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Baren Digest                Friday, 22 May 1998        Volume 03 : Number 161

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From: Blueman <blueman@pantek.com>
Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 11:51:58 -0400
Subject: [Baren 801] Re: Baren Digest V3 #160 

Graham asked if I was pulling his Canadian leg
in regard to the cloth over the sanding block.

and Ray gave a good explanation of the process,
then added:

> If you WERE pulling his leg, forget this post.

I wasn't pulling any legs, Canadian or otherwise.
I have never done this procedure and I thank you,
Ray, for explaining it. 

And, Ray, the Guru's been pretty nice to all of us
so I too  bow toward Tokyo as well as England where
his lineage began.  Amen.

Gayle Wohlken

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@islandnet.com>
Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 10:22:14 -0700
Subject: [Baren 802] Re: Graham's block varnishing technique 

James wrote
>So, you're doing this when the varnish is still wet? Doesn't it tend to
>get gummy and build up around your cutting lines?

No .. That is why you cut it 50/50

>I glad that you cleared up that you are not printing from a
>varnished surface per se...

With the varnish cut 50/50 it would never be that you printing from the per se.

Graham

If you live in a tent are you more tentative?

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From: Ray Esposito <brassring@brassring.org>
Date: Thu, 21 May 1998 13:37:26 -0400
Subject: [Baren 803] Re: Graham's block varnishing technique 

But when is it proper to print from the per se?

Cheers

Ray Esposito

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From: Gary Luedtke <GLuedtke@compuserve.com>
Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 07:39:52 -0400
Subject: [Baren 804] 'One-point' lesson 

- -------------Forwarded Message-----------------

Here is this week's 'One-point' lesson, written by David Bull, but based
on visits and discussions with printer Mr. Keizaburo Matsuzaki.

********** ********** **********

(#6)  Pigment preserved in alcohol

Working both as carver, printer and publisher as I do, weeks sometimes
go by without my touching the printing tools.  I average about twelve
prints per year, and am thus only a 'printer' for three or four days
each month.  Printing on a 'part time' basis like this creates many
problems, not the least of which is the fact that my callouses disappear
during the weeks of carving, and the first day of printing each time can
thus be quite painful!  


Mixing colour is another area of difficulty.  I use the Japanese dry
pigments known as 'ganryo', and each time I want to create a colour, I
must first select, grind and then dissolve each of the basic ingredients
that I think will be needed for it.  As the mixing process proceeds, I
frequently find that I want just a touch of another ingredient in my
colour, and must thus go through the grinding, etc. with the new pigment
that I want to add.  It's troublesome and wasteful.

Keizaburo Matsuzaki-san has a better way.  On a shelf in his workshop
stands a row of jars containing his collection of basic pigments, not in
powder form, but ground and soaked in alcohol.  There is just enough
alcohol in the mix to keep each pigment in a moist and pasty form.  As
he mixes a colour for his current print, he simply takes a spoonful of
one, a dab from another, and a 'touch' from still another ...  It is a
moment's work to blend them together in his pigment bowl, and no further
grinding or other preparation is needed.

I should emphasize that he does not have a very large selection of these
pre-mixed colours.  In a typical Japanese pigment shop the walls are
covered right to the ceiling with rack after rack of delicately blended
shades - the greens here, the blues there ...  Those pigments are for
the use of painters working in the 'nihonga' style.  Woodblock
printmakers do not 'purchase' colours, they 'create' them. 


Here is his 'palette':
ai - indigo
prussian blue
shu - vermillion
hon yo ko - a deep and dark red
bengara - a rusty brown red
seki-wo - a yellow compound
sumi - carbon black

With this quite small selection, he can create any tint that you care to
imagine.  I've watched him do it ... studying the sample in front of him
for a moment, and then reaching for the jars he needs.  Scoop out the
pigments in the quantities he thinks will be necessary (no measuring or
weighing ...), blend them in water, swab it on the block to take a
sample proof ... 'bingo' ... 


Alcohol ... nothing like it to make the work go smooth and easy!

********** ********** **********

Next week,  'Low on the inside corner ...'

These 'One-point' lessons are being collected into a section in the
[Baren] Encyclopedia of Woodblock Printmaking.
http://www.woodblock.com/encyclopedia/updates.html

Contributions from experienced printmakers for future 'One-pointers' are
eagerly solicited.

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End of Baren Digest V3 #161
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