Baren Digest Thursday, 6 March 2003 Volume 22 : Number 2150 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mike Lyon Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2003 13:34:50 -0600 Subject: [Baren 20919] Spencer Museum to exhibit #15 !! WOW !! Congratulations to all !!! Cori Sherman, Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence, Kansas http://www.ku.edu/~sma/ is putting together a special exhibition called, "Inspired by Japan" (opening April 19 and running through June 29). The exhibition will show off nice japonisme examples from the Spencer's collection. The prints from Baren's all-hanga exchange #15 will be prominently displayed, spread out in a showcase in the middle of the exhibition gallery. Our visit to the Spencer during the BAREN SUMMIT June 14-22 should be thrilling -- not only because of "Inspired by Japan" which includes some of our own prints... We'll also visit the Spencer's "print study" room in which all our archived exchange portfolios will be available for viewing (and hopefully some of the Spencer's other woodcut prints as well)... If you'd like to join John Amoss, Maria Arango, Carole Baker, David Bull, John Center, Jeanne Chase, Colleen Corradi, Ray Hudson, Kent Kirkpatrick, Sharri LaPierre, Mike Lyon, Carol Lyons, Barbara Mason, Mary McCarthy, Wanda Robertson, Julio Rodriguez, Sue Salsbury, Richard Stockham, Gayle Wohlken, and certainly others as well at the BAREN SUMMIT for a week of moku-hanga intensity, you can learn more and Register at http://www.barenforum.org/summit -- it's going to be pretty wonderful and loads of fun! - -- Mike PS If you'd like to volunteer to demonstrate traditional Japanese woodblock carving and printing techniques during the April 19 -- June 29 exhibition, contact Cori Sherman off-list at: mailto:csherman#ku.edu Mike Lyon mailto:mikelyon#mlyon.com http://www.mlyon.com ------------------------------ From: Mike Lyon Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2003 14:25:23 -0600 Subject: [Baren 20921] Re: Alert for #16 exchange participants As published at http://www.barenforum.org/exchange/exchange_16/exchange_16.html -- the size for #16 is chuban, "about 10 x 7.5 inches"... If the prints are within one-half inch of that dimension they should be OK. Mike Lyon Baren Exchange Manager (kow-tow all yea who approacheth me! :-) At 01:17 PM 3/5/2003 -0700, you wrote: >So, what size did we decide that chuban is? 8.5 x 10.5 inches or 7.5 x >10.5 inches? Exchange 16 participants are dying to know...soon! > ><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^> >Kristine Alder Mike Lyon mailto:mikelyon#mlyon.com http://www.mlyon.com ------------------------------ From: Julio.Rodriguez#Walgreens.com Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 14:30:50 -0600 Subject: [Baren 20922] Re: wood buying tips Great news Mike, Congratulations to all #15 participants !!! I know purchasing wood for our blocks is a source of frustration to many of us...what to by, where ?, how much to pay ? Those that order from catalogs or websites have to pay expensive shipping and don't really know what they are getting till the package arrives. Here is a tip. Look under "hardwood" in your yellow pages, (not Lumber or Home Centers) and see if you have any stores that specialize in hardwoods. Home Centers will carry red-oak, poplar and sometimes maple...but not cherry or basswood which are preferred woods for our stuff. Even if you find some cherry at your local lumber/home center it will be so small in width to practically be useless.... These specialty "hardwood" stores cater to the woodworker, fancy furniture maker, hobbyist, specialty home contractor, etc....they have everything in large quantities (as in wide & long) from your domestic cherry and maple to your exotic ebony, mahogany and amaranth. The best thing is of course you can go in and search thru piles of your favorite wood species and pick the boards YOU want. Some places will also cut it to size for you. Living in a big city has it's benefits, I have several such places nearby and last week I visited Owl's Hardwoods in DesPLaines (Illinois). I went straight for their cherry "cutoffs" bin and picked myself a dozen or so "small" pieces ideally suited for woodblocks. Because they were in the "cutoffs" bin (wood left over from cuts on larger boards)...they were discounted at 25-50% off the marked price. I came home with several cherry boards 3/4 X 8 X 15-18" for about $1.50-2.50 a piece. A substantial savings from paying full price. The widest board I got was 9.5" wide by 19" long and it ran about $4.00. A nice little 5X7" cherry block..2" thick !!! cost me only .80 cents. Got me some maple too. Now...our domestic cherry is probably not the same quality carving wood that they have over in Japan....but it sure beats that other junk I been working on. So look in the yellow-pages or stopby a specialty tool store and ask for local sources of hardwood. thanks....Julio Rodriguez (Skokie, Illinois) ------------------------------ From: "Robert Canaga Gallery" Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 15:01:13 -0800 Subject: [Baren 20923] Re: Alert for #16 exchange Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi, This is a stoopid ? but is that 7.5X10.5 print size or paper size??? I just returned from a fantastic week in cols snowy frozen Ohio. The printmaking workshop was a huge success! Takuji Hamanaka is a great teacher and printer. There were a few experienced printers there but most were beginners. I ended up doing a 4 block, 6 color print with gradation...began with 8, ended with 4. I got to use a good ball bearing barren and like it so much I ordered one from Takuji (cheaper). The snow was wonderful, I even went to the zoo and saw some confused animals..Zebras in the snow..I hope the photos come out:) Yours in printing RC ------------------------------ From: "Terri Nelson" Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2003 15:29:37 -0800 Subject: [Baren 20924] Has anyone ever used a pin press? Hello- I do wood engravings, usually carved on to Fiber Core Hardwood Plywood (it's insanely cheap, I get very high definition fine line cuts, and did I mention it's insanely cheap?). I ink the boards just like they're a metal engraving, and have been pretty successful pulling prints using intaglio presses and heavy soaked cotton rag papers. However, I don't have a press of my own, and I don't really want to take a class right now just to have access to a press. Have any of you tried using the "pin press" that Mc Clains is selling? It SOUNDS great but it's awfully pricy to buy just to try out. Here's the url: http://www.imcclains.com/catalog/baren/pinpress.html ------------------------------ From: Charles Morgan Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2003 19:07:51 -0800 Subject: [Baren 20925] Re: Has anyone ever used a pin press? I am interested in just how you ink the boards ... you say just like a metal engraving. Are you printing as relief or as intaglio? Relief I can understand. But if it is intaglio, I am having difficulty imagining how you could wipe the board clean enough. As for the pin press ... no matter what they say, it is a rolling pin and a damned expensive one. First, I would try a marble rolling pin; I doubt that their pin press is any more accurate than a marble rolling pin. I have used a marble rolling pin from time to time, and it does work fairly well. For small prints (8.5 x 11 or so) you might try a bottle jack press. I am sure you have seen the sort of thing I mean, using a standard automotive hydraulic "bottle" jack in a frame. They are easy to make and cheap. If you do not know what I am talking about, get back to me and I will explain more fully. And if you really want one of those pin jacks and are concerned that it be "really" accurate, check with a local machine shop. They can weld something up using steel pipe quite easily ... then they can put it on a lathe and use a surface grinder to true it up. It may be cheaper than buying one. Good luck ........ Charles At 03:29 PM 3/5/03 -0800, you wrote: >Hello- I do wood engravings, usually carved on to Fiber Core Hardwood >Plywood (it's insanely cheap, I get very high definition fine line cuts, >and did I mention it's insanely cheap?). I ink the boards just like >they're a metal engraving, and have been pretty successful pulling prints >using intaglio presses and heavy soaked cotton rag papers. However, I >don't have a press of my own, and I don't really want to take a class >right now just to have access to a press. Have any of you tried using the >"pin press" that Mc Clains is selling? It SOUNDS great but it's awfully >pricy to buy just to try out. > >Here's the url: >http://www.imcclains. >com/catalog/baren/pinpress.html > ------------------------------ From: Barbara Mason Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 21:13:35 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Baren 20926] Re: Alert for #16 exchange participants And the boxes will be the same size as the regular chu ban boxes, 8.5x10.5, so both sizes will fit the boxes. Best to all, Barbara Mike Lyon wrote:As published at http://www.barenforum.org/exchange/exchange_16/exchange_16.html -- the size for #16 is chuban, "about 10 x 7.5 inches"... If the prints are within one-half inch of that dimension they should be OK. Mike Lyon Baren Exchange Manager (kow-tow all yea who approacheth me! :-) At 01:17 PM 3/5/2003 -0700, you wrote: >So, what size did we decide that chuban is? 8.5 x 10.5 inches or 7.5 x >10.5 inches? Exchange 16 participants are dying to know...soon! > ><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^><^> >Kristine Alder Mike Lyon mailto:mikelyon#mlyon.com http://www.mlyon.com - - ------------------------------ From: Barbara Mason Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 21:17:39 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Baren 20927] Re: Has anyone ever used a pin press? Terri, I have one and it will not take the place of a press by any means, However, Nik Semenoff has a palm press that will do a good job...see his site at http://duke.usask.ca/~semenoff/ or look up his name on the internet..his daughter makes these palm presses, sort of like a ball bearing baren. In fact a ball bearing baren might work. Best to you, Barbara >Have any of you tried using the "pin press" that Mc > Clains is selling? It SOUNDS great but it's awfully pricy to > buy just to try out. ------------------------------ From: FurryPressII#aol.com Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 00:33:16 EST Subject: [Baren 20928] Re: Has anyone ever used a pin press? I have printed both wood cuts and wood engravings as well as corian engravings as an intaligo print. the wood works but not as well as the corian. You have to seal the wood and even then the dampness and pressure efect the wood also the wood does not wipe clean enough. The dampness effects the wood. But with corian you can print it intaligo or relief equally well just be mindful not to cut it as deep as you might as a relief printed engraving. The corian seems to be the only matrix that works equally well as relief or intaligo. in wipeing the matrix the wood has too much tooth so to get a real white is difficult but the corian wipes as clean as copper and sometimes even cleaner. john center ------------------------------ End of Baren Digest V22 #2150 *****************************