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Message 1
From: ArtfulCarol # aol.com
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 09:05:43 EST
Subject: [Baren 23689] Re: A way to transfer graphite drawing to a block?
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For transferring I use Saral Transfer Paper, graphite, wax free, comes in
colors.

I'm happy with it.

Carol L.
Irvington, NY

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Message 2
From: Mike Lyon
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 08:57:16 -0600
Subject: [Baren 23690] Re: slicing wood?
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At 07:47 PM 12/17/2003 -0800, Maria wrote:
>The question, how do I slice, aka rip a hunk of 3" (7.6 cm) thick
>very-hard-dense-woods into 1/2" (1.25 cm) boards? A band saw would do some
>of these, but not the 12" wide hunks; I would need an industrial band saw.
>Any other type of power tools that would work? Any type of Japanese or
>other hand-powered saw that will slice through these in a straight manner?

A table saw with a good fence and sharp general purpose 10" or greater
blade will rip boards a bit thicker than 3". A 3hp or greater motor will
help keep your saw slicing through this stuff without binding or
overheating. A ripping blade (fewer teeth per inch) will cut a bit
faster. If you don't have access to a table saw, you can do it with a
hand-held circular saw and a jerry rigged clamp-on straight edge against
which to slide the saw will do it, but it's much more dangerous and error
prone. Your local lumber yard will do it for a price.

Dust from Padauk is pretty toxic. Purple heart, too. Wear a mask! Purple
heart is very hard and very long fibered -- wear gloves when handling and
enjoy your splinters! Padauk should cut like butter -- bright orange when
freshly cut it darkens to rich chocolate brown in sunlight after a few
weeks. Purple heart turns lighter and grayer in air -- finish helps keep
the deep purple red color. A shame to 'waste' these pricey exotic
hardwoods on blocks. Your prints won't really know the difference, I
think. Also -- more and more people are becoming sensitive to endangered
rain forest woods -- you may want to check for PCness before you commit...

-- Mike


Mike Lyon
http://mlyon.com

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Message 3
From: Mike Lyon
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 09:13:32 -0600
Subject: [Baren 23691] Re: slicing wood?
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AAAAaargh! Forget my stupid previous answer -- It's too early in the
morning and I'm too used to cutting those big hardwood planks down to make
legs and laminated tops and so I think of 1/2" by 3" strips glued
together... What you want is to have the wide planks resawn on a big
bandsaw with very coarse teeth per inch (like 1 tooth per inch or less) --
the purple heart especially burns SO easily! Still think you're nuts to do
this to these beautiful furniture woods, but you are looking for a big
lumber yard or large cabinet shop capable of "resawing 12" wide hardwood
planks." Good luck!

-- Mike

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Message 4
From: Mike Lyon
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 09:16:48 -0600
Subject: [Baren 23692] Re: A way to transfer graphite drawing to a block?
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At 09:51 PM 12/17/2003 -0800, Troy Harris wrote:
>Is it possible to transfer a pencil drawing on paper, face down, to a
>block? In other words instead of using chemicals to transfer ink to a
>block, could this be done with a graphite drawing?

Graphite usually transfers reasonably well. Carbon paper usually works
very well. Just be careful not to leave indentations (which can reproduce
during printing) in the block by pushing too hard as you make your tracing.

Mike


Mike Lyon
http://mlyon.com

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Message 5
From: Charles Morgan
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 07:54:13 -0800
Subject: [Baren 23693] Re: cleanup
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>After printing, I know I need to clean up the obvious stuff (like the
>roller and the sheet of glass I rolled the ink onto), but what do I do
>with the block? If I have applied too much ink on one of the prints, do I
>need to worry about the ink drying in grooves I've made in the woodblock?
>If it makes a difference, I'm using speedball ink (no comments on quality,
>please) which is water based, so I can always cleanup later if need be...


>speedball is water based but after it is dry it is not like watercolor
>which remains water solubal when it is dry. Once it is dry it is
>dry. And because wood engraving marks are generelly smaller than wood
>cut ones it might fill up the cuts. to prevent this you should use a
>stiffer ink and aply it in thin layers.
>


The water based Speedball ink we get here in Canada is rewettable ... I
blush to admit I have washed it off an inking slab and a lino block with
plain water after it has dried for several weeks. Acrylics are NOT
rewettable, but Speedball here does not seem to be acrylic. I think
Speedball makes it rewettable for use in schools ... you can wash it out of
kid's clothing even after it has dried.

Of course oil based Speedball is not wettable, let alone RE wettable!!

Cheers .... Charles

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Message 6
From: Jsf73 # aol.com
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 11:14:46 EST
Subject: [Baren 23694] Re: A way to transfer graphite drawing to a block?
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In a message dated 12/18/03 12:51:33 AM Eastern Standard Time,
troyinformer@yahoo.com writes:


> Is it possible to transfer a pencil drawing on paper,
> face down, to a block? In other words instead of
> using chemicals to transfer ink to a block, could this
> be done with a graphite drawing?
>
> Either that, or will pencil show through mino-gami
> paper or usu-mino paper, using the Japanese method? I
> was thinking of possibly not removing the hanshita
> from the block and carving right through the paper,
> that is if the pencil shows through.
>
> I have a very thin (non Japanese) paper here which
> carves beautifully when left glued on a cherry block
> but the drawing is a bit hard to see because it's in
> graphite. It still works, just want to find a way to
> improve the detail.
>
> Thanks for any info.
>

Hi Troy,

I dont know if anyone else has responded to your post or not but here is one
way to transfer graphite that John De Pol used.

Check the link to 20 steps to making a wood engraving:

http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/exhibits/intersect/page6.htm

Check steps 1 thru 6

This guide is very helpful for beginners so much so I downloaded the entire
thing to my computer as reference.

As for carving thru the paper, forget it. I tried it repeatedly and with the
glue and paper it shredded along the edge ruining the drawing... lost lines.
Plus the papper and glue caused the tool to skid and cut in the wrong spot....

I dont use that method any longer.

Try searching the internet for other ideas. I was able to find reams of info,
so much so I didnt even need to buy a book. Not that that kept me from buying
books. YOu may like the photocopy acetone transfer method... it requires
experimentation though. Lots of web sites explain that process but I dont know a
link off hand. Time is short so I wont describe it either, but you can find it
by searching the archives here using acetone and photocopy as search
operators.

John Furr

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Message 7
From: "Maria Arango"
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 08:34:54 -0800
Subject: [Baren 23695] Re: slicing wood?
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Thanks for the reminder of toxicity on some of these woods! Also thanks
for the suggestions. We have a permanent drought of good cabinet makers
and decent lumber yards here in the land of entertainment, but I will
scour the phone book. I know of one lumber yard for sure that has
survived foreign development.
Just as a note of curiosity, all development going on in Vegas gets
building materials, including lumber, from a mysterious elsewhere. Vegas
is also the undisputed queen of buy/sell warehouses, where furniture and
such things are bought from foreign countries and sold at a handsome
profit by fly-by-night resellers. Anyhow, artisans and fine furniture
makers...packed up a long time ago. But I will search!

So you gentlemen would rather have a good hunk of mohagony end up as a
drawer front or mirror frame than "waste" the wood on a nicely
hand-carved woodblock which will be sold as an objet d'art to be
preserved forever more? Hmmmmm... :-) No, the prints won't know the
difference, but the blocks will be ohmygoshers, me thinks.

The nice ol' chap I bought the stash from ($200 bucks for the lot of 40
pieces) was cutting up the wood in small pieces 2x2x6 or so. Then he
would carve away(with one of his three Foredom engines and one of his
300 or so assorted bits) most of the wood and make his three "patterns",
brahma bulls, eagles, and polar bears. He had some other "patterns" he
played with, but those were his best sellers. The bulk of the wood went
into his Makita dust-control system as finely ground waste-wood. Now
THAT is a waste, but he was a nice ol'man. I must have been salivating
when he showed me his shop; he took my phone number and told me when he
was mentally ready to "get rid" of the rest of his tools he would let me
know first. As the song says, I fell down on my knees and began to
pray...
His wife was ready to make me a deal right then and there, as she
doesn't want him carving at all anymore because his hands have begun to
tremble uncontrollably. A sad story but with potentially a good ending,
as they really liked me and he thought his legacy would be in good hands
with me.

Anyway, I'm rambling off subject...thanks for all the info.
Maria

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Message 8
From: JMartin906 # aol.com
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 12:23:36 EST
Subject: [Baren 23696] exchange deadlines
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I can't figure out how to say this without sounding like a complaining type
person, so maybe I am one! And, I've only participated in one other exchange
on Baren. But, It seems strange to me that exchange 18a (and I guess 18, also)
are dragging on and on -- now 1 and 1/2 months past the deadline. The other
exchange I was in went off like clockwork, everyone's prints in by the
deadline (or very close to it) and in the mail within about a week.

If a fuss was made in the past about prints having to be the "right size",
then is it also fair to say they have to be "on time", too? I guess, in one
way, it really doesn't matter if lots of people are late, if the exchange comes
off eventually. But, it seems like extra work for the coordinators to have to
nag and kind of peeves me to be waiting and waiting, since I took the deadline
seriously. Maybe exchanges are late frequently, and I just haven't
participated enough to know that?

thoughts from a whining 18a exchange participant, Suzi

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Message 9
From: jack reisland
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 08:25:15 -1000
Subject: [Baren 23697] Re: slicing wood?
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Maria Arango wrote:

> His wife was ready to make me a deal right then and there, as she
> doesn't want him carving at all anymore because his hands have begun to
> tremble uncontrollably. A sad story but with potentially a good ending,
> as they really liked me and he thought his legacy would be in good hands
> with me.
>
> Anyway, I'm rambling off subject...thanks for all the info.
> Maria

I'm not a bit surprised that his hands were trembling by now. After a few
years of grinding those toxic woods into dust, I'm surprised that he could
even still breath. Poor guy has poisoned himself for the sake of
bric-a-brac.

Jack R.

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Message 10
From: "Emma Jane Hogbin"
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 13:54:47 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Baren 23698] Re: A way to transfer graphite drawing to a block?
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Jsf73@aol.com said:
> I dont know if anyone else has responded to your post or not but here is
> one way to transfer graphite that John De Pol used.
> Check the link to 20 steps to making a wood engraving:
> http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/exhibits/intersect/page6.htm

Any recommendations for alternatives to beef tallow (as described in the
link)? I'm thinking: bees wax (too hard?), cooking oil (e.g. olive--but
probably not meaty enough...pun intended).

emma :)

--
Emma Jane Hogbin
Xtrinsic

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Message 11
From: Jsf73 # aol.com
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 14:00:33 EST
Subject: [Baren 23699] Re: A way to transfer graphite drawing to a block?
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wax... any type. Parafin is soft enough and is cheaper than beeswax... the
key is tack and how much graphite is loose on the tracing paper, you need a soft
enough pencil but not too soft or you get a mess.

It is dimmer than you think too. I only tried this once and I had hard time
seeing image unless I kept the block angled into light. John De Pol used the
black ink so that the image would appear as you engraved but I think I would use
a much lighter ink to make it easier to see.

John

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Message 12
From: "Emma Jane Hogbin"
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 14:22:38 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [Baren 23700] first engraving
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I thought some of you may be interested in seeing my first attempt at a
wood engraving (well technically it's not my /first/). The engravings will
be used on the cover of a blank book for my nephew, Zachery [sic]. He's
getting a telescope for Christmas this year (shhhh!), hence the stars.

The picture shows three separate prints from the same block. The black one
I did last, and it's my favorite. Red is his favorite color, which is why
I started in red. The black ink that's showing through on the red prints
is because I accidentally used a water-soluble "wash" on the block so that
I could see what I was doing. Lesson learned.

http://strangelittlegirl.com/prints/zachery.jpg

emma :)

--
Emma Jane Hogbin
Xtrinsic

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Message 13
From: "Maria Arango"
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 12:42:53 -0800
Subject: [Baren 23701] FW: Print Return
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Please read the following from Josephine Severn of Print Australia. I
just received the prints in good condition and will be returning them as
time and money allow.
I will try to coordinate with exchange coordinators to see if we can
include some of these in the upcoming exchanges, however because of size
of packaging this will not always be the best solution. If you are in
the puzzle project, I will sneak your prints in the tube along with the
puzzle prints.
In any case, your prints are now on this side of the ocean and just a
bit closer to getting back to you.

Maria

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Message 14
From: Julio.Rodriguez # walgreens.com
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 14:39:26 -0600
Subject: [Baren 23702] Re: A way to transfer graphite drawing to a block?
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" have a very thin (non Japanese) paper here which
carves beautifully when left glued on a cherry block
but the drawing is a bit hard to see because it's in
graphite. It still works, just want to find a way to
improve the detail."

Troy,

try putting a small dab of a clear oil on the paper....I think it will
make the paper translucent and
allow you to see more detail for carving.

Julio

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Message 15
From: Julio.Rodriguez # walgreens.com
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 12:15:17 -0600
Subject: [Baren 23703] Re: slicing wood?
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Maria....

Wonderful story, enjoy the new found wood....in my opinion...you are doing
both printmaking and "sculpture" or object d'art as you may call it from
one piece of wood...so you are getting twice the bang out of it ! You
would not ask a sculptor, a wood turner or a fine cabinetry maker to use
indigenous species...they just would not have the same value.

If you get sentimental about those wide boards....an option could be to
keep the small stuff for your blocks and find a fine furniture maker who
would take the wider stuff off your hands ( at a nice profit to you
!!!)....magazines like Fine Woodworking & Woodwork have sections for
Wanted/ForSale.

Re the slicing...is for sure a job for a professional....you can get
somewhat ok results with the home power tools...if the pieces are
manageable and not too dense...but it can be dangerous, time consuming and
the results may be less than great. I would suggest that if you can't
find a local shop to do it for you....to call ahead and perhaps combine
one of your festival trips with a lumberyard visit in a nearby town.

Also that 1/2" thickness may be a bit dangerous...not only for resawing
but also for warping and releasing tension in the planks....but I think
you know all of this.....

enjoy.....Julio Rodriguez (Skokie, Illinois)

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