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Message 1
From: Jan Telfer
Date: Mon, 24 May 2004 21:32:53 +0800
Subject: [Baren 25105] Re: Ball Bearing Baren
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> Mike, I love the feel of this ball baring baren and was wondering, did
> you
> say you keep yours oiled? We live in a salty beach climate where
> things
> rust. Also will it glide even better oiled up a bit? But I do not
> want to
> get oil on my paper when I try this out on my almost finished reduction
> plate????
> Marilynn

Marilynn, don't be too keen to "oil" your ball bearing baren.... it
shouldn't need oiling very much. I have had mine two years and haven't
needed to oil it at all. I have a Ros Keen ball bearing baren which I
presume is similar to the one you have.

Mike has given you some good advice with the WD-40 which we have here
too, but you would only need to skim it over the cloth a couple of
times, not "smother" it.
>
From Mike:
> I have had good success with WD-40, a very light and volatile lubricant
> which is available at any hardware store in the USA... I spray it on a
> felt (a piece from an old etching blanket) and then roll the baren
> over the
> felt -- you won't get oil on your paper if you don't over-oil the
> baren, I
> don't think. I lubricate between each print by rolling the baren over
> the
> oily felt and the baren continues to roll easily. But honestly, my
> hon-baren is better... much better!

Here, here, Mike.

I enjoy using the 10cm hon-baren as I feel it gives me more "feeling"
or sensitivity with the paper and the raised printing surface of the
carved block.

I find that my Ball Bearing Baren gets the (oil based inked) image on
to the paper, especially the European papers much easier or should I
say with less body pressure than my hon-baren but with my oil based
inks I have had so many more printing failures with the ball bearing
baren because the paper seems to buckle or "shift" slightly even though
I have held the paper at the registration marks and have been getting a
double image in places. ....... back it goes onto the shelf, yet again!

I never use the ball bearing baren for my hanga prints.

Good luck Marilynn.

Jan

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Message 2
From: Margaret Szvetecz
Date: Mon, 24 May 2004 07:05:49 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
Subject: [Baren 25106] Re: Trip to Toronto
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I was there for one day a little over ten years ago, but I remember they had a really wonderful Chinatown, plus a really nice area by the water. Also, the Queens Row section (I think that is what it was called) had some fun shops.

I fell in love with Toronto in my one day visit--it seemed sort of like a cross between Chicago and Manhattan.

Margaret Szvetecz
margarszv@earthlink.net

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Message 3
From: "GONZALO FERREYRA"
Date: Mon, 24 May 2004 09:41:48 -0700
Subject: [Baren 25107] Re: Colour contamination
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>Anyone care to quantify, for a pre-beginner, how one little flat disk that
>you rub on the back of a piece of paper could be say, 100 times better than
>another.

Jason, from one beginner to another, I wondered exactly the same thing, and
thought myself quite happy with a Speedball baren I'd picked up for lino
blocks. Then my wife flattered me with a Christmas gift of the $130
Murasaki baren from McClain's. As you've no doubt heard elsewhere, the
difference in "feel" is amazing...it amplifies your sense of the paper and
the block beneath it, more "solidly" covers a greater space so you avoid
dips into the block, and simply produces finer results. I haven't regretted
the expense for a moment since first using it. Think of test-driving a car,
when you first drove one that handled the way you wanted...put you in touch
with the road, glided through turns, etc. This is very similar, really...

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Message 4
From: "Jason DeFontes"
Date: Mon, 24 May 2004 13:30:09 -0400
Subject: [Baren 25108] Re: Colour contamination
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I have no problem paying ~$100 for a quality tool (I'm already quite
familiar with the craptastic Speedball) - it's the $1000 ones that I can't
wrap my head around. A $20,000 VW vs. a $200,000 Ferrari, to use your
analogy. I think my print quality would be a lot better served by working my
way through a grand worth of paper.

-Jason

> Jason, from one beginner to another, I wondered exactly the
> same thing, and
> thought myself quite happy with a Speedball baren I'd picked
> up for lino
> blocks. Then my wife flattered me with a Christmas gift of the $130
> Murasaki baren from McClain's. As you've no doubt heard
> elsewhere, the
> difference in "feel" is amazing...it amplifies your sense of
> the paper and
> the block beneath it, more "solidly" covers a greater space
> so you avoid
> dips into the block, and simply produces finer results. I
> haven't regretted
> the expense for a moment since first using it. Think of
> test-driving a car,
> when you first drove one that handled the way you
> wanted...put you in touch
> with the road, glided through turns, etc. This is very
> similar, really...

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Message 5
From: Barbara Mason
Date: Mon, 24 May 2004 11:06:52 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 25109] paper before barens
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Jason,
I do think you are right. When I first became interested in printmaking, I bought stuff I never needed or really used because I was so excited. Over the years I do understand the necessity for good tools and have to admit I am one of the best customers of the baren mall. On the other hand, until you get going and print a bunch of stuff, you will not understand the difference between the good and the ordinary. I admit I am still using the $50 baren and doing ok with it. I could probably print better with the more expensive one, but like you say, it is a toss up between what is the best to spend money on at the time. If you start with a Ferrari, you probably won't appreciate it as much as if you started with a VW.

I did learn to tie a baren in Kansas City at our first ever real time conference. I swore I was not leaving there until I did and it was darn hard work. I think if you get someone to help you so you have four hands it is pretty easy to do. It is doing it by yourself that is the killer. Also you have to be reasonably strong. My poor muscles were whimpering, but I got it done. And now I know how first hand. I had seen it done many times and tried it myself so many as to be rediculous...but with Dave's help I did it and can do it again. I would not have appreciated this a couple of years ago, so I guess it is the timing. When you are ready for the good hon baren you will not mind paying the money. Carving is the same way, when I started I only used one tool, then two and three and now I have about a dozen.

So, as Dr Gordon Gilkey said "make prints, make lots of prints" Very good advise.
best to all,
Barbara

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Message 6
From: JEANNE CHASE
Date: Mon, 24 May 2004 12:30:59 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 25110] From a Lurker
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Probably should have posted this on After Five, but afraid you all would have forgotten me by now so here I am.
Have been a lurker for quite awhile, although I have kept up with all the posts, just have not had time to answer.
I am recovering from 4 solo show in one year. I now am free of all the commitments and can get back to actually printing again!!!
Two shows were Prints and Drawings and one show was all drawings , the other Eclectic.
The good news is; I have to do more printing as my inventory is down. That pleases me no end.
So now I am ready to become an active member of this August group again.

OK, when is the next Summit??????? I am ready.
Regards
Jeanne Norman Chase

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Message 7
From: "Harry French"
Date: Mon, 24 May 2004 21:41:17 +0100
Subject: [Baren 25111] Hanga or woodcut
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Greetings Bareners, Soon I may have an art exhibition and include my first "Hanga" prints as well as my usual "woodcuts". I can't get my head round many of the new Japanese techniques and words that I am learning. It seems the most ambiguous is the most important.... "Hanga". The exhibition catalogue should accurately describe the prints, particularly if a visitor or patron buys them. I've checked the Baren encyclopaedia and roamed the Net, including reading about Shin Hanga in its historical context, but all this has exacerbated the problem because the word seems to mean different things to different people. Hanga - a general word for a Japanese print...ok! Moku Hanga - two words but essentially the same as above??? In its current usage does using a wood block, baren printed with linseed oil rather than a water based ink cancel out the right to name your print Hanga, Moku Hanga or Hanga?. Indeed, could any woodprint by the artist/designer/printer be described as a Hanga print? I think I may be on safer ground, at the moment, just writing my usual "a woodcut", or be pedantic and write a "woodblock print using the burnishing technique with a Japanese Baren". In many ways I don't think it really matters, but those Woodblock Cops are always haunting me. Kind regards, Harry Lincoln UK

www.harryfrenchartworks.co.uk

Ps If you are near Lincoln Cathedral (UK) this month there is a small exhibition of its precious medieval manuscripts and early printed books, including a rare copy of William Caxton's book of the Saints (The Golden Legend.1483). William never bothered about the Woodblock Cops and used his imported 60 odd woodcuts to fill up spaces in between that new fangled moveable type and sometimes he used the same woodblock to illustrate different saints, bishops and kings..oh, those were the days!

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Message 8
From: Lana Lambert
Date: Mon, 24 May 2004 20:02:17 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 25112] C&P back from Niagara
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omg, I want to die! But I will die happy! I just
came home after installing my press into my studio
this afternoon and my boyfriend and I just about
pulled out guts out. Even though it was a small C&P
Pilot press, it still weighed a ton in comparison with
the Kelsey Excelsiors. However, I am so glad that I
have it. Now, I can do hanga and letterpress or lino
block. Yay!

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