Baren Digest Sunday, 31 December 2000 Volume 13 : Number 1265 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Jeanne Norman Chase" Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2000 10:23:27 -0500 Subject: [Baren 12702] Sarah's prints charset="iso-8859-1" Sarah Wonderful show at the Womanmade Gallery. Certainly shows your love of animals. Especially like the sketches, and the Conversation of Birds, and all of them!!! You have a great bio, keep it up!!!!! Jeanne N. Go to; http://www.sarahhauser.womanmade.net for a treat. ------------------------------ From: Wanda Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2000 10:00:04 -0700 Subject: [Baren 12703] From: Murilo Pereira Re: cable tv This just in from Murilo: Gayle wrote about Hanga in Discovery Cable TV and I see it here and wonder if there are the same program. I looked for in TV Magazine of December and don't see no title, but I want very much to see that if you can ive me more details. Another day I saw a program perhaps on People & Arts about the prints of Monsieur Lautrec, it was great. I see here is the place to talk about woodcut only but it is no shame to say of the beauty of that colored lithografies, he's one of my idols. What a good thing to see on TV. Thanks again for this Forum . Best wishes, Murilo Antoni Grisard Pereira. Florianópolis, Santa Catarina , Brazil, South America. ------------------------------ From: Wanda Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2000 10:00:59 -0700 Subject: [Baren 12704] from Yuri: Re Discovery channel This from Yuri: Jeanne, Make it simple. Find "TV" at Yahoo, enter time zone and your zip code, and you'll get the programs on all chanels, not only Discovery. Good luck, Yuri ------------------------------ From: Wanda Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2000 10:10:52 -0700 Subject: [Baren 12705] Post from Mary Kuster Re: inks The perfection palette inks are also much easier on the body, at least for me. The amount of odor they produce is insignificant when comparing them to others. Many inks set off terrible migranes for me and the Perfection Palette is one ink I can handle, I use it almost exclusively. Mary Kuster, B.F.A. ------------------------------ From: "Cate Pfeifer" Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2000 20:14:06 -0500 Subject: [Baren 12706] Re: Baren Digest V13 #1264 charset="iso-8859-1" Hi Dan, There are many schools of thought regarding the chop stones/wood. The use of wood or stone is a personal preference. One school says that you can buy them - there are many sources. You can often get them in locally in Asian import shops and museum gift shops. They are very easy to blank out with some fine grain sandpaper. You can also buy a simple wood blank chop at Aiko's in Chicago - they might also have some stone ones (they were listed in the catalog but where out of them when I was there months ago - I am sure that they restocked since then). Aiko's address is: Aiko's Art Material Imports, 3347 N. Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60657, (773) 404-5600. I love the folks at Aiko's - when I asked about buying a baren there, they told me with pride about Julio's art Hanga exhibit in Skokie. Write to me if you want to buy them in bulk - I have some places where you can import them. Also, feel free to contact me and I will sell you some of my stock (for a VERY reasonable price plus postage). One school says that you can use what you have around to make them. Rubberized linoleum (there is some pink stuff from Speedball that works - it is available in art stores. Kids like to use it to make their own rubber stamps.) is fun to use but it will only last for about 30 impressions before falling apart. The advantage here is that it is very fast and easy to carve. It just occurred that it might be interesting to try to make them out of regular linoleum. I have also gone to woodworking stores and bought 'pen blanks'. These are what the woodworking hobbyists use to turn wood pens. There are all different types of beautiful wood available. I always look for the softer woods. It is almost like doing tiny wood engravings. These are great for making small chops and they have a simple elegant look to them. One school says that you can make them scratch. A friend of mine who is an amateur geologist found some "Indian Pipe Stone" (I am not in to rocks so I can only tell you what she said) and carved the entire chop from scratch from it. It cost her nothing. The ones that you buy from Aiko's are said to be made from Chinese Soap Stone. I bought some soap stone (North American? Don't know.) but found it too crumbly. I am told that there are different less crumbly types of soap stone and techniques you can use (like sealing it) to avoid problems but I do not know anything about them. The most accomplished chop carver that I know of has stopped using fancy stones and just uses properly-sized pieces of tree branches. His creations are very beautiful and very Zen - in both form and function. Regarding the tools - I finally gave up on carving with tiny little tools and use my father's 1949 dental drill. You can get tiny tools from Woodcraft. Go to their home page at http://www.woodcraft.com/woodcraft/ then go to carving - then go to carving tools - then go to DOCKYARD Micro Carving Tools. These work like a charm on the rubberize linoleum. Aiko's also sells these cool little Japanese knives used just for carving chops. Regarding the Chinese characters - The chops are often done is seal script. It is not easy to find books that list these scripts. Also, get someone who knows the Chinese characters to help you pick the inscription. I have had phrases where what I think it means was very different from what it meant to a Chinese speaker. I am willing to help you in these two areas - I have friends who speak both fluent English and Chinese (and Japanese) and sources for finding the seal script Chinese characters. Heck, I will help you any way that I can. I see that McClains is selling red Sumi ink that they claim is great for chops. I have not tried it yet. You can get the traditional red paste from Aiko's. Does anyone know how to make that stuff? I would appreciate even learning more about what the base is - I have lots of dried out paste. Good Luck, Cate ------------------------------ From: "Daniel L. Dew" Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2000 21:22:56 -0500 Subject: [Baren 12707] Re: Baren Digest V13 #1264 Thanks everyone for all the tips regarding chops, that is my next project once I complete color number 2 on my exchange #8 project. A sample of the design for my chop is at: http://www.dandew.com/ bottom right corner. The design is the letter "D", done in medieval caligraphy script with a border. I'm thinking of using it for the first time on exchange #8, just not sure yet if it is "kosher" to use on a print that is not "hanga", but western style. Thanks for the type of surfaces you can use, I think I'll stick with some type of wood. Cocobolla is a very sturdy wood and I have a small piece. dan dew ------------------------------ From: B Mason Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2000 19:31:26 -0800 Subject: [Baren 12708] chops Dan, I think you can use chops as much as you like on any work. I have seen them both impressed and stamped on all types of work, both western and eastern and all in between. Barbara ------------------------------ From: Mike Lyon Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2000 23:28:57 -0600 Subject: [Baren 12709] Re: Baren Digest V13 #1260 At 10:00 PM 12/26/2000 +0900, "Jean Eger" wrote: >I was wondering what kind of paper Mike Lyons and John Amoss >used for that exchange I used Gampi from McClain's -- I was very disappointed when I received this paper several years ago, as it was much 'rougher' and wrinklier than the silky gampi I was used to from the Paper Source, but after trying it out, I just love it -- very wonderful for hanga! Sorry for the late reply, but just got back to town from vacation with the family. Mike Lyon mikelyon@mlyon.com http://www.mlyon.com ------------------------------ From: Mike Lyon Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2000 23:58:48 -0600 Subject: [Baren 12710] Re: Baren Digest V13 #1262 Hi, Dan -- Be sure to let the wood dry thoroughly before re-carving, and be sure your tools are SHARP ! The best line is made with a skew knife (to in Japanese) as the grain is compressed as the cut is made -- if you're using a v-gouge, sharpen it so that the top edges are longer than the intersection so that (again), the grain is compressed as it's cut. Dull knives will tear the wood -- in thin lines, there's not very much to hold the fibers together. You can print hanga with or without sealant -- different woods behave differently (duh!). I've mostly printed hanga without sealing, but have sometimes used one or two THIN 'coats' of white shellac (rubbed in with a rag and then sanded -- thinning with alcohol makes it easier to keep coating thin) to seal before carving only -- I like the carved areas to remain very absorbant. Areas which are not well sanded hold more pigment than well sanded areas and print 'darker' in a blotchy way I find unaesthetic. I sand to a worn 400 grit with a 5" random orbit sander (surface of hardwoods become shiny). If I seal, I sand with worn 400 grit again after the shellac is dry. If you apply thick finish, the prints no longer look like woodcuts, and have that anonymous and somewhat synthetic surface of lino-cuts (which I also find unappealing). Mike Lyon mikelyon@mlyon.com http://www.mlyon.com ------------------------------ From: "Bea Gold" Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2000 22:24:15 -0800 Subject: [Baren 12711] Coordination# 9 charset="iso-8859-1" Hi all Bareners, Just letting you all know that I'll be coordinating Exchange # 9 and it's almost sign up time. See if you can convert to your own time. If it's Jan.1, 2001 at 1:00 am in Tokyo it's 8:00 am in Los Angeles! Get ready, get set, go! Check - http://barenforum.org/exchange/index.html Exchange #9 will open for enrollment January 1st. The first week will be reserved for 'early sign-up' for those who did not take part in # 8, and the general membership may sign-up starting January 8th. The three-month 'work' period will begin February 1, the deadline will be May 1st. Bea Gold bnj50@earthlink.net http://www.beagold.com/ Los Angeles, California ------------------------------ From: baren_member@barenforum.org Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 16:06:08 +0900 Subject: [Baren 12713] Sign-up for #9 Bea sent a message about sign-up for Exchange #9: > ... it's almost sign up time. See if you can convert to your > own time. If it's Jan.1, 2001 at 1:00 am in Tokyo it's 8:00 am in Los > Angeles! Get ready, get set, go! But we suspect there may be some confusion about the actual time. It is _not_ happening on New Year's Eve ... Here's a quote from the sign-up page that should make it clear: *** > Advance sign-up period: One week from midnight, evening of January 1st > (Tokyo time), through January 7th. Advance sign-up is open only to > members who did not have a chance to participate in the previous > exchange (#8). > > Note: in order that the largest possible number of [Baren] members > will be awake, the actual moment of sign-up for the exchange is > 3:00 PM afternoon of January 1st (GMT). This will be somewhere in > the morning of January 1st for west-coast Americans, mid-day for > east-coasters and Brazilians, afternoon/evening for those in Europe > and the Middle East, and late in the evening for the Far East > (Residents of Hawaii will have to set their alarm clocks and get up > in the middle of the night ...) Please check your local equivalent > time carefully. > > General sign-up period begins exactly one week later: midnight > evening of January 8th (Tokyo time) (3:00 PM afternoon of January > 8th (GMT)). General sign-up is of course open to any [Baren] member. ------------------------------ From: "Bea Gold" Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2000 23:16:43 -0800 Subject: [Baren 12714] Re: Coordination# 9 charset="iso-8859-1" OH, OH, OH - I missed that the following was added to the # 9 sign up - "Note: in order that the largest possible number of [Baren] members will be awake, the actual moment of startup will be 3:00 PM afternoon of January 1st (GMT). This will be somewhere in the morning of January 1st for west-coast Americans, mid-day for east-coasters and Brazilians, afternoon/evening for those in Europe and the Middle East, and late in the evening for the Far East (Residents of Hawaii will have to set their alarm clocks and get up in the middle of the night ...) Please check your local equivalent time carefully." Again check : http://barenforum.org/exchange/index.html for updated information. Bea Gold ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V13 #1265 *****************************