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Message 1
From: slinders # comcast.net
Date: Fri, 09 Jan 2004 08:57:29 -0600
Subject: [Baren 23841] Calls for Entries
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Deadline February 1, 2004
Harper College "Small Works"


================================================
Deadline February 15, 2004
JURIED ART EXHIBITION - CALL FOR ENTRIES:
'Women in the Middle: Borders, Barriers and Intersections,' an
exhibit of contemporary feminist art held in conjunction with
National Women's Studies Association's 25th annual conference,
Milwaukee, WI.



Contact Adele Roberts, with questions.
================================================

Best wishes to all in the New Year!
Sharen

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Message 2
From: L Cass
Date: Fri, 09 Jan 2004 10:02:22 -0500
Subject: [Baren 23842] Re: question for Maria
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Maria -
One more query re selling the blocks - how do you price them in comparison
with the prints?
Louise C.

www.LCassArt.com

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Message 3
From: "Maria Arango"
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2004 08:28:59 -0800
Subject: [Baren 23843] Re: pricing blocks
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Let's see, where did I put that sales hat...

I price blocks like original one-of-a-kind paintings at public-direct
market value. Everyone tells me I under price my "originals", but they
sell well and I would hate to sit with overpriced blocks in the wind
waiting for the "right collector" to come by. Every year in the spring I
do a show in La Quinta that takes a percentage and to offset that I take
the opportunity to raise my prices around 10%, shhhhhhh....some year
perhaps my friendly peers will finally say my prices are "okay."
Anyhow, if you figure a per-hour thing, I'm making around $20-30 per
carving hour which seems pretty darned okay, and then you realize I also
have an edition of 100 prints or so to squeeze out a few bucks from.
Selling the block is a nice bonus. Printmakers have it all! Anyhow, here
are "Maria's current market values", your market will undoubtedly
differ.

When I retire my open edition tiny blocks (approx 3 x 5) I mount them
together with a print in a 11 x 14 shadow box and sell them for around
$200-275. Prints from those blocks actively sell at $35-$45
(matted-framed).

5x7 engravings I mount with the last numbered print of the edition in 16
x 20 shadow boxes and fancy triple offset matting, priced at $550-650.
The prints from those sell at $50-60.

Blocks between 5 x 7 and 12 x 15 (majority of my work) are the best
sellers. I mount them alone in a 16 x 20 frame and always show them with
a print side by side. I've only had one person buy the block and not the
print. They sell for $650-850. Prints from the blocks sell at $95-175.

As for my larger blocks, I'm still printing the editions "on demand" so
I've only sold 3 mounted on 22 x 28 frames, one of them I mounted on a
24 x 30 frame. They went from $950 to $2200. I've sold an additional two
24 x 30 blocks for commissions at $3600 unframed. Those prints are
$295-520.

The trick is to make the blocks precious, one-of-a kind items that are
somehow more "special" and unique than a wood carving the same size.
It's all about perceived value, which is up to you to emphasize. I've
seen bas-relief wood carvers sell their work for the same amount I sell
my prints. I spend a lot of time mounting the blocks in elegant frames,
triple matting them, sometimes I carve a few simple lines complementing
the design of the block on the backing wood (usually birch). I also hang
a little tag on them with the title, price, etc., and explaining what
the buyer is getting so they can tell all their friends (hopefully :-).
Here is what my tag says, it's all about marketing "in silence" since
I'm a horrible sales person I let the signs posted around my work do the
talking for me.
------
Traditionally, once the edition of woodcut prints is completed, an
original carved block is cancelled by defacing or destroying the block
so that no additional prints can be produced. Being of non violent
nature, I choose to fill the lines and details with polyurethane resin
and make the block available to collectors. An original block is a rare
find as most printmaking artists keep their blocks in their personal
collections. The simple beauty of the preserved carved wood will last
for future generations and delight a collector for life.
---------------

Maria, the marketeer

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Message 4
From: William Overbey
Date: Fri, 09 Jan 2004 12:17:51 -0800
Subject: [Baren 23844] Re:
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Archivist's Note: Message deleted due to no content

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Message 5
From: Myron Turner
Date: Fri, 09 Jan 2004 11:47:58 -0600
Subject: [Baren 23845] Re-sizing images
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Download LviewPro, an old freeware program which I give out to students
when I teach HTML. It's on my web site:

www.room535.org/misc/LviewPro.zip

Unzip it and use it--it doesn't need to be installed by Windows--just put
it in a folder and then go to the folder and click on the LviewPro
icon. It does all kinds of good things, and pre-dated programs like
Photoshop. It was a Window 3.1 program--which means it doesn't understand
long file names. So, a file with a name like:
MyDayAtTheBeach.jpg
will be seen by LViewPro as something like:
MyDayA~1.jpg
It's converted to the old DOS file system. Then, when LviewPro saves the
file, it will save it under that altered name.

Myron

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Message 6
From: Sharri LaPierre
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2004 10:03:27 -0800
Subject: [Baren 23846] Re: still covered in ink
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Emma Jane,

All good suggestions, but don't forget good old Lava soap. It and a
good stiff nail brush will work miracles. Use the veggie oil suggested
by someone else first and finish off with a good hand lotion and you
should be in good shape! I use the medical variety disposable gloves
and they work great. When I get a hole in one I toss that it out and
grab a new one. If you use vegetable oil to clean with, rather than
solvent, they last a long time and are relatively inexpensive.

Happy Printing,
Sharri

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Message 7
From: Emma Jane Hogbin
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2004 14:15:49 -0500
Subject: [Baren 23847] Re: still covered in ink
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Thanks for all the suggestions! The successful cleanup process basically
went as follows:
- "wash" hands with baby oil and wipe off on an old (clean) rag
- wash hands properly with dish soap (only because it's easier to grab
and cleanup the bottle than it is to deal with the handmade bar of soap in the
bathroom)
- moisturize with more baby oil

I get very, very dry skin in the winter so I already have a lot of baby
oil around which I use as moisturizer. (I also have a Satin Hands kit from
Mary Kay which my sister gave me. It is soooooo wonderful!)

I doubt I'd be able to use surgical gloves without having to spend a small
fortune. I have a severe allergy to latex and most of the cheap,
disposable gloves are made out of exactly this.

--
Emma Jane Hogbin
[[ 416 417 2868 ][ www.xtrinsic.com ]]

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Message 8
From: "Claudia G. Coonen"
Date: Fri, 09 Jan 2004 10:26:09 -1000
Subject: [Baren 23848] Re: still covered in ink
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Vegetable oil, then we use the "orange" hand cleaner, comes in a pump bottle. that mechanics
use (it feels like lava soap in a liquid form)
claudia coonen

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Message 9
From: L Cass
Date: Fri, 09 Jan 2004 16:10:30 -0500
Subject: [Baren 23849] Re: pricing blocks + note to Julio
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Maria -

Thanks a heap for your very detailed and helpful info'!

A note to Julio:

May I add to your busy and beleagured life to ask if you're in the process
of sending out calendars to the participants?? I'm most anxious to see the
finished results which you've put so much care into.

thanks
Louise C.

www.LCassArt.com

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Message 10
From: Mary Brooks-Mueller
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2004 18:40:18 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [Baren 23850] Re:
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Will, The image is from my digital camera.
Do you really think Photoshop is easy to learn?
As a result of my stroke I can't remember but about
20% of what I read, so it is very hard to do
Photoshop. Maybe there's a photo-manual (versus text
manual).
Mary

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