Baren Digest Monday, 30 December 2002 Volume 21: Number 2078 --------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Ramsey Household" Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2002 08:09:12 -0800 Subject: [Baren 20247] Re: scary hanga stuff Dive In! Relax, experiment, have fun! There is no progress without failure. That is part of the learning. It's just paper and ink. Carolyn > Good news-as a total beginner at this hanga stuff, I've found a local > printmaker who can help me and answer questions. The Bad >news-after talking to him today, I am now really scared! Ignorance is bliss. >I was buying paper > (from Dolphin Paper here in Indianapolis) rather than from the >Baren mall, > and I guess I have to size this paper myself. Help! >This wasn't somethingIthought I had to do. > > It still feels like I understand intuitively what I'm about, but my > technique (or lack of it, I should say) may hang me up.Any advice? Or shall > I just dive in? Should I use gelatin or rabbit skin glue for the size. >Both sides of the sheet, or just one? I've been cruising the Baren website for > the answer-just not sure I've got it right. >Thanks for your help! > Carol Myers > ------------------------------ From: "Jean Eger Womack" Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2002 10:09:04 -0800 Subject: [Baren 20248] Carol, There's a good recipe for an easy-to-make alum and gelatin size in the J. Walter Phillips book on the Barenforum web site. It really improves the printability of the paper. However, it is much easier if you use already sized paper. Jean Womack PS I searched Baren archives and found Mary Krieger's comments about sizing paper which I have pasted below: *************************** This is the promised land for woodblock printmakers. I suggest you try sizing your paper, as was suggested to me when I had the same bleeding problem. An easy size you can use is 1/8 oz alum, 1/4 oz gelatin (1 package unflavored gelatin), 35 oz boiling water, mix until dissolved. Paint size on paper warm, let dry, the recipe is in the Walter Phillips book, Chapter III, online at http://www.sharecom.ca/phillips/technique.html Sincerely, Paper Here's my two cents on the where does the pigment/sizing go questions. I find it helpful to remember that all paper is a web of tiny plant fibers held together both by their physical entanglement and electrostatic attraction (at least that's what I remember the instructor saying). The tiny spaces between the fibres allow paper to flex and compress. Sizing is gluey and coats each individual fibre. It is actually quite difficult to wash out once it is in. It alters the ability of the individual fibres to absorb water. (like fabric softener on your towels). Dry pigment applied to a paper surface adheres like the paper fibres by being caught in the microscopically uneven surface of the paper as well as that static attraction. (like dust and cat hair) Pigment suspended in water will penetrate more deeply into the microscopic structure of the paper. As the fibres soak up the water, the pigment is both caught in the holes between the fibres and stains the fibres themselves. Some of the pigment between the fibres can be rinsed away with sufficient water but the stain can only be bleached away. (like grape koolaid) Sizing will slow down the rate at which water is absorbed by the paper fibres. Watercolor paper is very heavily sized. This allows the painter to control how the pigment is absorbed by the paper primarily by the amount of water in the paint. The fibres are so heavily sized that they absorb the water very slowly and do not much affect how the pigment is absorbed by the paper. If the paper is already damp - that is the fibres themselves are moist but there is little or no water film in between - then I would guess that the pigment would move more slowly but would be absorbed by the paper more evenly. If moisture promotes the absorption of the pigment into the paper - and rice paste and size slow it down, then to get an even and repeatable penetration of the pigment into the paper you have to balance the amount of sizing and moisture in the paper with the amount of rice paste and water suspended pigment on the block. Prints on paper that is correctly sized and dampened will not bleed sideways or transfer color. That's the _amazing_ trick of the Japanese printing technology. Mary Krieger Winnipeg Manitoba ------------------------------ From: John and Jan Telfer Date: Mon, 30 Dec 02 20:28:46 +0800 Subject: [Baren 20249] Re: New Year Cards Thank you John (Center) for your delightful Old Goat!!! I got mine in tact thank you and lucky me. Thank you too Frank for your Sumerian beaker goat and wonderful explanation of the reason for sending these zodiac cards, yours arrived today...with thanks. The diversity in design and technique is enlightening and a great source of communication... my postie loves delivering them. Thank you. Jan ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V21 #2078 *****************************