[Baren} the mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking Baren Digest Tuesday, 23 May 2000 Volume 11 : Number1016 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Graham Scholes Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 07:11:02 -0800 Subject: [Baren 9703] Re: Baren Digest V11 #1014 >at your work. My delima is whether to try to help fix a huge problem or move >to a city where "things are already happening." >Barbara Hearn Barbara. I think the answer to that is amount of energy that you have and the willingness of the administration to develop the facilities. Art Gallery of Greater Victoria is located in a residential district away from the main core of the the city. It truly is hidden away and not on the beaten path so to speak, so walk traffic is not there. Always a challenge to attract people .... tourist.... to drop by and have a look. The trouble with moving is that sometimes institutions have a 'look down their nose' attitude and would not welcome outsiders. We just had a major change here hiring a new Administrator and sacked the curator. He was not liked and could not communicate in the way that is needed these days to see funding from private and corporate sponsors. The show I had at the Gallery last year was most trying and would not want to got throught that again. The new person should be an excellent addition to the gallery. I have notices a big difference in attitude in just a few months. Regards Graham ------------------------------ From: "JoeS" Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 11:16:24 -0400 Subject: [Baren 9704] Re: Powder pigment preparation ... Dave I have used powdered pigments (Kremer) and like them. Now that I see the density of your paste mix in your photo in the one point lession I have a much better idea how to mix and store. I was using a too loose mixture. Thanks. I have a question about the powered pigment method. I have found that certain pigments work better in a gum arabic solution(I have not used alcohol with gum arabic yet). I believe an indigo and a colbat blue were much smoother (for the lack of a better word) when I mixed in a larger portion on gum arabic. I have also used a commercial water color medium. Have you had any experience using this medium ? Does anyone have any advice on where to find information on pigment mixing properties.? I mean what mixes best with what! Thanks again for the lessons ! Joe Sheridan ------------------------------ From: "Roger A. Ball" Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 09:49:19 -0600 Subject: [Baren 9705] Sarah's question about Ward's cutting technique Sarah: Sorry about not getting back to your question earlier. I tend to play catch up with the Baren posts every week or so and sometimes fall behind. A recent job change has made it so I have only had time to draw a bit lately (no recent 'cuts). I've also taken up making soap and as usual, just pursuing way too much stuff. At any rate, there doesn't seem to be much written about Ward's actual tools or cutting style, but we can infer a few things. He uses a fairly soft wood, he either uses a "v" knife or a straight knife with two passes to create a "v" and his understanding of light and dark is brilliant and is usually created using cross-hatch. His subtle tones, especially in 'Gods' Man' and 'Mad Man's Drum' are usually "tricks" of cutting very lightly into a black field or leaving only the faintest remnents of wood to show black in a white field. There are plates where he uses strange looking "dots" to create a mid-level black tone, but upon close examination, they also appear to be small 'v' shaped cuts; sometimes with little "flecks" left in them. That is, he's just not cleaning the hole out all the way... Some of the text in 'Storyteller Without Words' touches briefly here and there on technique, but nothing really too revealing. I would be interested in hearing if anyone knows of an in-depth discussion on Ward's methodolgy. That's about all I can offer for now. I'll try to get the drawings up on the webpage in the next couple of days... Cheers! - -Roger West Jordan, UT beckorro.webprovider.com ------------------------------ From: James G Mundie Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 13:32:39 -0400 Subject: [Baren 9706] Re: James and printing Phillip wrote: > James Mundie,....I read your technique on block cutting, again,...can > you go into a bit of detail as to how you actually print these delicate images of > yours? It looks like everything will fill in with you being an oily > person,.... Well, first I cut the block, then I roll ink on it, slap a piece of paper down and rub. Not enough detail for you? The secret is a thin layer of ink of a dryish consistency. Generally, I start with a dab of ink (out of the can) about the size of a Kennedy half-dollar. To that I add two or three drops of 000 plate oil and work it through the ink with a 1 1/2" knife. This is just enough oil to loosen up the ink without making it thin and runny. With the ink knife, I spread a thin bead of ink across the slab. Then with short motions I roll the brayer into this narrow swath of ink, drawing it back and forth until I have a wider square of ink thinly and evenly layered over the slab and brayer. There is an important audio clue here to tell when the ink is ready: the brayer drawn across the slab should make a gentle "shh-shh-shh" sound; a loud "crak-crak-crak" means there is too much ink on the brayer and you should scrape off the slab and roll out the brayer again without adding more ink. Furthermore, the action of the brayer going through the ink should feel "tacky", but not "gooey" nor "slippery". There should be some gentle resistance. Often, I prime the block to receive the ink by rubbing some linseed oil into it. This saves me time proofing the block, as the oil helps the block to "bloom" more quickly. Now it is just a matter of evenly distributing the ink across the board with the proper number of passes. I print with a bamboo spoon, as this allows me to vary the pressure according to the board's needs (lighter pressure on the delicate shading, forceful pressure in the dark shadows). I should also mention that I usually print my woodcuts on dry, unsized paper. Mise le meas, James Mundie Philadelphia USA http://www.woodblock.com/encyclopedia/entries/015_01/015_01_frame.html ------------------------------ From: Wanda Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 11:16:11 -0700 Subject: [Baren 9707] Re: Powder pigment preparation ... Great page, Dave! But when I go to the encyclopedia, I always get side-tracked and have to read _all_ the one-point lessons. :-) Looking forward to trying out some of these pigments at Grahams. On another subject - but still in the encyclopedia: As most of you know, I have been archiving the daily digests for Baren. The new ones usually go into the archives in the afternoon - so I usually check to see if they are coming up O.K. later in the day. I checked on them through my AOL account one day - and some of them looked weird (all run together) on the AOL browser. I wonder if some of you would be so kind as to go and check on a few of the volume 11 digests & report back to me? Let me know (off list please) what kind of computer, what kind of browser & how they looked. Here are the ones in question: #956, 969, 994, & 1105. http://woodblock.com/forum/archives/vol11/vol11.html robertson@canby.com Thanks, guys! Wanda ------------------------------ From: David Bull Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 08:09:46 +0900 Subject: [Baren 9708] Re: Powder pigment preparation ... Joe wrote: > I have found that certain pigments work better in a gum arabic solution(I > have not used alcohol with gum arabic yet). I believe an indigo and a colbat > blue were much smoother (for the lack of a better word) when I mixed in a > larger portion on gum arabic. It is sometimes difficult to keep the pigments in suspension properly, when using very thin colour. If you find, once you've mixed up the shade you need, that the particles keep 'falling' out of the water into the bottom of the bowl, then some gum arabic helps maintain the solution. This isn't really such a big problem though, if you are using a 'hakobi' for transferring the pigment over to the block. Another name for that thing is the 'tokibo' (mixing stick), and giving a swish to the mixture in the pigment bowl each time you reach into it, keeps things mixed and smooth ... The gum also helps give 'body' to these thin mixtures. We don't use white to get a pinkk, we just cut the red with more and more water to lighten it up. But after a point, things get just too 'wet' to work effectively. Adding gum arabic helps bring back the mixture back to a printable level of thickness ... *** I got an email this morning asking about paper suppliers, and will answer here 'in public'. I got a very 'big news' telephone call yesterday - news that will have quite a large impact on my work ... and perhaps yours too. The call was from Yamaguchi-san, the wife of the paper maker. She read in my newsletter that I was going to Canada soon, and wanted to make sure that I would be taking information on their paper with me. I had of course planned to, but after hearing her next news, I _really_ plan to. She told me that some weeks ago Iwano-san (the man who makes the paper for my surimono prints) was given the 'Living National Treasure' award. This is an incredible honour for Iwano-san of course, but it has other unfortunate ramifications ... - - the bottom has fallen out of Yamaguchi-san's business. Pretty much all their outstanding orders and contracts for paper have been cancelled (and taken to Iwano-san). Those customers want to be able to advertise that their prints are made on paper made by a Living National Treasure ... - - I haven't spoken to Iwano-san yet about any of this, but of course, with all this huge rush of business now headed his way, it's perhaps going to be tough for me to get my paper on time (and on 'quality'????) - - Iwano-san's prices will almost certainly climb considerably. - - Yamaguchi-san's prices will now have to fall, and indeed she told me that she is sending me a new price list and samples, for me to take to Canada Once that info is here, I'll of course make it available to the rest of you too. As I learn more about this, I'll keep you in touch ... Dave ------------------------------ From: "Daniel L. Dew" Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 20:48:24 -0400 Subject: [Baren 9709] Most recent in the Proverbs Series Oooops, used the wrong title last time i posted. Correct title is Proverbs 21:9. Dave posted it up in the members forum section, let me know what you think. Oily stuff on Masa, 5"x7", lino cut. dan dew ------------------------------ ------------------------------ From: David Bull Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 11:38:08 +0900 Subject: [Baren 9711] Re: Most recent in the Proverbs Series Dan wrote: > Dave posted it up in the members forum section ... What Dan is talking about is the set of 'folders' of members' work stored in the forum section of the woodblock.com website. This is where the images of the prints from the exchanges, etc. are stored. You can dig around in there and see what there is to see by setting your browser to: http://woodblock.com/forum/members You will be presented with a list of folders ... click away as you wish. Some of the stuff you get will be html pages, some will be simply raw images ... Dave ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 19:54:33 -0800 Subject: [Baren 9712] Re: Powder pigment preparation ... >She told me that some weeks ago Iwano-san (the man who makes the paper >for my surimono prints) was given the 'Living National Treasure' award. Is this anything like the purchasing the work of an award winnning artist or a dead artist.???? Is there a big difference between the papers made by and Iwano-san? I have been using Yamaguchi paper for 7 years. Having never used the other guys and wonder about the possible difference in quality. >- I haven't spoken to Iwano-san yet about any of this, but of course, >with all this huge rush of business now headed his way, it's perhaps Yes know doubt. An one wonders if the volumn will put pressure on to fill orders and thereby the quality will drop...... It seems to be the chain of events in the world. So tell Yamaguchi-san to be patient and not to panic. Make it and they will come back when, if not quality ..... service goes by by. >- Yamaguchi-san's prices will now have to fall, and indeed she told me >that she is sending me a new price list and samples, for me to take to >Canada I would be interested in this info >As I learn more about this, I'll keep you in touch ... Thanks, Graham ------------------------------ From: David Bull Date: Tue, 23 May 2000 12:21:51 +0900 Subject: [Baren 9713] Re: Powder pigment preparation ... Graham wrote: > >Those customers want to be able to advertise > >that their prints are made on paper made by a Living National Treasure > > Is this anything like the purchasing the work of an award winnning > artist or a dead artist.???? Being made a Living National Treasure is a very very big deal here. Iwano-san, still in his early seventies (I believe), must be one of the youngest ones ever honored this way. He can now basically name his own price for his product. In the case of people making pottery for example, a pot that might have brought a couple of thousand dollars before, would bring 5 times that amount after its creator has been designated a 'Treasure'. It's going to be interesting to see what happens. > Is there a big difference between the papers made by Iwano-san? > I have been using Yamaguchi paper for 7 years. Having never used the > other guys and wonder about the possible difference in quality. Yes, quite a big difference. I used Yamaguchi's paper for many years, but switched over to Iwano about five years ago. It's very difficult to describe in words - Iwano's paper is tougher and more sturdy, it's definitely more consistent from sheet to sheet, and the 'randomness' of the fibre distribution is better (Yamaguchi-san's fibres 'clump' more ...). But I'm sorry Graham, I wouldn't get excited about this ... Even a couple of years ago, Iwano wasn't taking any new clients, and now with this new development, that looks even less likely. I've got my fingers crossed that I'll be able to remain on his 'in' list ... In the meantime, I told Yamaguchi-san to go ahead and make me another case of 500 sheets, to add to my 'insurance' stock here ... Dave ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V11 #1016 *****************************