Baren Digest Tuesday, 22 August 2000 Volume 12 : Number 1121 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Vollmer/Yamaguchi Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 11:16:43 -0400 Subject: [Baren 11060] Pressure I am just home from Horizons Craft Center, where I taught Japanese woodcut once again. Now I'm trying desperately to catch up on my e-mail! (not to mention my laundry and snail mail) Thank you Karla for your kind words about my teaching at Frogman's. I have to say, it was a great experience for me, too. When you have such dedicated students and good artists (like Lezle and Kat), it makes teaching a pleasure. Anyone who can spare a week next summer, Frogman's is a great place to do some printing, learn a new technique, meet other printmakers. Anyone in CT who wants to experience my "incredible teaching" has an opportunity to sign up for classes at Brookfield Craft Center Sept 9 & 10 (203-775-4526), or Connecticut GraphicArts Sept/Oct (203-899-7999). There are people on baren I don't know! It is great to have some new people involved, but how can I keep up! I've met a lot of people, and corresponded with a lot more....I guess I"m glad there is so much going on. I was interested in the discussion of transfer processes from some folks I didn't know. Tyrus Clutter, HOLD THE ACETONE! Kristine Alder's wintergreen is how I"ve been doing it, I got a quart at the local pharmacy, by asking the pharmacy dept to specail order a large bottle. Still expensive, tho. I must try barbara patera's offset system. Print on a sheet of acetate in your inkjet and offset it onto your block? Should you dampen the block? But the BEST way I've found so far, is CITRUSOL. James mentioned it, I think. It's probably not non-toxic, but a lot better than Acetone, laquer thinner or even wintergreen. It's a citrus based solvent you can get in the health food store. Still must use good ventillation, throw away rags. It's thicker than wintergreen, so it offsets the photocopy more evenly. Apply to a rag and rub evenly over the surface of the wood, put photocopy face down, and run through an etching press. Sorry, guys, a baren doesn't work, need a lot of pressure. April Vollmer 174 Eldridge St, NYC 10002, 212-677-5691 http://www.aprilvollmer.com ------------------------------ From: Graham Scholes Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 08:39:04 -0700 Subject: [Baren 11061] Cintra / real wood. Greg wrote..... >it is harder than lino yet easier to carve than wood. >My students have gotten some intersting results from electric tools such as >a engravers because Cintra holds fine textures well, > Sure sound interesting..... up to the part of electric tools..... Just kidding just kidding I am definitely of the dinosaur era. I bulk at having to use the Shina plywood. It is so high techy.... A lovely solid block or cherry or basswood that is 12 to 16" wide and 1 1/8+ thick is my thingie. It is tough to fine unless you live in the Garden of Eden... Victoria. When you get finished carving the thick wood slab you end up with a relief sculpture worthy of hanging. No I have not sold any.... doubt that I will. Regards Graham ------------------------------ From: "Daniel L. Dew" Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 11:59:27 -0400 Subject: [Baren 11062] Atlanta bound I will be in Atlanta, Georgia from the 24th through the 29th. Anyone got any advice on people, places or things to see or do (printmaking wise of course). thanks, dan dew ------------------------------ From: "Bea Gold" Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 10:02:04 -0700 Subject: [Baren 11063] Re: Pressure charset="iso-8859-1" Hi April, Bet you were great and were there any Bareners there? Did you miss Barbara and me? Would have loved to learn more from you again. I'm still Hangaing along althought this broken leg makes thing a bit hard. You're all over the place teaching. Great! Bea Gold 2206 Micheltorena Street Los Angeles, CA 90039 (323) 660-0106 bnj50@earthlink.net http//www.beagold.com/ > > > ------------------------------ From: "Tyrus Clutter" Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 12:42:40 -0600 Subject: [Baren 11064] Wintergreen Just to let all of you with the toxicity police know, I found an old = bottle of wintergreen oil in the department's masses of old materials. The = chemical safety guy was here to make a list of old inks, etc. so we can = get them packed and safely shipped away. Some items date back to the = 1960s! Any way, I'll lay off the acetone for awhile since I have wintergree= n to cool me down. TyRuS ------------------------------ From: Kris Alder Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 13:07:53 -0600 Subject: [Baren 11065] Re: Cintra Thanks, Greg! Cintra is the name I've been trying to remember. Just found a source for it in Salt Lake City. I'll have to get my hands on it and give it a try. Kris *********************** Kristine Alder, Printmaker/Art Educator Logan, UT *********************** ------------------------------ From: "eli griggs" Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 16:39:14 -0000 Subject: [Baren 11066] brayers charset="iso-8859-1" Hi there: Has anyone out there have any experience with ,"English Brayers" on heavy brass frames, as offered by Graphic Chemical? I want to up-grade my brayers and I was considering these tools, but I have never used one of these, so any feedback would be appreciated. Eli Griggs Charlotte N.C. USA ------------------------------ From: Marco Flavio Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 14:33:57 -0700 Subject: [Baren 11067] Other paper than hosho? Hello everybody, I am interested in using paper alternative for hanga to the usual (and rather expensive) hosho. I usually print 3 to 4 color highly saturated. Any suggestions and how to use these papers? I know of the Hanga-shi from Hiromi. Any other takers? Thanks, Marco Flavio ------------------------------ From: "Daniel L. Dew" Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 17:33:57 -0400 Subject: [Baren 11068] Transfering images Why all the fuss about chemicals and stuff. A really hot iron will transfer any laser print or toner print very nicely onto wood, lino (be careful, not too hot or the rubber melts), shina etc........ dan dew too hot in Florida ------------------------------ From: Karla Hackenmiller Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 16:55:27 -0500 Subject: [Baren 11069] Re: Baren Digest V12 #1120 Actually Sintra and HIPS are two different kinds of plastics, the HIPS being more rigid and having a smoother surface. I think that more people are familiar with the Sintra because that was the first one "discovered" by artists. And, I think, most people are familiar with Peter Marcus' giant collagraphs on Sintra. The two are very similar in that they can be used for all of the same processes, with a few advantages leaning toward each one. Artists who use plastic for collagraph often prefer Sintra because it has a light pebbled tooth to it (practically unnoticeable on sight) -- automatic value, while still being able to wipe it white if you want white. Sintra is also preferable for drypoint as I believe the burr holds up longer. HIPS works for both of these processes, too; but the advantage to HIPS for me over Sintra is that I"ve had better luck with engraving tools on HIPS. Also, when I'm printing a line engraving, for example, I'm not always interested in having so much tone left on the plate. HIPS is very smooth and can be wiped clean with fairly normal intaglio wiping procedure. And, in the same respect, if my carving is intended as a relief engraving ("wood" engraving) I want to avoid rolling too much ink on the surface (lest the delicate lines fill in) so the smoother surface of the HIPS is preferable. Both are inexpensive and can be purchased from most any plastics company. Building stores have something called polystyrene but it is definitely not the same thing. I get mine from Cadillac Plastics. The standard sheet is 4x8' but it can be easily cut down to size and/or shape with a mat knife, or the thinner sheets can be cut with a scissors. Okay, Die-hard Wood-people. Sorry, for the digression into the unnatural, fake world of resin. Karla Hackenmiller ------------------------------ From: brad Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 16:11:35 -0700 Subject: [Baren 11070] Re: brayers Hi Eli, > Has anyone out there have any experience with ,"English Brayers" on > heavy brass frames, as offered by Graphic Chemical? > > I want to up-grade my brayers and I was considering these tools, but I > have never used one of these, so any feedback would be appreciated. Sounds like you're referring to the brayers made by T.H. Lawrence and Sons. They're very nice. Cyndy Wilson and I have 3-4 between the two of us. They're very well made and yield fairly good ink coverage. However, when I visited their shop they mentioned that the brayers are generally used for intaglio relief/viscosity printing. Basically, they seemed surprised when I said I was using them for wood/lino relief rolling. Maybe going with a harder roller would do better. I've found that the stock durometer does tend to be a bit soft and ends up filling lines in. BS ------------------------------ From: Greg Carter Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 19:45:26 -0400 Subject: [Baren 11071] Re: Cintra / real wood. <200008210843.RAA12508@ml.asahi-net.or.jp> Graham, I will the first to admit that there is somthing about wood that can not be beat. I usually resort to Cintra because of size and the marks that I want to make. Greg ------------------------------ From: "Bill H. Ritchie, Jr" Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 17:01:12 -0700 Subject: [Baren 11072] RE: brayers charset="iso-8859-1" Others may tell you this, too. Mine melted. They're so pretty, though, just beautiful to look at. And very smooth, wonderful for blends and extremely thin (oil-base) layers. - -----Original Message----- From: owner-baren@ml.asahi-net.or.jp [mailto:owner-baren@ml.asahi-net.or.jp]On Behalf Of eli griggs Sent: Monday, August 21, 2000 9:39 AM To: baren@ml.asahi-net.or.jp Subject: [Baren 11066] brayers Hi there: Has anyone out there have any experience with ,"English Brayers" on heavy brass frames, as offered by Graphic Chemical? I want to up-grade my brayers and I was considering these tools, but I have never used one of these, so any feedback would be appreciated. Eli Griggs Charlotte N.C. USA ------------------------------ From: brad Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 17:19:23 -0700 Subject: [Baren 11073] Re: brayers What color was yours? I talked to them about that... the light gold colored rollers were known to melt down... the new green ones supposedly fix that minor 'problem'. Cyndy still has a couple of the squishy ones... they're really sticky and get right down into the grooves on a plate... BS ------------------------------ From: Greg Carter Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 20:37:19 -0400 Subject: [Baren 11074] Re: Atlanta bound Dan The Paper museum at Ga Tech is interesting. It has the archives of Dard Hunter and covers the entire of history of pre paper and paper. I would have to get the address from the office if you are intersted. Greg ------------------------------ From: B Mason Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 18:03:56 -0700 Subject: [Baren 11075] HIPS Hi guys, HIPS stands for high impact polystyrene. Never burn this stuff, the fumes are carcinogenic and that goes for all polystyrene. I have no idea if I spelled that right but you get the meaning. If you use electric grinders or chisels, be sure to wear a mask. I am unfamiliar with Sintra and will look it up at work to see what it is. Just because it is plastic, it is not necessarily totally safe. Barbara, wearing her plastics company hat ------------------------------ From: barbara patera Date: Mon, 21 Aug 100 18:35:07 Pacific Daylight Time Subject: [Baren 11076] re: tranfering prints Thanks Dan.... now I have another use for the iron....currently does duty as a flattener for handmade paper and as a shrink wrap tool. Barbara P. ------------------------------ From: "Perry Riley" Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 20:58:23 -0500 Subject: [Baren 11077] *** Cintra discussion, more uses...**** Cintra is also a great material to use as the base to build collagraphs = on. =20 I also use Cintra for some relief work when carving. It will hold a dot = pattern well also. I achieve this by taking my etching needle and = poking the surface as if stippling with a pen. Works great in a = reduction process.=20 Perry ------------------------------ From: Wanda Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 22:20:28 -0700 Subject: [Baren 11078] Re: brayers We have one of the green ones at the Marylhurst print dept. which I have had the pleasure of using. As Bill said - they are wonderful for thin, thin layers in reduction prints (oil) and for multi-colored roll-ups. For looking - they really are a work of art in themselves. This one hasn't melted (heaven forbid - they ain't cheap!) yet! Wanda ------------------------------ From: "pwalls1234" Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 07:47:44 -0500 Subject: [Baren 11079] PPPpplywood charset="iso-8859-1" I usually use birch plywood for carving but lately I am finding as I carve my chisel finds little hollow spots. Very frustrating when you are carving detail for most of the time it means start again or attempt to fill. Anyone else have this problem or maybe my source of the wood is just getting lousy stuff for sale!! pete baton rouge ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V12 #1121 *****************************