Baren Digest Thursday, 29 November 2001 Volume 17 : Number 1633 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Graham Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 07:16:39 -0800 Subject: [Baren 16247] Re: Baren Digest V17 #1631 >Sorry to correct my friend Graham, but >several of our Northwest Print Council artists do some very beautiful color >wood engravings! >Print on! >Sharri I have never seen any and appreciate the feedback. I did say "Wood engravings are usually one colour", for you seen this old f..t has learned that there are new tricks and I may not know everything about everything. (Mind you I am within a whisker) Especially this last week of having Master Tamarind Printmaker - Frank Janzen stay with us. It has been most exhilarating to say the least... oh I forgot exhausting.... (<: I have seen wood engravings using two plates... the background in a colour and the image in another. But I gather you are saying that there are numerous plates and the image can be compiled of many colours. Is there any examples that one could access on the net or members web sites ? Thanks, Graham ------------------------------ From: Daniel Dew Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 10:27:37 -0500 Subject: [Baren 16248] Re: Baren Digest V17 #1631 Have anyone ever attempted a reduction block using this method? >From: Graham > >I have seen wood engravings using two plates... the background in a colour >and the image in another. But I gather you are saying that there are >numerous plates and the image can be compiled of many colours. Is there >any examples that one could access on the net or members web sites ? Daniel L. Dew http://www.dandew.com/ ------------------------------ From: "Bill H Ritchie Jr" Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 07:28:08 -0800 Subject: [Baren 16249] Re: woodcuts and wood engravings FOO KWEE HORNG, the Ten Bamboo Studio interests me, although I do not know if I can contribute much to the extensive amount that has been written. When I taught woodblock printmaking, I told students that this "studio" (printing company would be a Western name for it) that it was the first time in history that printmaking was called to serve what has become distinguished from commercial printing to fine art. The effort is a milestone not because it succeeded in imitating painting (that was the conscious purpose on the part of the publishers of the color portfolios) but because this goal required printers to break rules or bend them. For example, the bokashi that became a standard effect in printing (including oil-based printing which is achieved with "blended" or "rainbow" rolling with brayers and rollers) was a technical breakthrough. For me, and my former students, it meant that a basic technology is not limited to what it at first appears to be. Creativity, pushed by commercial interest and profit motives, found a place at Ten Bamboo Studio that had benefits. The benefits came back, as it were, to free fine arts, i.e., artworks that were made without commercial or profitable motivation. Free, creative invention for its own sake, in the arts, is not limited to images and forms; technology--the necessity to bend the rules and come up with new methods, is the hallmark of the arts in all its forms. Imagine now the use of computer graphics and the Internet as technologies, whose rules are not a little bit like the rules that limited woodblock printmaking before Ten Bamboo's owners decided to "copy" Chinese brush painting! I read with great interest about the Information Technology movement in Singapore. When I was there in 1983, I could not locate the printmaking community in time to meet the people who had then formed organizations for prints and printmaking, but I do believe they existed. IT, of course, was still in its infancy. Recently I found a Web site where school children, ages six years to early teen-age, were posting their art (all digital) in virtual galleries. Won't it be interesting to see THEIR woodblock printmaking, if such "coming full circle" occurs? Bill H. Ritchie, Jr 500 Aloha #105 Seattle WA 98109 (206) 285-0658 Professional: www.seanet.com/~ritchie Virtual Gallery and E-Store: www.myartpatron.com First Game Portal: www.artsport.com ------------------------------ From: "G. Wohlken" Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 10:51:35 -0500 Subject: [Baren 16250] Re: Baren Digest V17 #1632-- wax Graham, the wax idea is something I've not heard before. What is the principle behind a "stab" into wax to make the tool work better? I've used bees wax when trying to stiffen a piece of thread that needs to go into a small needle's eye, but how does wax help a tool to cut into wood better. It seems sharpening it is what you would want to do, or is the wax another way of honing. And when you say "stab", do you mean jab the tool into it rather than drawing it back like in honing? Gayle > 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. ------------------------------ From: "Maria Arango" Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 08:34:21 -0800 Subject: [Baren 16251] RE: color engravings Re: [Baren 16245] Re: Baren Digest V17 #1631http://www.woodengravers.net For reference the Wood Engravers Network (WEN) web site. Andy English's web site http://www.andyenglish.co.uk/ A.C. Kulik's web site http://ackulik.com/gallery.html a color engraving http://ackulik.com/Flora/Roses.html Color engravings are of two "species." One is the more common where the engraving serves as the key block, much like in Hanga woodblock printmaking. The color blocks are then done with plank wood blocks. The other and nearly extinct fascinating color engravings were done by separating the three process colors. Mind you this was done all with engraving strokes, i.e., no large color areas, only traditional lines and dots were used, AND long before the time of Corel or Photoshop, meaning that the separations were done in the printmaker's head. Picture this, an area of green trees would contain crosshatchings of the yellow block and the blue block to produce several combinations of greens, and shaded by the key block. Talk about precise registration!!! I wish I could have found some examples to show these, but I can only find them in books I own. Engravings are a @#$$%%*&!! to scan properly, but I will try in the next few days to find and scan a suitable full color engraving and upload for viewing. But, Graham is correct in that nearly all wood engravings are one color, traditionally black. Light and detail become the most salient features of a wood engraving. Create (yeah yeah), _scratch_, print! Maria PS In a recent art festival I could not convince someone that my engravings were not "scratchboard." I went as far as taking the darned thing out of the frame. Fortunately I was fiddling with a Corian engraving and was able to explain. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Maria Arango Las Vegas, Nevada, USA http://www.1000woodcuts.com maria@mariarango.com <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> - ------------------------------ From: Graham Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 08:52:45 -0800 Subject: [Baren 16252] Re: Baren Digest V17 #1632-- wax Hi Gayle, Jab. Stick it in, are other words. The principle is the get a small amount of wax on the blade so that it acts as a lubricant and the knife or chisel slides easier as it cuts the wood. You can use bees wax but I like the pure paraffin (Marnie just informed me ...another instance where I don't know everything about everything (<:) It has nothing to do with honing or sharpening. However always keep you tools sharp and nicely honed. >Graham, the wax idea is something I've not heard before. What is the >principle behind a "stab" into wax to make the tool work better? > >Gayle > >http://www.philaprintshop.com/pps.html >A wealth of info, colored engravings in some of the galleries. I suspect Maria is using Netscape as the above site will load. If you use Exporer it will not load. All the images have red X Graham ------------------------------ From: "Maria Arango" Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 10:15:33 -0800 Subject: [Baren 16255] Re: another website Re: [Baren 16253] another websiteYour Mac is malfunctioning, Graham ;-o I use IE ------------------------------ From: FurryPressII@aol.com Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 13:28:54 EST Subject: [Baren 16256] Re: woodcuts and wood engravings On color wood engravings. One can print them in a number of different ways. Any oil based color wood cut method can and has been done as a wood engraving. Some people use a key block and others do not. This part of the process in color wood engraving is very much the same as plank grain wood cuts. With careful cutting and registration I have done four color process prints using wood engraved blocks the detail possible allows it to mix like a half tone screen. Due to the cost of wood engraving blocks it can be very expansive to do a print with a larger number of colors than four so to get around that finical problem I do a reduction print if I want a large number of colors. Depending on you image you can use one or a number of blocks in a color reduction wood engraving. Due to the size of the prints and the details a very good registration system is critical in doing a color reduction wood engraving. I have printed one with 25 colors and it would have been very difficult to have hand printed it, a press such as a vandercook is a key element. John Center ps Marilyn Smith your prints have arived safely ------------------------------ From: barebonesart Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 11:11:49 -0800 Subject: [Baren 16257] Re: Baren Digest V17 #1632 Horng, I would love to hear more about the history of prints in China. The Northwest Print Council had an exchange with China a few years ago and the contemporary prints coming out of China at that time were phenomenal. We published a full color, bilingual catalog. If anyone is interested in receiving it, send five dollars for shipping and handling to: NWPC 922 SW Main Portland, OR 97205 Or send a message to nwpc@pacifier.com and include your credit card info. If you choose to do it that way, you might want to send your cc number in two different messages. Painful, but safer, probably. Ask for the Prints Across the Pacific catalog. Sharri LaPierre NWPC President ------------------------------ From: Graham Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 12:35:54 -0800 Subject: [Baren 16258] Re: another website >Your Mac is malfunctioning, Graham ;-o >I use IE Both computers!!! I tried it on Marn's and same thing. I wonder, but doubt that it is a Mac thing. Nooooo it couldn't be a mac thing. They are like me....Perfect Hummmmm I will investigate through some gurus here. Graham ------------------------------ From: Julio.Rodriguez@walgreens.com Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 16:54:35 -0600 Subject: [Baren 16259] Re: the guidelines on woodcuts and wood engravings at Baren 11/28/2001 04:54:34 PM What is the difference between intaglio prints, lithographs and relief prints ? The end result is all the same, ink on paper! But is the technique used in each discipline that categorizes each print. Re wood.....IMHO, they are all relief prints!, then woodblocks, then broken down into woodcuts or wood engravings. Each of these words (relief, woodblock, woodcut, engraving) serving to further categorize the discipline or materials used to create the final print. Fritz Eichenberg in his book "The Wood and the Graver" (last chapter) talks about these differences and how later in life due to the limits and expense of boxwood he turned to fine woods cut on the side to do his wood engravings....he also started using traditional japanese tools. He dares the reader to see if they can tell the difference between his prints done on end-grain vs side-grain. Way back when...we talked about linocuts & wood engravings been so similar in technique, tools & materials to woodcuts that they all belonged under the [Baren] umbrella.....for both exchanging prints and for discussion.....those of us (me included!) now sometimes using wood substitute materials like Corian, Resingrave and other man-made materials are certainly PUSHING the traditional terminology.... but since the techniques are related and pretty much the same...I think is okay. What should we call these prints : corian-engraving ? masonite-cut ? a plaster-cut ? "this is a relief print done in the wood/engraving-cut style, using corian as the matrix"...or just simply a call it a "relief print" ? Welcome to all the new members, stay a while and share your views........Julio (Skokie, Illinois) ------------------------------ From: "Colleen Corradi" Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 00:40:35 +0100 Subject: [none] Hi all, I was just about to order a case for the exchange # 12 when I noticed that the online payment was not through a secure server. Why don't you consider adding paypal to make credit card payments easier to manage? I just don't feel like putting my credit card numbers there, easily detectable by certain software, so I would rather use larger companies that offer secure payments. Paypal could be a solution. Just a suggestion. Colleen Corradi http://www.monoprints.com ------------------------------ From: "Maria Arango" Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 15:46:57 -0800 Subject: [Baren 16261] RE: security Colleen and others concerned, When you access the shopping cart, notice that you are taken to a web site with an URL beginning with 'https' That 's' indicates a secure site. The shopping cart company Americart, is an established credit card processor. In fact, according to security reports, larger companies like PayPal are much more likely to be a target of hackers, as they are well known to store millions of credit card numbers and consumer information. Maria <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Maria Arango Las Vegas, Nevada, USA http://www.1000woodcuts.com maria@mariarango.com <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V17 #1633 *****************************