graham
or Dave, the 1x4's would have lined up properly and would have been screwed
or set in the wall properly without an extra twenty nail holes while trying
to find the wood do-hickee's behind the drywall.  (Actually it is kind of
funny.  Between the plywood and 1x4's are a lot of gaps.)  Next came tools.
 Oh me, oh my!  To begin my new career in using tools, I bought a Black and
Decker table top workmate and a small saw.

That's it so far.  I need other tools but haven't the foggiest idea what to
buy.  Isn't there something called an airplane or is that just plain plane?
 This adventure will continue.  (Now let's see...I draw a line across the
wood and draw the saw across the wood....no, no dummy, the saw teeth are
pointed down, not up.)

Ray

P.S.  Dave - The grammar and spelling in this version has been corrected as
best I can.  If I could keep reviewing it, I am sure I could come up with
others.


Ray Esposito

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From: Jean Eger <jeaneger@LanMinds.Com>
Date: Sun, 01 Feb 1998 22:36:11 -0800
Subject: [Baren 302] California society of Printmakers 

Dear Baren people,
You may enjoy viewing a new web site for the California Society of Printmakers at

http://users.lanminds.com/~jeaneger/csp
There are several woodcuts among the prints in this exhibition.  This is a
gallery/online exhibition.
Sincerely,
Jean Eger

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End of Baren Digest V2 #56
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