Baren Digest             Wednesday, 23 August 2000     Volume 12 : Number 1122


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From: Cucamongie@aol.com
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 09:21:58 EDT
Subject: [Baren 11080] wintergreen 

I'm a little confused as there's been conflicting info, is wintergreen toxic 
or not, or is it just a matter of how much is used?  One of the reasons that 
I got into this type of printing is the relative safety of it, as I am 
extremely chemical-sensitive, especially my lungs, so I need to be careful of 
this type of stuff-
thanks a lot
Sarah

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From: slinder@mediaone.net
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 08:33:06 -0500
Subject: [Baren 11081] Re: wintergreen 

From what I have read of reports recently, it seems that
problems have come from persons using wintergreen oil topically
over larger amounts of skin for an extended period of time, and
part of the oil causes a reaction in 'some' persons under these
conditions.  This seems to be a rare occurrence.  

As we use wintergreen oil in our studio I can't see it being a
problem.  Search alta vista or google for further information if
you are concerned.  Sharen


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From: "Jeanne Norman Chase" <studiojnc@prodigy.net>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 09:48:32 -0400
Subject: [Baren 11082] Re: brayers charset="iso-8859-1" 

Dear Eli

Now I AM curious. How on earth did your beautiful brayer melt? I want to
invest in a good brayer and would also like some input on what to buy that
works. I have been using pretty cheap brayers on the woodblocks. They seem
to wear out pretty fast. And why can't they make a brayer that can come
apart and be easily cleaned. Or is there such a critter out there already?

Jeanne N.


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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@home.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 07:45:50 -0700
Subject: [Baren 11084] Re: brayers 

>  > From: "Bill H. Ritchie, Jr" <ritchie@seanet.com>
>>  Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 17:01:12 -0700
>
>>  Others may tell you this, too. Mine melted. They're so pretty, though, just
>>  beautiful to look at. And very smooth, wonderful for blends and extremely
>>  thin (oil-base) layers.
>
>What color was yours?
>I talked to them about that... the light gold colored rollers were known to
>melt down... the new green ones supposedly fix that minor 'problem'.

Minor......!!!!!!
What would you consider to be a Major problem....?

Graham

I suppose if the wheels fell off.  (< !

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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@home.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 07:46:33 -0700
Subject: [Baren 11085] Re: PPPpplywood 

If you purchase non marine or solid core plywood this is what you get 
and have for years.
Using Shina is probably the most economical in the long run,

Graham

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From: B Mason <bemason@concentric.net>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 07:59:52 -0700
Subject: [Baren 11087] wintergreen 

Why is everyone so worried about the oil? If you use Dave's transfer
method of gluing the print to the wood with rice paste, you never have
any worries of using bad chemicals. Just copy your image  onto thin
paper with a photocopy machine and glue it down. Make lots of copys and
use them for second and third colors or for the second color, use sumi
paper. Ink the key block with black ink including kento marks, lay sumi
paper on top, bunish with a baren, glue this sumi paper to the next
block face down. Here you go, a perfect transfer. I draw on the top of
the paper with a magic marker of another color to cut the areas I need
to remove. It seems you guys are making something simple very hard with
transfering. I like the hot iron method mentioned and I am going to try
it for the key block. This is explained in great detail in the
encyclopedia, but I am not sure where. I remember reading it when I
first started doing woodblock and thinking it was so cleaver, so easy
and no chemicals involved!
Barbara

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From: B Mason <bemason@concentric.net>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 08:02:38 -0700
Subject: [Baren 11088] brayers 

Jeanne said:
How on earth did your beautiful brayer melt?

Jeanne, some of the English brayers are glycerine based (I think this is
correct) and will be damaged by water, so if it melted someone used
water on it. They work fine for a long, long time with oil only.
Barbara


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From: ArtfulCarol@aol.com
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 11:12:19 EDT
Subject: [Baren 11089] Re: Other paper than hosho? 

Hi Marco

I like unryu paper with strands of threads going through it.

   Carol

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From: "Bill H. Ritchie, Jr" <ritchie@seanet.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 08:59:36 -0700
Subject: [Baren 11090] Re: brayers charset="iso-8859-1" 

Bill said his brayer melted. Bill continues:

I had the amber/gold colored brayers, and several of my students also
invested in them. Some melted. Some didn't. A plastics expert theorized that
the "curing" of these urethane (I think he/she said) is critical, and if the
chemistry is not exactly right, they will melt after a year or two.

It is quite a sight. I wish I had it melt on a nice surface, because I could
have put a clear acrylic box over it and labeled it "Dali's Brayer."

- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-baren@ml.asahi-net.or.jp
[mailto:owner-baren@ml.asahi-net.or.jp]On Behalf Of Jeanne Norman Chase
Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2000 6:49 AM
To: baren@ml.asahi-net.or.jp
Subject: [Baren 11082] Re: brayers


Dear Eli

Now I AM curious. How on earth did your beautiful brayer melt? I want to
invest in a good brayer and would also like some input on what to buy that
works. I have been using pretty cheap brayers on the woodblocks. They seem
to wear out pretty fast. And why can't they make a brayer that can come
apart and be easily cleaned. Or is there such a critter out there already?

Jeanne N.



------------------------------

From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@home.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 09:02:24 -0700
Subject: [Baren 11091] Re: Other paper than hosho? 


Hi Marco Flavio

If you find something please let me know....  (<:
I have fooled around with numerous papers hoping to
find stuff that could be used for the folks at BootCamp.....

Let me help you by analyzing the hosho paper cost.

A full sheet cost about $16.00 USD.
Considering the image size you worked with, you can or could get 4 
prints out of a sheet.   That is $4.00 a print.   Can you not add 4 
buck to the price of you work?
Ok so you use a half a sheet ...... then add 8 buck to the print price.
I don't really believe this price difference will STOP A SALE

Your work is excellent and deserves the best.

If I may be blunt.....

"If you don't have enough pride to use the very best materials .... who will"
or another way
"If you use second rate materials you will get SECOND RATE results."


Perturbed,  Ticked Off,  Irate

Graham


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From: James G Mundie <jimandkatemundie@juno.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 11:59:07 -0400
Subject: [Baren 11092] Cintra 

Cintra is a highly versatile material to be sure, but there is one thing
you need to remember about it if you intend to store those plates and
print them later:  Cintra shrinks.  Heat is the culprit, even your
average summertime temperatures will do it.
Sculptors of my acquaintence like the stuff because they can shape it
with a hairdryer.

Can you image the possible registration problems for multiple plates?! 
Combine that with the shrink and stretching of the paper and you are in
for quite a few headaches.

James Mundie
Philadelphia USA

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From: Wanda <robertson@canby.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 09:35:48 -0700
Subject: [Baren 11093] Re: PPPpplywood 

Pete, are you using the "all-birch" plywood? The stuff they sell for
cabinetmakers? Out here they call it "apple core" Don't ask my why - has
nothing to do with apples. You still run into little knots & holes, but
not as much or as bad as the regular birch-faced plywood that has just
any old kind of wood in the inner layers. It's more expensive, but when
you divide it up into all those blocks, it doesn't seem so bad.

Wanda

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From: Don Furst <furstd@uncwil.edu>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 13:23:41 -0400
Subject: [Baren 11094] Re: brayers 

I had two of the golden English brayers.  They were very soft, perfect for
viscosity printing.  Alas, they underwent a spectacular drippy meltdown
within three years.   I have saved the beautiful brass holders, which weep
softly in the studio corner over their former splendour.  --Don


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From: "Tyrus Clutter" <TRClutter@NNU.Edu>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 11:34:57 -0600
Subject: [Baren 11095] Re: brayers 

Doesn't Graphic Chemical sell replacement rollers for the melted brayers? =
Are they in such bad condition now that they can't be salvaged?

I had two of the golden English brayers.  They were very soft, perfect for
viscosity printing.  Alas, they underwent a spectacular drippy meltdown
within three years.   I have saved the beautiful brass holders, which weep
softly in the studio corner over their former splendour.  --Don

At 09:48 AM 8/22/00 -0400, you wrote:


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From: "pwalls1234" <pwalls1234@i-55.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 12:58:47 -0500
Subject: [Baren 11096] Re: PPPpplywood charset="iso-8859-1" 

Thanks Graham and Wanda,

I have used this wood for quite some time but maybe the supplier is getting
the cheaper stuff now  - and selling it as the good stuff!  Thanks again,

With all this talk of plastic I might just save a few trees and scratch away
at the Cintra for awhile   ;-)


pete
baton rouge


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From: Cynthia Wilson <cywilson@juno.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 11:32:12 -0700
Subject: [Baren 11097] Re: brayers 

Yep!!  My beautiful clear gold-ish ones are reverting to their former
squishy selves, BUT they are now wonderful for rolling up collagraph
plates that are meant to be intaglio wiped!!  I'm sure that they'd also
be great for viscousity printing.  Un-inked they will stick tenaciously
to just about anything so I have to make sure I set them down properly. 
If not, it's kind of like trying to pull off an octopus(I'm guessing, but
I like the mental image).  I don't know how much longer they will be
usable.

I like my green one just fine, Brad is just fussy!  ;-)  But seriously,
these brayers are superb.  Beautiful to look at and a pleasure to use. 
And a good excuse to go and visit London!

Cyndy
In sunny Spokane  


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From: Cynthia Wilson <cywilson@juno.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 11:48:23 -0700
Subject: [Baren 11098] Re: brayers 

Actually, I was told up front when I bought my brayer (of course with a
replacement roller of the same material, sigh) that it was either a batch
done incorrectly or was experimental and that there might be some trouble
with it.  I did get a % off the regular price and figured I would take
the chance.  The rollers started going south before I really had a chance
to use them much and I hadn't approached them with water.  I was also
told that steady/prolonged exposure to sun/light would cause them to
soften more rapidly. (So they lived in the closet.)
I now only go the route of tested, tried and true. 

Cyndy


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From: Cynthia Wilson <cywilson@juno.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 11:56:18 -0700
Subject: [Baren 11099] Re: brayers 

On Tue, 22 Aug 2000 11:34:57 -0600 "Tyrus Clutter" <TRClutter@NNU.Edu>
writes:
> Doesn't Graphic Chemical sell replacement rollers for the melted 
> brayers? Are they in such bad condition now that they can't be 
> salvaged?

See, that's what I think too.  When mine really get bad I'd like to watch
one melt down entirely and cut the goo off of the other one and see if
the core could be "rewrapped".  Or, not.....and buy another replacement
roller.

Cyndy

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From: Vollmer/Yamaguchi <jy6@columbia.edu>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 20:17:07 -0400
Subject: [Baren 11100] I'm melting! 

Karla gets great detail with her plastics...much finer detail than I can
cut in the shina ply I use. I'd be happy to use clear basswood if I could
find 16" boards! The trees must be really big in Victoria!

Also wanted to mention Takach who makes presses also makes really good hard
rubber brayers 800-248-3460. I don't think they melt.

April Vollmer
174 Eldridge St, NYC 10002, 212-677-5691
http://www.aprilvollmer.com



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From: "eli griggs" <eli.griggs@worldnet.att.net>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 19:22:58 -0000
Subject: [Baren 11101] Re: brayers charset="iso-8859-1" 

Hi there:

    Thanks everybody for the great feedback about the brayers.  It seems
that there are a lot of interesting stories out there concerning these
tools, so I think I will be awhile before I take a decision to buy or no.
After all, these things ain't cheap!

    Jeanne, it was someone else who had a melt down, (really several
someones) not I.  I am only gathering opinions about these tools, although I
have to admit the spectre of watching such an expensive (and pretty) tool
self-destruct appeals to the child within.  Perhaps the next Baren member
that suffers the 'China Syndrome'  will be good enough to post a video clip
of the event to the encyclopedia for the edification and entertainment of
future generations of printers.  Might be it could even play at Sundance.

    In the meanwhile, I welcome any continued input on the subject of
brayers, English or otherwise, for wood-cut.


Eli Griggs
Charlotte N.C.
USA

- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeanne Norman Chase" <studiojnc@prodigy.net>
To: <baren@ml.asahi-net.or.jp>
Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2000 1:48 PM
Subject: [Baren 11082] Re: brayers



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From: Graham Scholes <gscholes@home.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2000 18:30:04 -0700
Subject: [Baren 11102] Woods from the east 

>Karla gets great detail with her plastics...much finer detail than I can
>cut in the shina ply I use. I'd be happy to use clear basswood if I could
>find 16" boards! The trees must be really big in Victoria!

The basswood comes from your part of the country.
Ontario, Quebec, Vermont, Upper NY. Ohio

Graham

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From: "john ryrie" <jryrie@one.net.au>
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 18:26:13 +1000
Subject: [Baren 11103] brayers charset="iso-8859-1" 

Eli wrote:

Has anyone out there have any experience with ,"English Brayers" on
heavy brass frames, as offered by Graphic Chemical?

I have 2 of them their about 50 or 60 years old I think the they are really
good
to use but I know other printermakers who fined them to heavy.   The ones
that
melt are made of gelatine, the softer they are the less they will stand up
to
the heat.  The best thing to do with them is to rap them in tin-foal and put
them in a cool place when they are not beeing used ie, a dark cupboard, the
fridge, Switzerland, some place like that.   You have to
keep them dry though because they can also go mouldy.

John



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From: Julio.Rodriguez@walgreens.com
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 06:28:17 -0500
Subject: [Baren 11104] Want to see more doggies ? 

When was the last time you had your work shown on a famous mansion built around
1870's ???

If you want to see more of Sarah's work, stop on by Baren' SHOW & TELL section.
I have updated the page with
a link to photos of "Her Mark", an exhibit on which barener Sarah Hauser took
part. WomanMade is a gallery in Chicago  supporting women artists.

Here are the links....

Baren' SHOW & TELL  -
"http://www.woodblock.com/forum/messageboard/guestbook.html"

WomanMade Gallery -   "http://www.womanmade.org/"  (some nice stuff here, don't
miss!)


Xanks...Julio (back from a not-too refreshing vacation in Miami Beach.....)



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From: "Daniel L. Dew" <ddew0001@tampabay.rr.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 07:29:00 -0400
Subject: [Baren 11105] Like Butter 

 Starting carving my first cherry wood block.  Oh so sweet!
This stuff cuts like butter and holds a line sooo well.
As you can tell, I'm cutting much more wood than lino these days.  I find
that the wood is much more exciting, opening all means of of trying new
things.
i.e.  backgrounds can now be the grain of the wood instead of bland, very
tiny scratch marks show up and tiny holes can be punched, effects thatb can
not be duplicated on lino.
Oh what fun!

dan dew


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End of Baren Digest V12 #1122
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