Baren Digest            Wednesday, 28 November 2001    Volume 17 : Number 1632


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From: Kim Medina <topcogs@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 22:13:59 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Baren 16243] Re: soaking blocks in kerosene

Philip,

I'm totally against soaking woodblocks in kerosene to
make them easier to cut.  The flash point in kerosene
is very low and would be a fire hazard if you soaked
your block in it, then brought it indoors.  

A better alternative would be push-ups.

 [;)] 

Kim Medina
Tucson, Arizona



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From: Graham <gscholes@home.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 22:29:43 -0800
Subject: [Baren 16244] Re: Kerosene to carve easier. 

If you are having difficulty carving and want your knive/chisels
to cut more easily it can help by having a small piece of wax
(the canning type which comes in 2 x 4 inch size - 6 to a package) 
beside your bench.  A quick stab into the wax every 3 or four cuts
and your tool to slip beautifully through the wood or linoleum.

I do this when using a very hard wood.... like Yew.  Now that is hard.
Certainly most useful when cutting maple or Birch.

CREATE Cut Print.

Graham/Sidney BC
An Island in the Pacific
Home of the Boot Camp
 

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From: barebonesart <barebonesart@home.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 22:34:13 -0800
Subject: [Baren 16245] Re: engraving vs cutting

Another not-of-the-sage variety checking in on the woodblock/woodcut/wood
engraving controversy. It is all in the tools. An engraving uses engraving
tools, a woodblock uses woodblock tools, and they all are woodcuts.  You
will often see the distinction made between wood engravings and metal
engravings. The characteristics of an engraving are much finer lines and
gradations, and of course, they use the end cut of the wood. Usually they
are small, because they are so labor intensive, but there are always
masochists in the crowd who do huge ones - like those messotint masochists
one runs into from time to time. Sorry to correct my friend Graham, but
several of our Northwest Print Council artists do some very beautiful color
wood engravings!  Well, its all admirable and so much more preferable to
making war. If everyone would only make art . . . and to answer John's
question: yes, I would think either would be acceptable, they are both using
wood and are both relief, so why not??

Print on!
Sharri



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From: FOO KWEE HORNG <khfoo@moe.edu.sg>
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 17:02:55 +0800 (WST)
Subject: [Baren 16246] Re: woodcuts and wood engravings 

It has been so interesting reading the exchanges regarding this
subject. I would like to contribute little of what I know as
well. According to most literature, the woodcut or woodblock
print was an earlier invention in the West as compared to wood
engraving. The earliest image I have seen is 'Le Bois Protat.
1370'. It was discovered in Burgundy, carved in walnut-wood and
is a part of a three-piece depiction of the Cruxifixion. In the
East, the earliest images were those from 700AD; Buddhist
talisman printed in Japan but probably influenced by China.
Wood-engraving (very much a relief printing process) was an
invention perfected by Thomas Bewick around 1790. To a certain
extent, it was created to compliment the development of printing
technology (the height of lead types, the type of presses and the
demand for illustrations with printed text). Over in Singapore,
woodengraving did not really reach us as the tools (burins?) were
never available. The history of woodcuts in Singapore is tied to
the development of the movement in China back in the 1930s, with
Lu Xun's promotion of Kathe Kollwitz's, Frans Masereel's prints
there. Before going to much into this, I hope the info was useful
and it would be nice if anyone would like to start a dicussion
topic on the prints of
China.

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End of Baren Digest V17 #1632
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