Today's postings
- [Baren 24731] my new carving "assistant" (Mike Lyon)
- [Baren 24732] Re: my new carving "assistant" (FurryPressII # aol.com)
- [Baren 24733] RE: my new carving "assistant" ("GONZALO FERREYRA")
- [Baren 24734] Re: my new carving "assistant" (Mike Lyon)
- [Baren 24735] Re: my new carving "assistant" (Mike Lyon)
- [Baren 24736] Re: my new carving "assistant" ("Robert Canaga")
- [Baren 24737] first print from new blocks... (Mike Lyon)
- [Baren 24738] Re: first print from new blocks... (Jsf73 # aol.com)
Message 1
From: Mike Lyon
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 09:48:01 -0600
Subject: [Baren 24731] my new carving "assistant"
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Just thought I'd let you know that I have a new carving "assistant"!
I tell her exactly what to do and how to do it, and she goes to it! She's
GREAT! Fast, too! Yesterday she carved 24 -- yes, you heard me right --
TWENTY-FOUR -- pretty complex chuban blocks for me and they are better in
many ways than blocks carved by me with hand tools... She uses a (noisy!)
rotary tool to carve, by the way, and she weighs about 800 lbs! :-)
I assembled her two weeks ago (took the better part of a week) and she went
to work almost immediately! I got her from a North Carolina company called
ShopBot Tools http://www.shopbottools.com which has sold about 3,000 such
'assistants' (actually low-end CNC machines), mostly to sign-makers, I
think, in the last 10 years. She can carve about anything up to about 4
feet by 8 feet (a sheet of plywood) and up to five or six inches thick and
can follow my drawings with an accuracy of a few thousandths of an inch!
There's a photo of the 15 large blocks I/we carved for my new 31" x 22"
print, "Anthony" at http://mlyon.com if you'd like to take a peek -- I'm
pretty ecstatic really, and I'm feeling that I am now able to precipitate
image ideas almost directly from my mind to wood! I'll be printing the
first of the chuban blocks today which you might be able to watch on my
STUDIO WEBCAM (bottom left link on my web site) -- if you'd like to see a
movie of a ShopBot carving an electric guitar body, see
http://shopbottools.com/zion5.ram
For me, and the way I work, this is like a dream come true! Very liberating!
-- Mike
http://mlyon.com
I tell her exactly what to do and how to do it, and she goes to it! She's
GREAT! Fast, too! Yesterday she carved 24 -- yes, you heard me right --
TWENTY-FOUR -- pretty complex chuban blocks for me and they are better in
many ways than blocks carved by me with hand tools... She uses a (noisy!)
rotary tool to carve, by the way, and she weighs about 800 lbs! :-)
I assembled her two weeks ago (took the better part of a week) and she went
to work almost immediately! I got her from a North Carolina company called
ShopBot Tools http://www.shopbottools.com which has sold about 3,000 such
'assistants' (actually low-end CNC machines), mostly to sign-makers, I
think, in the last 10 years. She can carve about anything up to about 4
feet by 8 feet (a sheet of plywood) and up to five or six inches thick and
can follow my drawings with an accuracy of a few thousandths of an inch!
There's a photo of the 15 large blocks I/we carved for my new 31" x 22"
print, "Anthony" at http://mlyon.com if you'd like to take a peek -- I'm
pretty ecstatic really, and I'm feeling that I am now able to precipitate
image ideas almost directly from my mind to wood! I'll be printing the
first of the chuban blocks today which you might be able to watch on my
STUDIO WEBCAM (bottom left link on my web site) -- if you'd like to see a
movie of a ShopBot carving an electric guitar body, see
http://shopbottools.com/zion5.ram
For me, and the way I work, this is like a dream come true! Very liberating!
-- Mike
http://mlyon.com
Message 2
From: FurryPressII # aol.com
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 11:06:37 EST
Subject: [Baren 24732] Re: my new carving "assistant"
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Mike could this tool be used to surface engraving blocks?
john center
john center
Message 3
From: "GONZALO FERREYRA"
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 09:03:26 -0800
Subject: [Baren 24733] RE: my new carving "assistant"
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Mike,
Do I see some Chuck Close influence in the large portraits? Any chance
you'll ever try your hand at something along the lines of his mammoth
canvases (12' x 12' or more, I'm guessing)? Very cool...
Do I see some Chuck Close influence in the large portraits? Any chance
you'll ever try your hand at something along the lines of his mammoth
canvases (12' x 12' or more, I'm guessing)? Very cool...
Message 4
From: Mike Lyon
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 11:31:52 -0600
Subject: [Baren 24734] Re: my new carving "assistant"
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John Center wrote:
>Mike could this tool be used to surface engraving blocks?
Yes, or an entire table top! But for small surfaces, it's not necessary or
'better' than hand-routing -- and you'll still have to sand or plane smooth
after, as this machine gives no better surface than any router... But
instead, you should mount your glued-up block to be surfaced with some
parallel rails above it, and use an off-the-shelf router with a
flat-bottom, straight-fluted bit and attach a board to the router base so
that the board rides on the rails and then make your surface that way -- I
suppose you could even rig it to your Vandercook printing machine (hah!)
and surface that way if you were willing to clean up the shavings...
Mike
Mike Lyon
http://mlyon.com
>Mike could this tool be used to surface engraving blocks?
Yes, or an entire table top! But for small surfaces, it's not necessary or
'better' than hand-routing -- and you'll still have to sand or plane smooth
after, as this machine gives no better surface than any router... But
instead, you should mount your glued-up block to be surfaced with some
parallel rails above it, and use an off-the-shelf router with a
flat-bottom, straight-fluted bit and attach a board to the router base so
that the board rides on the rails and then make your surface that way -- I
suppose you could even rig it to your Vandercook printing machine (hah!)
and surface that way if you were willing to clean up the shavings...
Mike
Mike Lyon
http://mlyon.com
Message 5
From: Mike Lyon
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 11:45:13 -0600
Subject: [Baren 24735] Re: my new carving "assistant"
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Gonzalo Ferreyra wrote:
>Do I see some Chuck Close influence in the large portraits? Any chance
>you'll ever try your hand at something along the lines of his mammoth
>canvases (12' x 12' or more, I'm guessing)? Very cool...
Maybe... I was riveted by a large pencil drawing on canvas self-portrait
in squares made by Chuck Close which I saw in the early 1970's at the
Museum of Modern Art in New York... But I never remembered his
name. Then, when I began 'tiling' in the early '90s, people kept asking me
if I was a fan of Chuck Close, but I didn't recognize the name nor did I
relate what I was doing to that portrait I'd seen while I was an art
student... After so many people kept asking, I looked at Close's work
and... Well, it was startling to me -- I think we are interested by some
of the same things -- but his approach is much more painterly (and he and
those who write about him are very deliberate about how he does NOT use a
computer (maybe they feel that makes it more difficult to market the
objects -- seems like such an obvious way to work some of those images to
me) -- and he has developed a pretty darned effective infra-structure (I
have none)... I do have some desire to paint again (it's been years since
I painted other than occasionally to pass the time while travelling -- I
carry water-color and paper with me and make... well, mostly visual
landscapes and a portrait or two when I have the opportunity)... I haven't
plans for any painting quite that large, (yet) though... Too busy printing!
-- Mike
Mike Lyon
http://mlyon.com
>Do I see some Chuck Close influence in the large portraits? Any chance
>you'll ever try your hand at something along the lines of his mammoth
>canvases (12' x 12' or more, I'm guessing)? Very cool...
Maybe... I was riveted by a large pencil drawing on canvas self-portrait
in squares made by Chuck Close which I saw in the early 1970's at the
Museum of Modern Art in New York... But I never remembered his
name. Then, when I began 'tiling' in the early '90s, people kept asking me
if I was a fan of Chuck Close, but I didn't recognize the name nor did I
relate what I was doing to that portrait I'd seen while I was an art
student... After so many people kept asking, I looked at Close's work
and... Well, it was startling to me -- I think we are interested by some
of the same things -- but his approach is much more painterly (and he and
those who write about him are very deliberate about how he does NOT use a
computer (maybe they feel that makes it more difficult to market the
objects -- seems like such an obvious way to work some of those images to
me) -- and he has developed a pretty darned effective infra-structure (I
have none)... I do have some desire to paint again (it's been years since
I painted other than occasionally to pass the time while travelling -- I
carry water-color and paper with me and make... well, mostly visual
landscapes and a portrait or two when I have the opportunity)... I haven't
plans for any painting quite that large, (yet) though... Too busy printing!
-- Mike
Mike Lyon
http://mlyon.com
Message 6
From: "Robert Canaga"
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 10:18:21 -0800
Subject: [Baren 24736] Re: my new carving "assistant"
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Hey Mike, Are you bringing her to Colorado this year? Love to meet her:)
Robert
Robert
Message 7
From: Mike Lyon
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 15:39:48 -0600
Subject: [Baren 24737] first print from new blocks...
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So, of the 24 blocks I machined yesterday, ten were for one print and 14
for another, both portraits of my very beautiful son, Max.
I hand-printed an edition of 24 sheets from the first set of blocks today
-- since this was not a reduction print there were a LOT of differences
from my other recent prints -- in particular I had built in one genuine
problem -- I'd designed the print to be 16" x 11", but at the last moment
before cutting the blocks yesterday, decided to scale it back to 11" x 8"
-- but I did not redesign the parts of the block I'd left for paper
support, so they were all twice as close to printing areas as I'd
originally intended and that left some embossing (I didn't even soften
those edges!) and a bit of inintended color on many prints...
What worked very well, though, was that I'd designed the blocks so that
each area of each sheet (except the two lightest areas) was over-printed
twice -- enough to get attractive coverage (I am printing hanga technique)
but not so many times that the paper became over-damp and weak -- that was
great! I just ZIPPED along printing each of the ten blocks on each of the
24 sheets and increasing the ink density with each block change... I'm
getting very close to instant gratification in moku-hanga printing! You
can see this first print from my machined blocks print here:
http://mlyon.com/prints/relief/2004_03_26_Max.htm
-- Mike
Mike Lyon
http://mlyon.com
for another, both portraits of my very beautiful son, Max.
I hand-printed an edition of 24 sheets from the first set of blocks today
-- since this was not a reduction print there were a LOT of differences
from my other recent prints -- in particular I had built in one genuine
problem -- I'd designed the print to be 16" x 11", but at the last moment
before cutting the blocks yesterday, decided to scale it back to 11" x 8"
-- but I did not redesign the parts of the block I'd left for paper
support, so they were all twice as close to printing areas as I'd
originally intended and that left some embossing (I didn't even soften
those edges!) and a bit of inintended color on many prints...
What worked very well, though, was that I'd designed the blocks so that
each area of each sheet (except the two lightest areas) was over-printed
twice -- enough to get attractive coverage (I am printing hanga technique)
but not so many times that the paper became over-damp and weak -- that was
great! I just ZIPPED along printing each of the ten blocks on each of the
24 sheets and increasing the ink density with each block change... I'm
getting very close to instant gratification in moku-hanga printing! You
can see this first print from my machined blocks print here:
http://mlyon.com/prints/relief/2004_03_26_Max.htm
-- Mike
Mike Lyon
http://mlyon.com
Message 8
From: Jsf73 # aol.com
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 19:53:26 EST
Subject: [Baren 24738] Re: first print from new blocks...
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Okay Mike the machine sounds so very awesome... when do you start taking
orders for engraved blocks as per our digital files???
orders for engraved blocks as per our digital files???