[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking. Baren Digest Thursday, 21 October 1999 Volume 09 : Number 750 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: John and Jan Telfer Date: Wed, 20 Oct 99 21:38:01 -0000 Subject: [Baren 6321] Dear Juan and Georga, >I think Americans call Perspex 'Plexy glass' if that's the spelling. Same product, but different names "down under". Any type of surface is work trying both ways using print methods of relief and intaglio...they give very different results and often the result looks better using the opposite technique you first created it for. Jan ------------------------------ From: Wolfenhnd@aol.com Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 09:54:41 EDT Subject: [Baren 6322] > i am in the market for a press. it doesn't have to be fancy ... Hi agatha, Keep an eye on eBay for presses. I've seen entire little print shops go for under $1,000. Of course, shipping is always a factor but you can shop for a press where you can drive and pick it up. Most sellers are more than accomodating about helping to arrange for shipping, too. Now I've said that and everyone is going to run over and search eBay for presses, I call that no one can ever bid against me and I called it first. :)) - -giselle P.S. Why are there sooooooo many presses for sale in Texas, (USA), BTW? Does anyone have any idea? ------------------------------ From: "Jean Eger" Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 00:13:13 +0900 Subject: [Baren 6323] Maria, Mark Millmore was one of the first on the world wide web to have a web site about printmaking. He got really interested in the new technology, around 1995. Then he founded the magazine and people all over the world started submitting stuff. Then he got a board of directors or advisors for the magazine. It looked a little like a takeover to me, but maybe not. Then it seemed like he lost interest in it. It's really too bad he is leaving it. It is a little like David Bull leaving Baren. Thanks to all the people who pointed out that I had the kentos in the wrong position. I will change it as soon as my right arm heals up from the last session. (Trouble with shoulder and carpal tunnel and all that.) Jean Eger ------------------------------ From: Wanda Robertson Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 11:41:44 -0700 Subject: [Baren 6324] Re: Kento registration method. You know, I learned more about Kento registration by looking at Graham's carved blocks from his previous prints, than I could glean from instructions or even pictures. Jean, I can see you put a lot of work into this - but it does seem upside down to me. Is this the way you print, or am I just confused? http://users.lanminds.com/~jeaneger/kento/index.html Here is a page with April's working methods: http://www.ulster.net/~vollmerf/april/about/hanga.html Wanda ------------------------------ From: "Luke Burgdorf" Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 14:54:20 -0500 Subject: [Baren 6325] books on hanga water based block printing I have just recently subscribed to baren and have already learned quite a bit. The discussion about hanga style printing sounded like something I would like very much. Although you can learn alot from this list serve, detailed instructional information is too tedious for this media.I would greatly appreciate it if someone could reccomend a book on the subject. That way I could find out what supplies I would need and how I would need to go about printing step by step. Thanks luke burgdorf ------------------------------ From: "Philip Smith" Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 13:23:11 -0700 Subject: [Baren 6326] Re: books on hanga water based block printing Hello Luke,....I have a little book called "Color Woodblock Printmaking" by Margaret Miller Kanada, pub. by Shufunotomo Co.....it's ten years old,..but I'm sure it would be easy enough to find via Amazon or another on line book seller,....good luck and welcome. Philip ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 13:24:42 -0700 Subject: [Baren 6327] Re: books on hanga water based block printing > I have just recently subscribed to baren and have already learned >quite a bit. Welcome aboard Luke. Some of the books on the baren are pretty good. go to. http://www.woodblock.com/encyclopedia/topics/011/011_frame.html Or the one point lessons at..... http://www.woodblock.com/encyclopedia/topics/018/018_frame.html For a list of materials try this. http://www.members.home.net/gscholes/Materials.html I do not sell the material on the list but can refer you to the Canadian source in Vancouver. Graham ------------------------------ From: Julio.Rodriguez@walgreens.com Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 15:26:35 -0500 Subject: [Baren 6328] re: books Hi Luke, welcome onboard.......just go to this part of the Baren encyclopedia and you can not only get a list of good books to review but actually read them online before deciding to buy..tell us more about yourself..... http://www.woodblock.com/encyclopedia/topics/011/011_frame.html Thanks.....Julio ------------------------------ From: "Jeanne N. Chase" Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 16:55:23 -0400 Subject: [Baren 6329] Re: books on hanga water based block printing Welcome to the Baren, Luke. Graham just introduced you to the many wonderful sites on the Baren Encylopedia. Anytime I have a problem that seems unsolvable I just go to the Baren pages and somewhere is the answer!!!! What is you subject matter? And where are you from? We are a nosy bunch but lovable, ask Graham. Jeanne N ------------------------------ From: David Bull Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 08:10:54 +0900 Subject: [Baren 6330] Back to work ... Hi gang ... I've been back for a few days now, but haven't been able to dig myself out from under the pile that was waiting for me. Seeing Jean's comment this morning though, > It is a little like David Bull leaving Baren ... makes me realize that I'd better check-in here before everybody forgets who I am! The trip to New England was wonderful, and Sadako and I had one of our best holidays ever. I'm not going to start chatting here about maple leaves and stuff - the part of our trip that belongs on [Baren] is the visit to that there Matt Brown guy! (For the benefit of new members, Matt Brown is one of the original members from the starting of the [Baren] forum nearly two years ago. He doesn't post here too often, being far too deeply involved with actual printmaking work to sit and talk about it much. If you haven't seen his work yet, many of his prints can be seen on his website at: http://www.ooloopress.com) Matt drove all the way down to Logan airport to meet us from our flight from Japan, and we spent the best part of the next five days together, 'sightseeing' around Concord MA, visiting his home/workshop in Lyme NH, and seeing him display at a craft fair in Woodstock VT. I'm at a bit of a loss as to how much of these experiences to try and pass on to you all. It would take me a lot longer than five days to put down _everything_ that we discussed about printmaking! I guess we were going at it hard before we even got out of the car that first evening ... When we got to his friend's home where we were all put up for the night, things continued until the early hours, and we picked it up right away the next day, as we were strolling around Walden Pond on a beautifully warm and sunny autumn morning. For me, living completely among Japanese as I do, having a chance to engage in debate/discussion with a guy like Matt was a heaven-sent opportunity. When talking with somebody here in Japan, it's just not possible to shake your finger in his nose and tell him 'I don't think so!' when you're talking about the 'meaning of life', so I had a lot of 'repressed' stuff ready to burst out in the conversations. Matt must have got the impression that I was being a complete 'contrarian', ready to disagree with absolutely everything that he said. But I see that I'm getting sidetracked already ... Lynita has already given you a quick 'overview' of Matt's workplace. For me, living in a situation where every night I have to clean up and stow away all my printing tools, including the very bench itself, before I can have enough space to lay out my sleeping mat, seeing his three-story workshop was quite an eye-opener. It's difficult sometimes when getting to know people only through their words on this forum, just how involved they really are in this printmaking thing. Maybe they dabble only a few minutes now and then, or maybe they do it a lot. Let there be no doubt about Matt - his life revolves around two things, his family (Betsy, 'birthday boy' Nathaniel, and Asher the Smasher) ... http://woodblock.com/temporary/browns.jpg ... and his printmaking work. From early morning until late every night, he lives and breathes only these. The house is right next to the workshop, and not much grass grows along the path between the two! The 'loft' on the third floor of the workshop is the main printing space (Matt seems to do most of his carving while 'out in the field' at shows). There are skylights to bring in the light, shelves full of pigment bottles, wide drawers full of papers and prints, and a general feeling of 'Cheeze, I've just _got_ to get this place cleaned up one day!' ... but that's of course impossible, because there is just too much work waiting to be done ... Matt is of course, almost completely self-taught as a printmaker, and seeing him work was very much like seeing myself a couple of decades ago, before I had a chance to visit Japan and see how it was done there. At each step of the process he has experimented and worked out satisfactory ways of producing the effects he wants. His prints are thus made with a very interesting blend of traditional Japanese methods and his original techniques. In my case (remember my _goal_, unlike Matt's, has been to learn traditional techniques), I have now had a pretty good chance to absorb most of the traditional ways of doing things, and thus talked to Matt about technical matters with quite mixed feelings. For his part, he was of course intensely curious to know 'How do they do 'this' over there?', and for him, I am a bit of a 'window' into the world of traditional Japanese printmaking (as I guess I am for many other [Baren] members). But I am not convinced that an 'original' printmaker like Matt _should_ be interested in trying to move closer to traditional methods. It's an interesting debate for an artist: how much tradition to include in one's work. Without any of it, the work would be 'lost in space', but with too much of it, the art would become derivative. But Matt seems to have found a pretty good balance; his prints _are_ obviously coming from the Japanese traditional techniques, but _do_ show complete originality, in both theme and execution. I'd better not ramble on too long this morning. Over the next couple of days I'll try and get time to put up a new Encyclopedia page - a 'photo essay' on how Matt runs his craft fair exhibitions. He has given me permission to show you how he does this, and I think it will be a real eye-opener for many of you who are trying to 'make it' as printmakers. Through long experience he has developed an astonishingly well-organized display and sales set-up, and he has a great deal to teach us about how to do this. I stood in amazement as I saw it in operation at the craft fair in Woodstock. Get out your pencils and get ready to make some notes! *** For me, it's 'documentary time' again this week, along with printing on surimono #7 ... (Those of you here in Japan can catch me on NHK Radio1 next Saturday morning, from 9:30 to 9:50 ... the first of what I hope will be many interviews leading up to next January's first exhibition of the Surimono Albums). Dave ------------------------------ From: "Bea Gold" Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 19:26:49 -0700 Subject: [Baren 6331] Re: Back to work ... Sounds like a wonderful trip and so true! I was in awe of Matt's organization as a printmaking professional. Bea ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V9 #750 ***************************