Today's postings
- [Baren 26164] Thanks for takenogawa ("Love Me")
- [Baren 26165] Wood Block Print Prize (Jan Telfer)
- [Baren 26166] Re: Thanks for takenogawa (Mike Lyon)
- [Baren 26167] Re: New York in November (Timothy AumAn)
- [Baren 26168] Attn: Tom Kristensen (Bette Norcross Wappner)
Message 1
From: "Love Me"
Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2004 00:58:16 +1000
Subject: [Baren 26164] Thanks for takenogawa
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I was about to ask for tips on how to extend the life of my baren when the good news of new skins arrived. Many thanks to all at the Mall. I was a little daunted when I noticed the pin-head sized holes in my baren starting to grow (I swear it came with one tiny hole when new), I now have one match-head sized hole and I feel like I am out on a country road driving on empty. So, how many skins will I need to buy in order to tie one on successfully. In fact I have one from McClains, but I'm going to the mall for a back-up.
Seriously, am I abusing my baren? How many days of rubbing is a fair thing? If I print too wet, will this be really bad news for the skin? How ratty can it get before I have to face up to changing the skin?
Tom in Australia
Seriously, am I abusing my baren? How many days of rubbing is a fair thing? If I print too wet, will this be really bad news for the skin? How ratty can it get before I have to face up to changing the skin?
Tom in Australia
Message 2
From: Jan Telfer
Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2004 23:12:04 +0800
Subject: [Baren 26165] Wood Block Print Prize
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PRIZE!!
This year at our Perth Royal Show I won a third prize with my woodblock
print of "Off the Tree" which is one I did for another exchange.
It was entered in the Wood Carving Section - Any Article "for which no
other catagory was listed " or something to that effect! At least I
got a third this year beaten by a beautiful full size rocking horse and
a well executed inlaid three dimensional picture of an elephant! But
I'm getting there and educating the Perth (WA Australia) public. It
was entered with its four wood blocks set in a wooden "toaster" that a
friend had made for me. No money, just Glory!!!!
Last year I entered with my seven block/19 printing woodblock print
Bootcamp's "Kimberley Colours" and seven blocks and got nothing,
beaten by a Mickey Mouse and something else, so I am improving my
placing!!
My Calligraphy prizes were more impressive with a Third in the Open
Section with a piece I wrote and calligraphed in the form of a
patchwork quilt with my own poem and a Highly Commended in the Item
Representing Something Crafted From An Earlier Time with a fictitious
letter I wrote from my presumed Grandmother to her parents from "a
Finishing School". Another of my many "Hats".... a Special Catagory for
the Show's 100th anniversary.
Tomorrow I am flying to Sydney NSW Australia (Not Sidney BC) for my
school year's 40th Reunion and will be going to a Wood Engraving
Workshop with Lawrence Finn which I am really looking forward to doing.
On my return I am calling in to Adelaide to give a talk and
demonstration on Japanese Woodblock Printing and an insight into wood
carving from Lawrence's workshop to the South Australian Printmakers.
So I have packed my carving tools, my printing gear and my woodblocks
of my Exchange #22 Haiku print "Fire Fire" to explain and print for
them. It has four hanga colours and one oil based block. I have as
much in my suitcases for two weeks as I did to go to Bootcamp, Canada
and America for six weeks.
I will be home again on the 24th October with a full report!!
Cheers,
Jan
This year at our Perth Royal Show I won a third prize with my woodblock
print of "Off the Tree" which is one I did for another exchange.
It was entered in the Wood Carving Section - Any Article "for which no
other catagory was listed " or something to that effect! At least I
got a third this year beaten by a beautiful full size rocking horse and
a well executed inlaid three dimensional picture of an elephant! But
I'm getting there and educating the Perth (WA Australia) public. It
was entered with its four wood blocks set in a wooden "toaster" that a
friend had made for me. No money, just Glory!!!!
Last year I entered with my seven block/19 printing woodblock print
Bootcamp's "Kimberley Colours" and seven blocks and got nothing,
beaten by a Mickey Mouse and something else, so I am improving my
placing!!
My Calligraphy prizes were more impressive with a Third in the Open
Section with a piece I wrote and calligraphed in the form of a
patchwork quilt with my own poem and a Highly Commended in the Item
Representing Something Crafted From An Earlier Time with a fictitious
letter I wrote from my presumed Grandmother to her parents from "a
Finishing School". Another of my many "Hats".... a Special Catagory for
the Show's 100th anniversary.
Tomorrow I am flying to Sydney NSW Australia (Not Sidney BC) for my
school year's 40th Reunion and will be going to a Wood Engraving
Workshop with Lawrence Finn which I am really looking forward to doing.
On my return I am calling in to Adelaide to give a talk and
demonstration on Japanese Woodblock Printing and an insight into wood
carving from Lawrence's workshop to the South Australian Printmakers.
So I have packed my carving tools, my printing gear and my woodblocks
of my Exchange #22 Haiku print "Fire Fire" to explain and print for
them. It has four hanga colours and one oil based block. I have as
much in my suitcases for two weeks as I did to go to Bootcamp, Canada
and America for six weeks.
I will be home again on the 24th October with a full report!!
Cheers,
Jan
Message 3
From: Mike Lyon
Date: Wed, 06 Oct 2004 11:08:39 -0500
Subject: [Baren 26166] Re: Thanks for takenogawa
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Tom in Australia wrote:
>...I noticed the pin-head sized holes in my baren starting to grow (I
>swear it came with one tiny hole when new), I now have one match-head
>sized hole and I feel like I am out on a country road driving on empty.
>So, how many skins will I need to buy in order to tie one on successfully.
>... How many days of rubbing is a fair thing? If I print too wet, will
>this be really bad news for the skin? How ratty can it get before I have
>to face up to changing the skin?
David Bull is really our resident expert on baren-tying, but I imagine he's
fast asleep right now (as YOU ought to be), so I'll answer from my own
experience...
First, some skins are better than others... Seems to me that the light
yellow ones with smallest brown spots are strongest and longest lasting and
the dark gray-brown ones are weakest and wear out fast. I prefer thinner
skins to thick ones -- the thin ones print best and are most 'sensitive'.
Next, it is very important that the baren be regularly rotated in the pad
during printing... The lighter your pressure and the smoother and smaller
the block, the more prints you can pull between rotations and the stronger
your pressure and the more your block has been carved and the larger the
block, the more frequently you need to rotate the baren... When you first
notice 'shiny' bumps on the baren skin during printing (where the knots of
the coil press against the skin from inside) you should already have
rotated the baren... When I'm working hard with the baren, I rotate the
baren inside the skin every three to five impressions. When I'm using a
'feather-touch' I rotate much less frequently -- maybe every 20 or more
impressions... The idea is to spread the wear on the baren evenly. If you
print 'wetter' (and the baren-skin becomes wetter) you'll need to rotate
more frequently... It's good practice when releasing the baren to leave it
skin-side UP so that moisture can evaporate between impressions -- that way
it'll stay drier and last even longer (although I confess that I am usually
lazy and just drop it down on my oiled pad between impressions).
The EXPENSIVE part of a good baren is the coil and backing -- the skins are
relatively cheap... You do NOT want your coil to become wet or moldy or
pigment saturated or oily if you can avoid it -- so you'll want to have
your skin more or less intact and free from holes and splits... Small
holes won't cause too much problem (although they tend to abrade the paper
and fibers tend to enter and pack into the coil which you'll have to pick
out when you do finally change the skin. Tears are worse, as the paper
edges and corners tend to be caught by the tears and in a split second you
can ruin an otherwise perfect print!
Rotate the baren inside the skin regularly and your cover will last at
least 10 times longer than if you don't. Take time to recover when the
skin has worn out and a fine baren may outlive you!
It can seem impossible to rotate the baren inside the skin (I usually
rotate about 10 to 30 degrees each time, the same direction around and
around), especially when the baren has just been recovered and the skin is
TIGHT! But you can always accomplish it. If the skin resists and seems
too tight to allow the baren to rotate, try flexing the 'handle' back and
forth a few times (not too aggressively as you don't want to split the skin
at the edges of the baren) to get some 'slack' and drop the baren fairly
sharply flat on its working side a few times in order to separate the skin
from the coil -- the coil bumps make impressions in the inside of the skin
after hard printing and those impressions work to hold the baren in place
in the skin and resist rotation -- dropping the baren helps to lift the
coil knots out of those impressions and make it much easier to rotate the
baren.
Hope this helps, and good luck!
-- Mike
Mike Lyon
Kansas City, Missouri
http://mlyon.com
>...I noticed the pin-head sized holes in my baren starting to grow (I
>swear it came with one tiny hole when new), I now have one match-head
>sized hole and I feel like I am out on a country road driving on empty.
>So, how many skins will I need to buy in order to tie one on successfully.
>... How many days of rubbing is a fair thing? If I print too wet, will
>this be really bad news for the skin? How ratty can it get before I have
>to face up to changing the skin?
David Bull is really our resident expert on baren-tying, but I imagine he's
fast asleep right now (as YOU ought to be), so I'll answer from my own
experience...
First, some skins are better than others... Seems to me that the light
yellow ones with smallest brown spots are strongest and longest lasting and
the dark gray-brown ones are weakest and wear out fast. I prefer thinner
skins to thick ones -- the thin ones print best and are most 'sensitive'.
Next, it is very important that the baren be regularly rotated in the pad
during printing... The lighter your pressure and the smoother and smaller
the block, the more prints you can pull between rotations and the stronger
your pressure and the more your block has been carved and the larger the
block, the more frequently you need to rotate the baren... When you first
notice 'shiny' bumps on the baren skin during printing (where the knots of
the coil press against the skin from inside) you should already have
rotated the baren... When I'm working hard with the baren, I rotate the
baren inside the skin every three to five impressions. When I'm using a
'feather-touch' I rotate much less frequently -- maybe every 20 or more
impressions... The idea is to spread the wear on the baren evenly. If you
print 'wetter' (and the baren-skin becomes wetter) you'll need to rotate
more frequently... It's good practice when releasing the baren to leave it
skin-side UP so that moisture can evaporate between impressions -- that way
it'll stay drier and last even longer (although I confess that I am usually
lazy and just drop it down on my oiled pad between impressions).
The EXPENSIVE part of a good baren is the coil and backing -- the skins are
relatively cheap... You do NOT want your coil to become wet or moldy or
pigment saturated or oily if you can avoid it -- so you'll want to have
your skin more or less intact and free from holes and splits... Small
holes won't cause too much problem (although they tend to abrade the paper
and fibers tend to enter and pack into the coil which you'll have to pick
out when you do finally change the skin. Tears are worse, as the paper
edges and corners tend to be caught by the tears and in a split second you
can ruin an otherwise perfect print!
Rotate the baren inside the skin regularly and your cover will last at
least 10 times longer than if you don't. Take time to recover when the
skin has worn out and a fine baren may outlive you!
It can seem impossible to rotate the baren inside the skin (I usually
rotate about 10 to 30 degrees each time, the same direction around and
around), especially when the baren has just been recovered and the skin is
TIGHT! But you can always accomplish it. If the skin resists and seems
too tight to allow the baren to rotate, try flexing the 'handle' back and
forth a few times (not too aggressively as you don't want to split the skin
at the edges of the baren) to get some 'slack' and drop the baren fairly
sharply flat on its working side a few times in order to separate the skin
from the coil -- the coil bumps make impressions in the inside of the skin
after hard printing and those impressions work to hold the baren in place
in the skin and resist rotation -- dropping the baren helps to lift the
coil knots out of those impressions and make it much easier to rotate the
baren.
Hope this helps, and good luck!
-- Mike
Mike Lyon
Kansas City, Missouri
http://mlyon.com
Message 4
From: Timothy AumAn
Date: Wed, 06 Oct 2004 18:38:02 -0400
Subject: [Baren 26167] Re: New York in November
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Emma:
I'd recommend a trip to New York Central Art Supply in the East
Village. http://www.nycentralart.com/
It is a large (4 floors) and very crowded store with a huge, and I do mean
HUGE selection of paper. An entire floor, thousands of different papers.
They employ a very helpful gentleman who is basically their full time paper
guru. There ws an article on the store in the Arts Section of the September
22nd NY Times.
Tim AumAn
twa101#psu.edu
>Hello!
>
>I'll be in New York in November for a long weekend get-away. I'm planning
>on visiting MoMA and Talas (the bookbinding supplies store), but I'm
>wondering if anyone has any other recommendations?...
>
>thanks,
>emma
>
>Emma Jane Hogbin
>Strange Little Girl
>www.strangelittlegirl.com
I'd recommend a trip to New York Central Art Supply in the East
Village. http://www.nycentralart.com/
It is a large (4 floors) and very crowded store with a huge, and I do mean
HUGE selection of paper. An entire floor, thousands of different papers.
They employ a very helpful gentleman who is basically their full time paper
guru. There ws an article on the store in the Arts Section of the September
22nd NY Times.
Tim AumAn
twa101#psu.edu
>Hello!
>
>I'll be in New York in November for a long weekend get-away. I'm planning
>on visiting MoMA and Talas (the bookbinding supplies store), but I'm
>wondering if anyone has any other recommendations?...
>
>thanks,
>emma
>
>Emma Jane Hogbin
>Strange Little Girl
>www.strangelittlegirl.com
Message 5
From: Bette Norcross Wappner
Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2004 07:02:27 -0400
Subject: [Baren 26168] Attn: Tom Kristensen
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Hi Tom,
You mistakenly sent your Exchange #22 details to Exchange #21.
I tried emailing you privately, but my email address wasn't accepted.
Your print sounds wonderful!
All the best,
Bette Wappner
You mistakenly sent your Exchange #22 details to Exchange #21.
I tried emailing you privately, but my email address wasn't accepted.
Your print sounds wonderful!
All the best,
Bette Wappner