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Message 6
From: Shawn + Elizabeth Newton
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 06:11:12 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 36429] Re: dremel use
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personally, and this is just me, i think the dremel is a great tool, just not for relief.
there's so much finish work that has to be done after you are done with the dremel just to pull
a print. what i mean is, the bits, not matter which one you use, are going to create a lot of
burrs or fuzz or whatever on your block, so that the cuts look hairy or fuzzy. when i used a
dremel on wood i had to sand the whole surface down to try to get rid of this fuzz. on lino
it wasn't so bad. but it just seemed to take a lot longer... just use it and see what you think.

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Message 1
From: Tiberiu Chelcea
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 06:33:57 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 36430] Re: Advice on tools for traveling
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> Could I get a definition of the term which I have seen here several
> times....
> “printing western method“ ....

I'm thinking rolling ink with a brayer, ink is generally oil-based, the print is
usually pulled with a press. It also includes non-kento style registration (pin-holes, T-bar).
Woodblocks are either engravings (that was the tradition till late in 19th century) or carved
along the grain. Since colors are not transparent as in the oriental tradition, reduction prints
come much more naturally (there are exceptions, see some of Mike Lyons work). But, I think,
the application of the color and the ink type are the main differences.

Tibi

PS. In my previous email I forgot to mention water sharpening stones.

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Message 2
From: David Harrison
Date: Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:02:07 +0100
Subject: [Baren 36431] last-minute questions
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Hi all,

Hopefully the last such bleat before I send Ex37 very late...

Should I have to sign my exchange prints? I can't find anything in The Rools.

Should I send return packing materials as well as fees?

How much have other UK participants sent to cover postage? Did you send
dollars in cash or money orders? I can't find money orders hereabouts for a
sensible fee -- my bank is quoting £30 for admin!

Thanks in advance,

David H

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Message 3
From: "Amanda Miller"
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 10:17:59 -0400
Subject: [Baren 36432] question on registration for Western style printing
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Hello all. I print western style, using a brayer and a press. I have a
hard time getting precise registration when I need it. What is the best
kind of registration for printing with a press? I think I need something
fool-proof :)
Thanks!
Amanda

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Message 4
From: Scholes Graham
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 07:25:41 -0700
Subject: [Baren 36433] “printing western method“
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Ah ha......
Now I get it. My radar screen reads this way.....

The term is not Western method but European method.
A way back when the Japanese “perfected“ the technique of transparent
waterbase pigments.... moka hanga .... ( It was not “invented“ by the
Japanese, but by a person from Belgium ( .... Jost de Negker, active
in Antwerp 1508-1544, is believed to be the inventor of the colored
woodcut) .... the Europeans were perfecting the woodcut or wooden
graving method. This was using opaque petroleum inks (greasy kids
stuff) and mostly black that was applied by a brayer.

I have never found out the guy who invented.... if you want to call it
that.... the method of reduction plates.... SUICIDE method.
I have never been able to figure why anyone would do that. You spend
hours ‘carving a work of art to make a work of art‘ and them you
proceed to destroy it..... Go Figure. Nuts. Crazy. Brain
Dead. .... did I miss anythingie?


Regards
Graham
www.woodblockart.ca

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Message 5
From: David Harrison
Date: Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:40:26 +0100
Subject: [Baren 36434] Re: “printing western method“
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Scholes Graham wrote:

> I have never found out the guy who invented.... if you want to call it
> that.... the method of reduction plates.... SUICIDE method.
> I have never been able to figure why anyone would do that. You spend
> hours ‘carving a work of art to make a work of art‘ and them you proceed
> to destroy it..... Go Figure. Nuts. Crazy. Brain Dead. .... did I
> miss anythingie?

Here's an interesting article on the subject. The author dismisses the
'Picasso invented it' idea:

http://tinyurl.com/5awf35

I really admire people who use reductions -- it must take quite a bit of
visual/mental juggling to think in those terms. And courage too: the chance of
cumulative error must be enormous.

David

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Message 6
From: Marissa
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 10:45:59 -0400
Subject: [Baren 36435] Re: “printing western method“
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Brain dead? I've done reduction (or suicide) printing and while it isn't my
typical method I would hardly call it brain dead. Like anything it has
advantages and disadvantages. One major advantage is that you don't have to
worry so much about registration since they should always line up being that
all layers are cut from the same block. And if you are good at it and do
enough prints that can more than make up for the fact that the block will be
destroyed in the end. After all a lot of printmakers destroy their matrix
after they are done printing with some sort of strikeout. How is this any
more brain dead than that? In stone lithography to make a new print you
pretty much have to destroy your previous image. Unless you have unlimited
funds and space and can buy 1K+$ slab after slab.

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Message 7
From: Marissa
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 10:51:40 -0400
Subject: [Baren 36436] Re: question on registration for Western style printing
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If you do a search on WetCanvas in the printmaking section you should be
able to find an "idiot proof" registration system by Printmakerguy. I've
used it and it is cheap and really is idiot proof which when it comes to
registration I certainly qualify as an idiot. It involves a grid on a piece
of plexi, some bars of wood and a cheap hole punch.

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Message 8
From: "Bob & Sue Salsbury"
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 10:08:22 -0500
Subject: [Baren 36437] impuse purchases
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Yes Louise I have lots of those purchases. I can easily see them in a particular piece while at the store and when I get home I never seem to have the time to do that piece. I do like to have them sitting where I can see them as they do continue to inspire me even if I never get to the project that I purchased them for. I have no idea how much money I have spent this way and don't want to know.

It's nice to see so much conversation on the list again. I don't do the blogs as I feel I spend to much time on the net as it is. I hope this continues.

Sue Salsbury
Waterloo, IA

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Message 9
From: "Barbara Carr"
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 08:26:25 -0700
Subject: [Baren 36438] Re: Re: “printing western method“
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"Brain dead?" I think not! It actually takes MORE brains to figure out
reductions, as I've found out the hard way. Look at Natalia Moroz's work
here http://www.nataliamoroz.com/ and see some good ones.Barbara C

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Message 10
From: Diane Cutter
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 08:29:22 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 36439] Re: Advice on tools for traveling
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Yes, thank you, David... My term 'western' with lower case 'w' was meant to imply non-orient (moku hanga to be specific) and meant to imply oily ink, brayers, press, etc as mentioned by several people. I didn't know what else to call it and appreciate the Europeans probably are the 'inventors' of the 'western' method.


Diane

www.dianecutter.com
www.theitinerantartist.blogspot.com
www.DCutter.etsy.com

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