Today's postings

  1. [Baren 41147] Re: Michael Gorrie/Woodcut Prints ("Zeledon, Luis")
  2. [Baren 41148] Re: Michael Gorrie/Woodcut Prints (Michael Gorrie)
  3. [Baren 41149] Re: Michael Gorrie/Woodcut Prints (Charles Morgan)
  4. [Baren 41150] Re: Michael Gorrie/Woodcut Prints ("Ellen Shipley")
  5. [Baren 41151] Re: Michael Gorrie/Woodcut Prints (Charles Morgan)
  6. [Baren 41152] Re: printing demo - Utamaro beauty (jennifer kelly)
  7. [Baren 41153] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
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Message 1
From: "Zeledon, Luis"
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:27:18 GMT
Subject: [Baren 41147] Re: Michael Gorrie/Woodcut Prints
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Hi, Michael. I didn't see the discussion about sealant, but I would
recommend shellac over any other product. It's just wonderful. I live in
Costa Rica and shellac is not available at all in stores. I sure miss
the end results that I get with that product.

Cheers!

Luis Zeledon
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Message 2
From: Michael Gorrie
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:17:48 GMT
Subject: [Baren 41148] Re: Michael Gorrie/Woodcut Prints
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Luis, thanx for your thoughts. Do you think a shellac surface on a woodblock will hold up to many printings (up to 10 or more) with oil based inks? (And not dissolve and wear away?)

Michael
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Message 3
From: Charles Morgan
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:34:49 GMT
Subject: [Baren 41149] Re: Michael Gorrie/Woodcut Prints
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For my prints for the Oriental New Year exchange, I do puzzle block prints using carved MDF. I seal the carved blocks with shellac. I usually print on BFK Rives, dampened. I use a variety of oil based inks applied with a brayer. The prints are made on my bottle jack press, using plenty of pressure. I generally run editions of about 80. I clean the blocks with vegetable oil and soap and water. My blocks show no deterioration, and I am saving them, hoping to use each one again when the 12 year cycle starts over! The short answer to your question is that shellac will easily stand up to an edition of 10 using oil based inks.

Shellac used to be the material of choice for commercial house painters ... used for spot sealing knots and other sappy structures in wood.

Cheers ...... Charles
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Message 4
From: "Ellen Shipley"
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:34:31 GMT
Subject: [Baren 41150] Re: Michael Gorrie/Woodcut Prints
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Why shellac over polyeurothane? Doesn't shellac peel eventually?

Ellen Shipley


Hi, Michael. I didn't see the discussion about sealant, but I would
recommend shellac over any other product. It's just wonderful. I live in
Costa Rica and shellac is not available at all in stores. I sure miss
the end results that I get with that product.

Cheers!

Luis Zeledon
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Message 5
From: Charles Morgan
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:28:09 GMT
Subject: [Baren 41151] Re: Michael Gorrie/Woodcut Prints
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My shellacked blocks show no sign of peeling, even after printing an edition of 80, being cleaned with oil, soap and water, and being stored for 5+ years. Shellac is often used by luthiers to finish fine musical instruments. Any finish will peel if it is not applied correctly and/or the surface beneath gets a lot of moisture.

One very nice thing about shellac is that it dries very quickly, since the solvent is alcohol. And for thinning, I use ethanol (grain alcohol), or denatured alcohol (also ethanol, but with an additive to make you sick if you drink it). Ethanol is not carcinogenic, nor toxic unless you drink a quart or so. Do not use methanol, as it is carcinogenic. You could use isopropyl alcohol if you can find it 99%, but it is generally expensive. Polyurethane finishes are generally thinned with some sort of petroleum based solvent or with turpentine, both of which are quite toxic and carcinogenic.

But to each his/her own.

Cheers ....... Charles
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Message 6
From: jennifer kelly
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 10:55:45 GMT
Subject: [Baren 41152] Re: printing demo - Utamaro beauty
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Hymn to Beauty. A wonderful exhibition. If anyone is interested it is curently at Art Gallery of NSW, in Sydney. Have to be quick though, finishes on Sunday. LOLJenny

Digest Appendix

Postings made on [Baren] members' blogs
over the past 24 hours ...

Subject: Monster Printer Karl Hecksher
Posted by: Annie B

Last weekend I spent Sunday with hanga artist Matt Brown at Snow Farm where he was teaching a workshop (the same workshop where I first studied with Matt five years ago). In the afternoon Matt's friend Karl Hecksher came to observe Matt's teaching. Matt has been telling me about Karl for years, so I was excited to meet him.

Karl is owner and director of K5 Editions LLC, where he carves and hand prints wood blocks for painters. In other words, he is a moku hanga master printer. The term I would use for Karl, though, is "monster printer" rather than "master printer."

Here are a few examples of Karl's work from his web site that show the breadth of what he can do with moku hanga:

Hecksher

I call Karl a Monster Printer rather than Master Printer first of all because his work is spectacular, but also because as I spoke with him I realized that he's one of those people who never stops learning. "Master" implies a kind of completion or attainment, but it's clear that Karl is always pushing his knowledge, always trying new ways of doing things, always striving to make better and better prints. He strikes me as a voracious learner, someone who will never feel complacent about his skill. "Monster Printer" is a better fit for someone like that.

Check out Karl's web site for closer views of these and other prints and for some photos of the woodblocks.
Copyright Woodblock Dreams blog

This item is taken from the blog Woodblock Dreams.
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Subject: Test Print -- Color Three
Posted by: Ellen Shipley

Carving for color three:


Scary, but that's why they call it a suicide block!  ;- j

And here's the test print:


Ta-daa!  What a relief!

The unfortunate thing about a reduction print is that you can't go back and tweak anything, and I'm used to doing that.  But I think it works.

I may go back in and carve a bit more to lightened the plank between the side color and the bottom color.  I could widen the lines a bit.


This item is taken from the blog Pressing-Issues.
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