[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking. Baren Digest Monday, 23 March 1998 Volume 02 : Number 103 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Blueman Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 18:25:52 -0500 Subject: [Baren 496] Re: Baren Digest V2 #102 Baren, Thank you for the welcome. Dave asked: > By the way, are you using a press? a baren? something else? I am using a wooden spoon, Dave. I tried a baren that was inexpensive, but I had trouble with it. It was on yours and Matt's websites that I learned about using oil. Maybe that's why the paper got so roughed up. I didn't use oil. There is a Vandercook Proofing Press in my basement that we were given by a Professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. I belong to a group of poets in our county who are workshopping our poetry through Kent State University. When we heard the press was being offered to interested parties, we asked for it and no one really wanted it intheir basement and since I'm already interested in making books, everyone thought here would be the best place for it. I had not thought about doing woodcuts on it because I like hand burnishing's ability to create light and dark areas where I want them. Also I don't do editions. I like to do illustrations( via woodcuts) then scan them into my Mac for pages in poetry books that I eventually print myself then handbind. The actual prints I like to hingemount on matboard the same color as the paper, then put them into black wooden frames. They look good on black easels when I show them at events. (11 or 12 musicians, poets and artists have formed a group we call The Drumming Poets. We perform at coffee houses and on stage from time to time. If there is room, we bring artwork for our audiences to look at). I read that you don't use gouges and v cutters. Is there a reason why not? I use poplar for my wood. I like the way it resists when I go against the grain because I know the wood is having its way and when I pull the print I'll be delighted that the finished piece is a collaboration between me and the wood. Gayle ------------------------------ From: David Bull Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 12:52:12 +0900 Subject: [Baren 497] Re: 'V' cutters ... Gayle wrote: > I like to do illustrations( via woodcuts) then scan > them into my Mac for pages in poetry books that I eventually print > myself then handbind. This sounds very interesting ... Do you have any of this stuff up on the web where we can get a peek at it? > I read that you don't use gouges and v cutters. > Is there a reason why not? When I wrote that sentence I should have explained myself a bit better. In my particular case, that of trying to reproduce the traditional Japanese style of print, one of course has to stick with the tools that were originally used to produce those prints. It's the only way to come up with the same result. In this type of print, the 'white line' is never used, only the black line. A tool like a 'V' cutter is designed for making white lines in the solid colour. As you cut with the 'V' you can make this line expand and contract as you wish, and your cutting action is visible in the finished print. For me though (_everybody_ else on this list will groan in disgust as they read this), if one can see the 'wood' in the finished print - it means you've screwed up. If one can see the 'knife' in the finished print - it means you've screwed up. In this style of work, the wood and tools are just 'means to an end' - the reproduction of the original design; they are not tools for creating 'art'. So a tool like the 'V' cutter, with which a 'real' carver can express himself so well, is pretty much useless to me ... It certainly seems that I am thus the worst possible choice for a person to be hosting a woodblock printmaking discussion forum like [Baren]! (But at least I don't demand that everybody else see things my way!) Dave ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V2 #103 ***************************