Baren Digest               Thursday, 10 July 2003       Volume 24 : Number 2299


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From: Myron Turner <mturner#Ms.UManitoba.CA>
Date: Wed, 09 Jul 2003 09:43:56 -0500
Subject: [Baren 22176] Re: Glossary progress 


It's a great page, Mary, and a great start.

Edit for "inking slab (English) ":
a flat, non-porous surface that is used to mix and roll out printing ink, 
often made of glass.

definition for "durometer":

Durometer is a unit of measurement for the hardness of materials which is 
maintained by an international standards organization named ASTM 
International.  Durometer is measured using an instrument which is in turn 
called a durometer.  The durometer is pressed against the roller and a 
reading taken from its gauge.  Printing rollers tend to be between 15 and 
60 durometer.  Rollers used for printing letterpress types are optimally 15 
durometer.  Varying hardnesses of rollers (and consistencies of ink) are 
used in intaglio in the technique called viscosity printing.

At 07:02 AM 09/07/2003, you wrote:

>Greetings all,
>
>I have collected and edited all the terms and definitions that have been 
>suggested so far and have come up with a possible standard for coding the 
>various contributions. I have added a page to my own site so you can see 
>the in progress work.
>
>http://www.mts.net/~mkrieger/gloss.html



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From: FurryPressII#aol.com
Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2003 13:52:25 EDT
Subject: [Baren 22177] Re: Glossary progress 


Up until rather recently there were no books on Japanese wood cut printing 
(although many on the history) thus the need for a glossary of the terms and 
process.  Luckily that need has been filled to some degree maybe not enough on 
the expert end.  Western style printmaking has many books on how to do it even 
some that appear to have been written by woodcut and woodengravers.  It is 
rather easy to tell if the author was an etcher or litho printer and just puts a 
chapter on relief printmaking so to cover that base.  I personally don't see 
the need for writing a glossary of terms used in western printmaking as most 
print making books have that already.  I am saying this as one who is rooted 
mostly in western printmaking.  Wood engraving terms are less known and that might 
be a useful addition even though a good source for that info would be Wood 
Engravers Network. Or just send a e-mail to Andy English.

John "furrypress" Center


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From: "Jeanne N. Chase" <studiojnc#prodigy.net>
Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2003 16:24:51 -0400
Subject: [Baren 22178] Hanga brushes 

I was reading a book on Japanese printmaking and they said that if you 
did not have a sharkskin to separate the hairs of your marubake brushes 
you can use a concrete block . Anyone ever try this? I have several 
concrete blocks but hesitate to try this.

Jeanne N.


PS. Thanks Julio for the information on the Calendar sizes.



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From: Mike Lyon <mikelyon#mlyon.com>
Date: Wed, 09 Jul 2003 16:49:52 -0500
Subject: [Baren 22179] Print drying & Hon Baren 


>You said you dry them "as you normally would".  How is that?


This is for moku-hanga...  I 'normally' leave the prints out for a bit so 
that there are no 'wet' areas...  This is a matter of judgement -- the 
prints are still damp, but no areas which are so wet that they're 
soft...  I've cut some 1/2" drywall into 2' x 4' lengths and protected the 
edges with gummed brown paper tape.  Like newsprint, none of this is 
archival, but the moisture is going to migrate FROM the prints INTO the 
drywall, so I don't think it's a big risk.  I lay the prints out on top of 
a sheet of drywall, then place another sheet of drywall on top, then more 
prints, more drywall, etc.  If I put the prints into this drywall stack 
while they are "wet", then they tend to buckle into wavy areas which 
persist after drying.  If I do it "right", then the prints are flat when dry.

On another note, I've now got something over 1,300 prints on my new and now 
twice re-covered Baren Mall hon baren.  I LOVE it!  David Bull gave 
excellent advice.  The high spots are coming into line very nicely (still a 
few which persist near the center which I'll knock down next time I 
re-cover) and there is NO COMPARISON between the hon baren tool and my 
former favorite Murasaki baren from baren mall -- the hon baren is a FAR 
superior tool...  (and the Murasaki is a very good one, but compared with 
the hon baren, the Murasaki is quite hard and inflexible and not nearly so 
alive)...

- -- Mike



Mike Lyon
mailto:mikelyon#mlyon.com
http://www.mlyon.com  

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From: Myron Turner <mturner#Ms.UManitoba.CA>
Date: Wed, 09 Jul 2003 17:24:01 -0500
Subject: [Baren 22180] Oil-based Glossary 

John Center suggested that there are many more sources for learning about 
western woodblock printing as compared to hang--but I'm not sure that's 
true or at least significantly true.  While most books on printmaking will 
include a chapter on relief printing,  I may be wrong, but I would suspect 
that there are more books dedicated to Japanese techniques, both modern and 
traditional, than to western relief. An important element in baren is that 
we have a concentration of artists working in relief who have a wide 
variety of practical experience to contribute.

Personally, I think the glossary is worth continuing with.

Myron 


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From: Barbara Mason <barbaramason45#yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2003 17:58:51 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 22181] drying prints 



Mike,

Wow, I have heard of weighting prints down, but drywall is a new
one for me...I have heard of homosote (sp) board which is thick
like drywall but very light and porous, the work will dry in this
also, I have seem artists use fans through the stack of these
boards. Drywall  would be fairly hard to handel with a lot of
prints, it is not light weight and if you drop it you break it or
your toe...You are a big strong guy but us gals might have a bit
more trouble moving all that drywall around.

My method has been tested over and over for 20 years and produces
perfectly flat prints every time....so you might consider it as
it weights less than drywall if you are a not a big strong guy.

Lay your prints in blotters, and just stack them up. The secret
to having no wrinkles is to change the blotters after the first
20 or 30 minutes and then again every day until the paper is
completely dry. In summer it only takes two days, In winter,
longer. I never weight my prints and they are always flat. So
changing the blotters is the huge secret, a ton of water is
sucked out in those first 30 minutes.

I find this pretty easy as have a stack of blotters in the studio
on a flat file that is waist high and I just work from bottom to
top. That is I lay the prints on the top and pull a blotter off
the bottom or sometimes from the middle of the stack to lay on
top of the prints. When I remove the damp ones, I move the ones I
have used as a pile and then take out the prints one layer at a
time and put in the new pile. Then I hang the damp ones on
clothespins on a line to dry. I also really look them over while
I do this and pull out any that are rotten.... With any luck they
are not all rotten!

This is why I always laugh when people think prints stay in
order....with lots of colors and lots of drying, they do get
mixed up and I for one could never tell which was the first, the
middle or the last one printed. The numbers are pretty arbitrary
and I think this whole numbering thing was started by galleries
to make an edition seem special and a smaller number more
special. Most plates do not break down in the first edition of
printing (except drypoints) unless you are printing more than
200-300. I always wonder why you would want more than about 20 of
anything unless it was for an exchange. Just think of all that
paper stored in artist's studios with work on it.....200 pieces
for each print made...boggels the mind. Of course if you actually
had a market for 200 that would be a different story. Best to all,
Barbara


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From: David Bull <davebull#woodblock.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 10:13:12 +0900
Subject: [Baren 22182] Re: drying prints 

Barbara wrote:

> I always wonder why you would want more than about 20 of anything


Barbara, perhaps you are in a league with Thomas Watson of IBM:

> IN THE 1940s Thomas Watson, then chairman of IBM, predicted that the
> world market for computers would add up to five; he simply could not 
> foresee
> any commercial possibilities.


I think we can aim a bit higher than having just 20 copies of our prints 
out in circulation. That's what prints are for ... making _lots_!  Let's 
get some 'on every desk', just like computers!

Dave


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From: Bette Wappner <bettewappner#earthlink.net>
Date: Wed, 09 Jul 2003 23:26:12 -0400
Subject: [Baren 22183] Bette's Baren Summit Photos/Slide Show 

  
 Hello everyone,
  
 Here is the link to the recent Baren Summit 2003 in Kansas City, MO photos.
 Its fun to view them in the Slide Show.
  
 Please let me know off list of any mistakes in the photo captions, etc.
  
 Enjoy.
  Bette.
  
 
 http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/betteangel/lst?.view=t&.dir=/Baren+Summit 
 
 ------------------------------

From: Barbara Mason <barbaramason45#yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 02:32:52 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 22184] Re: drying prints 


Dave, 
Of course I agree, I would love to spread them around, but I make a lot of different 
ones and if I did 200 of each one I would be broke buying paper! When I get famous 
and have a market for them I will make more! Since I will probably have to die first 
the ones I have will just be that much more valuable! Ha.I will store all the plates 
for those posthumus editions!

Barbara

David Bull <davebull#woodblock.com> wrote:
Barbara wrote:

> I always wonder why you would want more than about 20 of anything


Barbara, perhaps you are in a league with Thomas Watson of IBM:

> IN THE 1940s Thomas Watson, then chairman of IBM, predicted that the
> world market for computers would add up to five; he simply could not 
> foresee
> any commercial possibilities.

>
>I think we can aim a bit higher than having just 20 copies of our prints 
>out in circulation. That's what prints are for ... making _lots_! Let's 
>get some 'on every desk', just like computers!
>
>Dave




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From: Mary Krieger <mkrieger#mb.sympatico.ca>
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 07:29:46 -0500
Subject: [Baren 22185] _Woodblock Glossary_ 


Greetings all,

Thank you to all who have commented on this project and to those who have 
contributed definitions. I won't get a chance to add the new material to 
the 'working page' until sometime next week but don't let that stop you. If 
you don't wish to do it on the forum, you could always send them to me 
directly at mkrieger#mb.sympatico.ca

I promise I will abide by the community decision as to what actually gets 
added to the encyclopedia. I also promise that any useful and valid 
terms/definitions that are excluded for whatever reason from the Baren 
encyclopedia will be found a home somewhere on the Internet.

Our current Encyclopedia dictionary has some important gaps. For instance, 
moku-hanga and hanga are not defined. In the past year, I have seen these 
terms used on the list with increasing frequency to indicate what was 
previously referred to as Japanese woodblock. Shunga and pillow-book from 
our recent discussion are also not included. The encyclopedia is an 
incredible resource and we can still add more useful stuff.

May I suggest we use brainstorming rules for glossary contributions. Here's 
one version..
  (courtesy of 
http://www.brainstorming.co.uk/tutorials/brainstormingrules.html )

The link to the 'working' glossary page is 
http://www.mts.net/~mkrieger/gloss.html

Mary Krieger
Winnipeg MB

http://www.mts.net/~mkrieger/




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From: David Bull <davebull#woodblock.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 21:58:19 +0900
Subject: [Baren 22186] Re: Woodblock Glossary 

Mary wrote:

> Our current Encyclopedia dictionary has some important gaps. For 
> instance, moku-hanga and hanga are not defined.


I guess unless Dave Stones beats me to it, this is where I step forward!

You are dealing with three 'words' here, which in simple direct 
translation, are:

moku = which is one pronunciation of the character for tree, or wood
han = plate (as in printing plate, not eating plate)
ga = picture, image

So 'hanga' is 'an image made from a plate', as in our usual definition 
of 'print' in the west. Add 'moku' to the front of this, and you get 
'image made from a wooden plate'.

Note also, that as nouns cannot be pluralized in Japanese the way that 
they can in English by adding as 's' at the end, 'moku hanga' could be a 
single print, many prints, many prints made from single plates, or many 
prints made from many plates, etc. etc.

Dave


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End of Baren Digest V24 #2299
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