[Baren] the mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking Baren Digest Thursday, 27 July 2000 Volume 12 : Number1091 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Wanda Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 00:06:14 -0700 Subject: [Baren 10646] Re: rolling along Keri wrote: > what if we were to put freeweights on the ends of the pin.. hmmmm ...(even > though that's just a joke, i might try it!) Dan wrote: > > I can't afford and don't have a place for a press, so, I bought an 18" > > rolling pin! > > It works really great and is easy to store away. Geez guys - buy a baren! Believe me, the most portable, clean, usable little tool a printmaker could have. Any kind of baren - bamboo, plastic, ball bearing, you name it. You will never regret it. I have a little $5.00 one from Matsumura-san and it works pretty darned good. And then I have a $34. bamboo one from Noboru I got at Graham's & it works great. And I have a larger plastic beaded-bottom baren (available at Daniel Smith) for about $30. These all work great. And they work on water-based or oil prints. And only take up about 6" x 2" of space. Try it, you'll like it. Wanda ------------------------------ From: "Keri & Tom Marion" Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 00:24:15 -0700 Subject: [Baren 10647] Re: rolling along > Geez guys - buy a baren! Believe me, the most portable, clean, usable i have a baren. and sometimes i use it! just was wondering about the rolling pin.. i think it sounds like a neat, fun thing to do. if it works, why not? spoken, washingtongue http://www.artistnation.com/members/lofts/kmarion ------------------------------ From: Studio Dalwood Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 17:41:25 +1000 Subject: [Baren 10648] Changing Fonts and point sizes No this isnt about to win me any prizes its just a tip for the 'old folks' who ask for larger fonts. In your browser there is an option to set your own default fonts and point sizes. In netscape which I am using at the moment its in the View menu and gives you the option to click either decrease or increase font. Or you can go into edit - preferences and look there. Lots of fun things to tweak in preferences, there is. I'm finding that quite a few websites are now catering for larger monitor sizes and this is handy to know when you encounter a site that overflows your monitor. Handy to _view_ woodcut websites! ANd I'd second that request - while you are tweaking PLEASE turn off MIME and make sure that all posts to mailing lists are set as PLAIN TEXT! ANd dont send attachments either. Josephine ------------------------------ From: Gerald Soworka Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 18:12:11 +1000 Subject: [Baren 10649] Re: ideas B Mason wrote: > The best advise I ever got about "artist's block" was that every day, no > matter what, you make your lunch and you go to your studio. I think that is very good advice Barbara. I'd also add that the opposite is also useful for getting over/avoiding artist's block - on a regular basis get out of the studio and out of your normal routine and take yourself out to do something different, see different things, experience different smells and sensations - the old artist's date as Julia Cameron talks of in the Artist's Way. This and a good work routine keep the ideas flowing well. Gerald - -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gerald Soworka - On-line Gallery and Portfolio http://www.crosswinds.net/~geralds/art.html (Contains gallery of prints, drawings and paintings, as well as a detailed rˇsumˇ and calendar of forthcoming exhibitions and activities.) ------------------------------ From: Gerald Soworka Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 19:03:09 +1000 Subject: [Baren 10650] Re: ideas and inspiration Philip Smith wrote: > maybe it's the old one "everything has already been done". ...I find > coming up with something new and > original exceptionally hard! This is often a problem of being well educated in art. The more you know the easier it is to see precedents and influences in everything and maybe not give ideas enough time and freedom to develop their own independence and originality. And really it is just as creative and original to independently think up something that unknown to you has been done a thousand times before. It's inspiring doing it, but dissappointing when you realize your not unique or even first. And most people don't recognize your achievemnet in re-inventing the wheel. > we are usually very serious,...art is a > serious business and we want everyone to know how very serious we > are,... I came across a quote the other day I'd pulled out from somewhere that strikes a chord with me: "Serious art comes from serious play". I try and keep that in mind … and it's a great rationalization for slacking off and playing hard - lots. > where do you get your ideas? How > do you get out of these "valleys" of doing the same thing over and > over? What is your particular catalyst for creating????? Anything that moves me for better or worse is inspiration and fodder for art. Too often we stiffle ourselves by over-severely censoring ourselves. It is not that we have no ideas, but that we have none which we think are good enough. If I don't have a good idea I start with a bad idea and play with it for a while and allow it to grow and mature and see what develops - most good ideas don't start out as fully formed and it is through the process of doing that they become good ideas. My particular bug bear is that i don't stick in the "valleys" long enough and am constantly enticed by a new and different mountain to climb and explore. One day I'll strike a happy medium - i hope Gerald ------------------------------ From: "Daniel L. Dew" Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 07:38:07 -0400 Subject: [Baren 10651] Re: rolling along Good questions: Pin is made of wood, but I'm looking for a marble one also, or metal. No embossing when used on dry paper, very even impression if the pressure is equal on both sides. dan dew ------------------------------ From: Krista Harberson Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 20:45:30 +0900 Subject: [Baren 10652] Re: rolling along dan, maybe try one of the more upscale houseware stores for a marble pin. seem to remember seeing one in a crate and barrel catalogue once, er something like that. good luck, happy hunting. krista harberson ----------------------------- From: "pwalls1234" Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 07:28:51 -0500 Subject: [Baren 10653] Re: ideas Barbara said: >as each time new bits of information seem to >leak out. Most if my ideas come from books or my dreams. So when you say image come from dreams how do they arise, how do they actually become part of your work? Do you transcribe the dream color for color, word for word, image for image onto the block and make it a reality? Do you have dreams that show woodblocks being cut and printed and then create them in this conscious realm? How long have you been using such imagery? Just another dreamer here who loves to see the conscious and subconscious do battle on the blank page of art! take care, pete baton rouge ------------------------------ From: "pwalls1234" Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 07:33:07 -0500 Subject: [Baren 10654] Re: rolling along >maybe try one of the more upscale houseware stores for a marble pin. How about using the Raucshenberg (spell?) at Black Mountain method and fire up the old fossil fuel burner and get some real pressure on those blocks! I had some people years ago actually try to emboss in this method, via the car/tire as press. It got embossed alright!! rip. . .tear. . ..snap, crack maybe the rolling pin will work better, pete baton rouge ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V12 #1091 *****************************