Baren Digest             Thursday, 7 December 2000     Volume 13 : Number 1237


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From: B Mason <bemason@concentric.net>
Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2000 06:08:05 -0800
Subject: [Baren 12354] Over achievers 

Mike,
You are making us look bad with all those impressions on your snake.
Mine is still in the thinking stage but after reading your post I am
already tired.

Dave,
That was a great visualization of the strength and control of the baren
coming from inside and going into the earth. I think printmaking is very
magical and now a little mystical! I am going to the studio and be a
little more reverent!
Barbara




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From: Vollmer/Yamaguchi <jy6@columbia.edu>
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 10:32:40 -0400
Subject: [Baren 12355] Chop suey  

A baren chop would be nice for the exchanges, and other Baren projects.
Many print shops have an embossed chop to show who printed an editioned
print. It means 'hand' like in 'chop sticks'.

April Vollmer
174 Eldridge St, NYC 10002, 212-677-5691
http://www.aprilvollmer.com





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From: "Maria Arango" <maria@mariarango.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 08:17:37 -0800
Subject: [Baren 12356] Re: 1000 charset="iso-8859-1" 

> hey, Maria, 20 x 128 = more than 2,560 printings, so does that qualify me
> for entry into the 1,000 club?   ...didn't think so.  Best wishes to all!
>
> Mike Lyon
>
> mikelyon@mlyon.com
> http://www.mlyon.com

hmmmm
but it does give you automatic entry into the "masochists" club, a related
organization of which I am a proud member...
I can't wait to see your print. I'm working on an engraving with 2001 snakes
in it, truly sssssslithery--then half-way there I had a great idea about a
Kachina-snake-dancer. Always something else, dangit.
Maria

PS the chop for the club is an M, which must be engraved blindfolded on the
head of a pin...with a hand tied behind the back...in the snow...barefoot...

<><><><><><><><><><><><>
Maria Arango, Printmaker
Las Vegas  Nevada  USA
http://www.1000woodcuts.com
maria@mariarango.com
<><><><><><><><><><><><>





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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@home.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 08:50:16 -0800
Subject: [Baren 12357] The printing process. 

>Mike wrote:
>>  Uh-Oh...  I think I may have gotten a little 'carried away' with this snake
>>  exchange thing...  14 cherry blocks, 20+ printing operations, 128 prints
>>... my back and shoulders are killing me,
>>  I've skinned my poor wrist, and I'm half blind -- definitely not in shape
>  > for this stuff!  Dave -- how DO you do it?

Dave wrote.....
>The smarty-pants answer is ... 'practice'! ...

This is only part of the answer.
You have heard the expression position is everything in life.
Well the same is true with the physical process of printing and the 
positioning of the body.
You have heard of different strokes for different folks.
Well ......

When Dave was here he was critical of the my printing bench. Having 
spent over a $500.00 for the thing I was not a happy camper.  I 
watched him as he told me what was wrong with it, in terms of his 
body size and position.  I can still hear him saying, after a very 
few minutes of mock printing that his wrist was "killing him".

I tried to explained to him that according to Noboru Sawai my 
teacher, and the teaching of his teacher Toshi Yoshida of 6 years, 
that their recommended positioning is to have a distributed weight 
pressure of the body not just the arms.  This is far less punishing 
on the shoulder joint. The arm should drop down from the shoulder 
with slight angle, with a slight angle at the elbow and them a slight 
angle at the wrist. This enables the body weight to come into play. 
Dave on the other hand keeps his wrist almost straight in line with 
the arm, a sharp bend at the elbow and slight angle at the shoulder. 
This requires muscle strength and more wear and tear on the shoulder. 
Yoshida's method distribute the process over all three joints.  Makes 
sense to me.

And of course experience is the best teacher..... prior to makiing my 
printing bench my method was wrong and it messed up my shoulder to a 
point of experiencing a lot of pain. I could only print for very 
short period of time.  It has take three years of care and physio to 
heal.

The point of all this is that we are all built different and you need 
to do enough printing..... LOTS.... to arrive at the best form and 
printing position for your bod.  As Noboru has expressed, the old 
traditional way .... have a look around Dave's site and see his 
sitting cross legged ..... is not the best for our bodies.  David 
admitted this and even demonstrated how the "old guys" walk, all bent 
over and crippled, and yet..... well I won't go there.

One other factor that should be mentioned is the Baren tool.
If you can save your pennies go for the Japanese baren.... it is the best.
I started out with the soft plastic and wooden disc unit.  Then on to 
a $500.00 job that was almost too hard, but a quantum leap ahead. 
Now I use the "Root" baren and have the sense of one with it, the ink 
surface and the plate. As I have mentioned I find it very close to 
the real thing.  I am waiting for feed back from Marco who 
experienced the use of the real Japanese baren to see if his 
appraisal is the same as mine.

I am sorry to report that John Root made some of his Barens before 
his accident.
He fell of a ladder and has done serious damage to his shoulder and arm.
No more Barens for now.

Graham/Victoria BC
An Island in the Pacific
Home of the Boot Camp
http://members.home.net/woodblocks/BootCamp2.html

ps
Administrator.... Please to do not alter this posting.


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From: Ron Stacy <rmstacy@islandnet.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 11:57:19 -0800
Subject: [Baren 12358] Tools 

Thank you, all who have responded to my query for tools and info. I 
will follow up with Mr Scholes and see what there is, toolwise.
Ron
- -- 
Check out this interesting site. Now!
http://ArtsandCulturalHighway.com/page.cfm/490

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From: Studio Dalwood <severn@acay.com.au>
Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2000 20:55:24 +1100
Subject: [Baren 12359] What do others think about using a Baren 

Ha Ha guys!

Having been somewhat caught up with all the behind the
scenes stuff that goes on in arranging these exchanges, my
2cents worth.

Dont you think that the poor bloody co-ordinators have
enough to do already????? Even if each participant only
writes in once or twice, thats 30 to  60 e-mails to deal
with (well over 100 for each exchange, right guys?), plus
the extra hassles of finding replacements for drop outs,
dealing with post office and customs people*, unpacking,
repacking, cursing the people who didnt send in the right
stuff and having to chase that up too, labeling, paying
postage and posting the buggers back out, chasing the late
people, reporting back to Mum, etc etc etc. 

* customs here have been intercepting print exchange
packages that have insurance values on them and asking for
customs duty and taxes on the insured value, so far we have
had two major hassles with this on one exchange, duties to
the value of nearly $200 all up.

Oooops, maybe I shouldnt have said all that, they'll never
get another volunteer co-ordinator again. *grin*

Isnt it enough that the prints are nicely boxed as a clearly
identified set of baren prints?

And BTW Julio, you cant have Gerald for the committee, I
found him first....

Josephine



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From: Studio Dalwood <severn@acay.com.au>
Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2000 20:58:34 +1100
Subject: [Baren 12360] BAren Exhibitions 

David wrote

Josephine wrote:
> Firstly, David, May I have your persmission to download and
> use any relevent info from the baren site ...

Dave wrote:
>> Obviously, each of the images on the website 'belongs' to
>> the person who created it. But I would suspect that if you 
>> wanted to make a section on your own website that described 
>> the [Baren] exchanges, that nobody would take exception ...

I'm not asking to reproduce the imagery, just the images of
the exhibition sites and hangs and then link to the exhange
images pages on baren. Plus the information about where when
etc. Sorry I should have been more clear.

Jospehine




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From: Studio Dalwood <severn@acay.com.au>
Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2000 21:05:10 +1100
Subject: [Baren 12361] Re Snakes 

Hi

I'm about to start designing mine, once I've acquired the
envelopes. Last time I discovered that it was difficult to
get envelopes the size to match the print so this time I'll
do it the right way around. 

Blanket permission to show anything of mine anywhere, with
the proviso that you tell me the details for my records...
There's no such thing as bad publicity, is there.

Soem time ago I mentioned that the local Reptile house burnt
down and lost most of their animals - very distressing. More
so because they are the major local supplier of snake and
spider venom to make anti-venom for the hiospitals. I was
thinking of offering them a selection of the prints as
artwork for them to use in promotions and fund raisers, not
sure on the details. In fact, you could all send one direct
to the reptile house if you like. I'll look up the address.
Anyway if you are interested in helping them out perhaps you
could send me a permission slip with the card.

Josephine




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From: Daniel Dew <ddew@tampabay.rr.com>
Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2000 16:57:41 -0500
Subject: [Baren 12362] Swap Shop 

All righty then, where's that Mundie fellow!  :-O
I want my Christmas prints, so all ya'll holding on to those extra copies
that will sit there and maybe rot, let's get hoppin' and get them little
puppies off to Mr. Mundie so I can get more prints!

Don't forget the wonderful Swap Shop, where all of us can recieve a present.

dan dew





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From: Mike Lyon <mikelyon@mlyon.com>
Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2000 16:03:18 -0600
Subject: [Baren 12363] Re: Baren Digest V13 #1236 

Same with martial arts, exactly, Dave!  Moving from the tanden.  Good 
analogy(s) -- I'll try to keep those things in mind -- actually, I skinned 
my wrist while carving, not printing -- clearing out with rapid light 
strokes of my big gouge, and my follower wrist was brushing the sharp edge 
of the block, and I wasn't paying attention to my wrist, and --- 
voila!  Scab appears!  Paid close attention to my posture while printing 
today, and that has made a big difference -- I enjoy the flow, actually -- 
very rhythmic and sweet to sit and print.  One thing, Dave -- in karate, 
most of my students are much, much bigger and stronger and fitter than I 
(your imagination would be more accurate if your were to picture late 
middle-aged pudge, I think) but beginners use all the wrong muscles for 
years and years, so they are very inefficient --- that's how an out of 
shape older guy (like me) can keep those brutes in line.  I think you have 
the level of my printing technique properly pegged, Dave, although I may 
have overstated my suffering a bit for the sake of dramatic effect.

Dave wrote:
>But what do I mean 'forcing' things too much? Surely it must be
>something like in your karate work. If I stood there in front of the
>board or brick or whatever that I was supposed to break with my bare
>hand, and simply tried to use brute force to do it, I guess I know what
>would happen. I would be on the way to the hospital in a few minutes ...
>But the expert brings his arm down, and somehow his hand just 'passes
>through' the board ...  It's the same with the baren. You can't just
>'push' it down _onto_ the back of the paper ... the flow has to come
>from right down in your guts, up through your body, and down your arm
>right _through_ the baren, the paper, the block, and the bench, and down
>into the earth ...

mikelyon@mlyon.com
http://www.mlyon.com



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From: Wanda <robertson@canby.com>
Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2000 17:21:38 -0700
Subject: [Baren 12364] Re: The printing process. 

Yup, different strokes for different folks is the key here. Now.... my
doctor has told me to *never* put that sharp bend in my wrist while
doing *anything* as it inflames that lovely little tunnel that starts up
that old "carpal tunnel syndrom". So printing like Graham is out for me.
 And there's no way I could sit cross-legged on the floor to print like
Dave. Ouch, ouch, ouch! So I sit (on an adjustable office chair) at a
table high enough to be able to hold my arm in a gentle curve & my wrist
straight & I let gravity do most of the work. And - taking some of
Maria's good advice - I also print with the left hand/arm part of the
time. A lot of pressure is usually not needed with the lovely soft
Japanese papers. And if more pressure is needed, I will stand up & put
more body english on the Baren. But only for short periods of time. None
of that 15 blocks, 200 prints, a zillion & one impressions - at least
not all at once!

I'm really sorry to hear about John Root's fall off a ladder. I did that
last week & made a really nice butt-print in the dirt where I landed.
Fortunately, I did not injure anything but my pride! We forget how
tricky those ladders can be. Please be sure to pass along my get well
wishes, Graham!

Wanda

PS Wonderful snakes - Ruth & Michelle!



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From: "Jean Eger" <jeaneger@LanMinds.Com>
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 18:39:10 -0800
Subject: [Baren 12365] Chinese woodblocks charset="iso-8859-1" 

Dear Jerelee,
Thank you very much for the link to the Chinese woodblock site.  It is
important to me because I am interested in multicultural printmaking.  I
wondered how the color was put in, when the lines were obviously printed.
What a great web site!
Jean Eger-Womack
http://users.lanminds.com/~jeaneger

> > http://www.artgallery.sbc.edu/exhibits/00_01/chinesewoodblock/






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From: heather nichols <pinefeather@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 21:43:46 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Baren 12366] chop chop 

I am adding my support to do a chop of some sort for
baren. It's a form of identity. There is meaning in
unifying our efforts in this way. 

Heather

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products.
http://shopping.yahoo.com/

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From: "eli griggs" <eli.griggs@worldnet.att.net>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 01:26:54 -0500
Subject: [Baren 12367] using ball bearing barens 

Hi there:

    I recently started using a ball bearing baren that I've made and while
I'm generally pleased with the results, I'd like to hear from others who use
such devices.

    I'd like to know what weights of paper, dry or damp, others are using
and what they feel works best.  Any tips or observations will be welcome.
Comparisons with other types of barens are also welcome.

    So far I've only used mine with damp, softened Kitakata, using a barrier
sheet of plastic-like materiel (herc 3 mil.) and printing with oil based
ink.

    Because of the way I built mine, with a solid blank of 3/4 mahogany, 3
mm bearings sandwiched between a 107 mm diameter x 1 mm disk of yellow brass
and 1/4 inch U. H. M. W. plastic, I barely have to apply any pressure,
it is
fairly heavy.  There is no handle and the 126 mm overall diameter fits
nicely in my hand.

   Has anyone used a b.b. baren with soft vinyl or rubber backing plate
instead of hard plastic? If so, what sort of action do they have?

Seasons Best,

Eli Griggs
Charlotte N.C.
USA

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From: Legreenart@cs.com
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2000 00:39:19 EST
Subject: [Baren 12368] Re: Baren Digest V13 #1236 Baren chop 

Just another "ditto" to thinking Lawrences idea for a baren chop is the
best yet. Exchange administrators would end up not only with extra work in
having to stamp every print in every portfolio, but what risk! And what if the
chop accidently, in exhaustion, is printed sideways, or smears, or reacts
somehow with the paper texture or the ink... and the print is ruined? Or the
artist who made it feels the chop was poorly placed in the print?  One must be 
careful when imprinting anythig on other peoples's children or their
artwork, I have to handle other artists' work for our exhibitions, and the sense
of responsibitlty for their art is ... strenuous for me. Being required to
mark on other people's prints...Well, I couldn't, wouldn't do it.
    I think Lawrences idea of members having one made they can use 
voluntarily is just the best idea yet...as of 11:45 central digest time. 
(Never Know when the next great idea will strike with this group.

Yours, 
Le Green
Stonemetal Press
Email: legreenart@cs.com
Website:  www.stonemetalpress.homepage.com

------------------------------

From: David Bull <davebull@woodblock.com>
Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2000 19:51:47 +0900
Subject: [Baren 12369] Brave New World ... update ... 

Dear [Baren] friends,

A week or so ago, back on our 3rd birthday, Maria sent a posting that
explained to the group some of the changes currently taking place - the
new website address, the 'non-profit' status, the upcoming [Baren Mall],
etc. etc.

She also included notification about an upcoming change in the group's
'moderator', and as that change has now taken place, I should add a bit
to what she said.

As of today, I am retiring from my position as both 'owner' and
moderator of the [Baren] forum. Back at the beginning, I considered
[Baren] to be my personal 'property', as a sort of open room in my home
to which friends were invited, and where they could enjoy talking about
printmaking and get involved in activities like passing prints around 
for each other to see and learn from, but for quite some time now, to 
speak of an 'owner' of this group has seemed more and more ridiculous. 

As time went by, the group started to develop more of a feeling that it
was a 'community', rather than a small gathering of friends. Nobody
'owns' a community obviously; it just _is_. But even a community needs
leadership and direction of a kind, so I remained sitting here 'at the
wheel', to provide such direction and to make whatever decisions needed
to be made. Quite a while back I expanded this decision-making process
to include a number of [Baren] members, and the Council thus came into
being as a method to get things done without having to canvas more than
200 people's views.

That for me, was also a sort of 'test'. I wanted [Baren] to become
independent, but worried somewhat that if I simply stepped back quickly,
it would flounder from lack of leadership. So this past year has been
something of a long transition period. Over time, more and more
decisions have been taken by the Council members, and fewer and fewer by
myself.

So the change that is taking place today, with Wanda Robertson stepping
forward to become the group moderator, isn't really a sudden dramatic
change. It is simply the final step in this process. I hope that you
members will accept this, and will afford her the same respect that you
have given me over the past three years. I know that she has no plans to
be a heavy-handed moderator, but times will no doubt arise when it
becomes necessary for her to guide the discussions, and I for one, will
be happy to accept such direction as she offers. (I don't know how long
her 'term' will be; the Council has not yet codified all the details of
'terms of office' - details that will be necessary for the 'non-profit' 
status documentation.)

And sorry to make this a bit long ... but it is also necessary to talk a
little bit about finances. As mentioned, the Council does have a plan in
mind for financing group operations - the upcoming [Baren Mall] - but
whether or not this will be a successful operation remains to be seen.
In order that there is as little 'stress' about this as possible
therefore, I have prepaid all the hosting costs for the group (the
mailing list fees, and the very large website space) in advance for one
more year, up until the fourth birthday of the group in late November of
2001. (I'm not trying to be a hero here, just trying to solve this
problem in the simplest most practical way possible.)  So you are
'warned'. As of one year from now, the 'free' ride is over, and group
operating expenses will have to be shouldered by the group itself.  Fair 
enough, I think!   :-)

So there you have it. What is [Baren] now? It is _your_ community. I
hope that each and every one of you will treat it with respect, will
help _solve_ problems instead of _create_ them, and will put more in
than you take out.  And if we all do those things, [Baren] should have a
long and interesting life. What _wonderful_ things we are going to see
and do together!

Thank you for your understanding.

David Bull
Formerly: Owner, the [Baren] Forum for Woodblock Printmaking

P.S. Oh yes, I forgot to mention. I'm still here ... but I'll be sitting
up in the bleachers for a while ... watching the action!



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End of Baren Digest V13 #1237
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