Today's postings

  1. [Baren 28959] Test colors ("Roy")
  2. [Baren 28960] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V33 #3222 (Oct 11, 2005) (Mike Lyon)
  3. [Baren 28961] McClains (Nancy Osadchuk)
  4. [Baren 28962] Re: Test colors (Wanda Robertson)
  5. [Baren 28963] Flattening Moku Hanga Prints (Annie Bissett)
  6. [Baren 28964] Re: Flattening Moku Hanga Prints (Julio.Rodriguez # walgreens.com)
  7. [Baren 28965] congrats (cucamongie # aol.com)
  8. [Baren 28966] Flattening Moku Hanga Prints (Barbara Mason)
  9. [Baren 28967] Re: Flattening Moku Hanga Prints (Dave Bull)
  10. [Baren 28968] Anti-chip Resingrave (ResinRN # aol.com)
  11. [Baren 28969] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
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Message 1
From: "Roy"
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 08:13:02 -0700
Subject: [Baren 28959] Test colors
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Hi all,
As a member of Exchange #27 I am to stop lurking and become active. So what
better way than to pick a few brains.
I have completed a pretty acceptable sketch of my print in ink and made
several copies so I could test various color schemes. I need to limit the
colors and thus the number of boards I'll have to cut. I first tried
colored markers. They are fast but have limited values and colors. Do I
bite the bullet and make copies on good paper and get out the watercolors?
What is your procedure for this?

Thanks,
Roy Leroux
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Message 2
From: Mike Lyon
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 10:38:58 -0500
Subject: [Baren 28960] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V33 #3222 (Oct 11, 2005)
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>Last- when the exhibition says 8"x9" - am I correct in assuming this is
>the image size?

No -- that is the PAPER size!

-- Mike


Mike Lyon
Kansas City, Missouri
http://mlyon.com
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Message 3
From: Nancy Osadchuk
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 09:46:53 -0600
Subject: [Baren 28961] McClains
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Mindy, congratulations! As Barbara said, all the pros were beginners at some time.
Nancy O.
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Message 4
From: Wanda Robertson
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 10:30:25 -0700
Subject: [Baren 28962] Re: Test colors
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Hi Roy,

I work the colors out in my head for the most part - but a good way to
test them is to get some of the translucent mylar/plastic stuff & use
one sheet for each color. Then you can get a better idea of what the
overlaying of colors will do. It won't be exactly the same of course.
You will have to do some test prints on less expensive paper. Even
newsprint will work for this. Then it will probably still be a surprise
when you are finished!

Wanda
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Message 5
From: Annie Bissett
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 17:47:43 -0400
Subject: [Baren 28963] Flattening Moku Hanga Prints
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Hi Bareners,

I'm having trouble getting my prints to dry flat. These are moku hanga
prints on McClain's Masa Dosa, 10" x 15." My print has quite a lot of white
space as well as some areas of heavy pigment and I found that as I printed,
the paper buckled and stretched quite a bit. Now it won't dry flat, even
though I re-moistened it to try to settle it. Any tips?

Mindy, congrats on your inclusion in the McClain's catalog!

Annie B
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Message 6
From: Julio.Rodriguez # walgreens.com
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 17:38:53 -0500
Subject: [Baren 28964] Re: Flattening Moku Hanga Prints
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Annie........not familiar with the Masa Dosa paper...is it sized or
unsized paper ? handmade or machine made ? Different papers will stretch
more than others depending on their contents and how they were
manufactured...even the motion used by the maker when shaking the deckle
screens could affect expansion.

Normally I keep my paper moist thru the whole process so it does not
buckle...as I print an impression it goes to another stack that is also
kept inside a plastic bag or at the very least wrapped in some moist paper
towels....as I add another print to the printed stack (image up) I place
the moist paper towel on top..hopefully I am 'replacing' whatever moisture
was lost during the time it took to make the impression....and thus keep
the stack somewhat in balance....I keep the mist spray bottle nearby and
use it as needed....

You mention lots of white space and heavy color in some areas of your
image so maybe that's the source of the problem...if the white areas are
drying out but the same area of the paper gets repeated impressions it may
cause the paper to strech funny.....

I been known to use my big & heavy Yellow-Pages phone book to dry prints
or for Oban size prints I use a local music newspaper that is
oversize....whatever works.

Here is a One-Point lesson by David that goes into detail about drying
prints with some good tips for Japanese papers......

http://www.woodblock.com/encyclopedia/entries/004_03/004_03_frame.html


good luck.....Julio
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Message 7
From: cucamongie # aol.com
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 19:02:42 -0400
Subject: [Baren 28965] congrats
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Congrats Mindy!

Unfortunately, for some reason, I get an error message when I try to go to the link with your print. Anyone else have this problem?

best,
Sarah
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Message 8
From: Barbara Mason
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 18:36:49 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 28966] Flattening Moku Hanga Prints
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Annie,
Spray the prints a lot until they are really wet on the back, lay them between blotter in a sandwich, blotter, print newsprint, blotter, print, newsprint,blotter. After 30 minutes put the prints into new blotters that are dry with new newsprint, weight the blotters with books at the top.
I actually have a lot of blotters so just let the weight of the blotters do the weight on the second drying. If you change the blotters this way, your prints will always dry flat without a lot of weight. Mine are always perfectly flat and I have used this method for etchings and all damp paper printing for many years.
Best to you,
Barbara
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Message 9
From: Dave Bull
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 12:11:19 +0900
Subject: [Baren 28967] Re: Flattening Moku Hanga Prints
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> I'm having trouble getting my prints to dry flat. These are moku hanga
> prints on McClain's Masa Dosa, 10" x 15." My print has quite a lot of
> white
> space as well as some areas of heavy pigment and I found that as I
> printed,
> the paper buckled and stretched quite a bit. Now it won't dry flat,
> even
> though I re-moistened it to try to settle it. Any tips?

Buckling and wrinkling can come from a few causes: careless drying,
too-vigorous use of a strong baren, or use of cheap plastic-based paste
(the Japanese kind in tubes).

If it's from rapid drying, then the fix is just to re-moisten, then dry
more slowly under good boards. It's helpful to dry the prints in pairs
back-to-back, making sure to place them heads-and-tails, to help keep
the moisture even as they slowly dry out.

If it's from stretching with the baren, then there really isn't much
you can do at this point; just take note for next time, and try not to
ram the baren into the back of the paper too hard, especially on
coloured areas on prints that have lots of white space.

As for the paste, using a good hand-made paste as described on this
list many times will eliminate that particular cause of paper wrinking;
it's a bit more trouble than using the stuff from the tube, but the
print will dry smoothly, without 'pulling up' in the margin around the
printed areas ...

Dave
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Message 10
From: ResinRN # aol.com
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 23:42:18 EDT
Subject: [Baren 28968] Anti-chip Resingrave
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Over the last fifteen years, Resingrave has provided wood engravers with a
low cost alternative to boxwood for the traditional, finely detailed style of
printmaking. For the bolder, almost woodcut style that needs heavy pressure from
larger tools, Resingrave has a tendency to chip and, as a result, has
received some flak from this chat room on at least one occasion. The good news is
that the latest improvement to Resingrave, the addition of microfiber, has
dramatically reduced this tendency. However special precautions still need to be
taken, instructions for which are presented in the following web page...

http://hometown.AOL.com/resinrn/index.htm

This web page also tells you how to polish Resingrave blocks so they can
be printed intaglio. A small gallery of prints from Resingrave engraved in
various ways, includes some intaglio ones engraved with rotary bits that can be
best described as looking like reverse mezzotints. The web page also contains a
list of suppliers of blocks and instructional materials along with a
discussion of Resingrave's printmaking advantages.
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Message 11
From: Blog Manager
Date: 13 Oct 2005 03:55:02 -0000
Subject: [Baren 28969] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification
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This is an automatic update message being sent to [Baren] by the forum blog software.

The following new entries were found on the listed printmaker's websites during the past 24 hours. (8 sites checked, just before midnight Eastern time)

*****************

Site Name: Wood Engraver

Author: Andy English
Item: Spam, Spam, Doves and Spam
http://studiodiary.blogspot.com/2005/10/spam-spam-doves-and-spam.html

*****************

[Baren] members: if you have a printmaking blog (or a website with a published ATOM feed), and wish it to be included in this daily checklist, please write to the Baren Blog Manager at:
http://barenforum.org/contact_baren.php