[Baren]: The mailing list / discussion forum for woodblock printmaking.

Baren Digest            Wednesday, 10 February 1999    Volume 06 : Number 442

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From: Jean Eger <jeaneger@LanMinds.Com>
Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 22:42:06 -0800
Subject: [Baren 3008] wood 

On my second stab at the print exchange print, I used basswood for at least
one of the blocks.  It's a wonderful wood and I would never have tried it
if it hadn't been for Graham's suggestion.  However, I didn't have a wide
piece, so I glued two pieces together.  Of course, that created a ridge in
the middle, which showed up in the print as a white line.  That did not
deter me, because I've seen plenty of two-part prints, and I was just
wanting to be done by that time.  I guess the San Francisco bass are not as
large as the large mouthed Vancouver bass...I mean the Vancouver basswood.
I wish I could get some super big bass like Graham has.  Anyway, it is a
wonderful soft wood to cut.  I think if you wanted some really fine lines
and precision detail, you'd want something else.  But for a simple shape,
it is really great to work with and prints like a champ.

Jean E.

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From: Gregory Robison <grobison@swiftuganda.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 10:23:22 +0300
Subject: [Baren 3009] Ideal wood 

Kampala, 10 February 1999

Thanks Graham for comments on woods available in the PNW and especially Mary
K. for the more generic list of features of good woods for carving.  I agree
that eventually it would be great to have the collective experience and the
conclusions of any research we may do on this subject in the Encyclopaedia.
I also concur with Ray that, as with almost everything in life, there is no
absolute good (except for God and my wife's brownies, and not necessarily in
that order), but only relatively useful applications for certain purposes...
Still, even linking up given materials with appropriate applications would
be valuable guidance for beginners.  Your suggestion, Mary, to check with
local carvers is also an excellent one, although I remember that in Jamaica
one of the favorite woods for (smallish) sculpture was lignum vitae, also
known as "ironwood."  Like de name say, mon, dat one hard wood!

At some point I would like to broach the subject of synthetic substitutes
for increasingly scarce natural carving media.  This is a topic with
potentially very broad implications, because one of the attractions of hanga
to many of us, I'm sure, is a connection with a traditional art form, with
its relatively fixed methods, materials and esthetics.  We're interested in
it precisely for the restraints it imposes on us.  Is it really the same
experience if you use, say, epoxalite, instead of cherry?  Probably not, and
not only because it may not cut or ink the same way. Creating a work of art
changes the artist as well as the material.  If the ceremonial calls for
eagle feathers and you say, "what the hell, we'll use plastic
cut-outs...they're cheaper" pretty soon you don't have the ceremonial any
more.  On the other hand, we're already happily substituting methyl
cellulose for rice paste, kitchen parchment for bamboo sheathing... Should
we also be consulting Dupont and 3M for a good synthetic substitute for wood
blocks?  Maybe it would induce us to get out our sketch pad instead of our
rip saw whenever we see a stately cherry orchard...   

Gregory Robison

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From: Gregory Robison <grobison@swiftuganda.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 10:23:19 +0300
Subject: [Baren 3010] Re: archival tape 

Kampala, 10 February 1999

Gary: Thanks for your addition to the "moderation" topic. I agree with you,
and am satisfied with the answers given by Dave and Ray.  (I have been
chanting, "the elders are wise, the elders are wise" since yestereday).
Seriously, though, we're actually pretty good, and the best discipline is
always self-discipline.  For some reason I needed to say what I did.  

You asked about my education.  It is still going on, and if the gods are
kind, it will be the one work-in-progress that will only end at my funeral
(to which, of course, you're all in invited. Date TBA, however).  As for
schooling, though, I got my start at the corner of 19th and Aloha in
Seattle, right up the street from Baren member Bill Ritchie's.  A few years
later I walked the other direction from my house, over the crest of the
hill, and continued with the Jesuits at 14th and Miller. Then Yale, INSEAD,
and so forth... 

Bill: I still have a fully-equipped letterpress shop at Olin Place on
Capitol Hill.  Do you know where that is? Hint: there was a one-man show at
the Davidson Gallery in Seattle a couple of summers ago that consisted
almost exclusively of views of the house I grew up in...and I was not the
artist.  Hang onto that video on baren sheathing, because I'll be in town
within a few months and would love to see it (and meet you).

But I hear the heavy foot-fall of the implacable Ray, and see the glint of
his menacing blade... and I feel very exposed on the pedastal I climbed up
on the other day.  Let's get outta here!  (Remind me how do I get onto BA5...)

Gregory Robison  

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From: David Bull <davebull@woodblock.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 16:55:12 +0900
Subject: [Baren 3011] Various ... 

This post is not from Dave, but is being forwarded from April Vollmer
... (at least I _think_ that's who it was from!)

Remember: anytime that you are away from your own computer, you can
still use any other computer (Internet Cafe, etc.) to make postings to
[Baren] by using the 'forms' on the web site:
http://www.woodblock.com/forum/post.html

*** start April's post ***

Thank you Grahm, Thank you Ray, for keeping the jokes in Regular
Baren! I was a little worried when BA5 started up, because of
course I don't want to miss anything. (But I don't really have
time for MORE e-mail.) Dave, don't report your trip to the Emperor
exclusively to BA5, it's part of the 9-5 business, isn't it???

I really enjoyed reading Mary Dornenburg's description of classes
with Hodaka Yoshida. A great story. And she knows  her hinges,
too!

Roxanne: please give us a report on the Tempe meeting of the
Southern Graphics Council when you return...I'd love to go one
year myself. This year I went to visit my parents in Santa Cruz,
California, instead.

Which turned out to have a Baren connection itself! I had the
pleasure of meeting Andrea Rich, who happens to live and print
her reduction woodcuts in the same town where my folks live.
(I was interested to read that Ray was able to visit Jim in
Philedelphia...it
is great to be able to meet occasionally in person.) I took a
portfolio of my hanga woodcuts and we compared water-based and
oil-based prints. Andrea has a wonderful studio, behind her home,
and I was able to see her blocks as well as the original prints.
Much subtlty is lost on the web page! 

It was great to be able to compare notes. Thank you for introducing
us, Baren!

*** end April's post ***

Greg asked:
> (Remind me how do I get onto BA5...)

The subscription form is at:
http://www.woodblock.com/forum/subscribing.html

Dave

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From: Cucamongie@aol.com
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 07:29:45 EST
Subject: [Baren 3012] Re: Moderation of the list 

Ray wrote:
> Now, having said that permit me to address, in as muted a way as possible,
> the latest difficulty.  When someone, out of the blue and with vicous
> intent, attacks me or anyone else on Baren, I do not turn the other cheek.

I have to agree with you, Ray.  I think part of the latest problem occurred
because the person who was being vicious to you seemed to have lost his sense
of humor, and ignored the smiley faces, etc that you often use to remind
people of the tone that you're coming from [it's early here in NY, so
hopefully I'm making some sense] - anyway, my 2 cents
Regards,

Sarah

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End of Baren Digest V6 #442
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