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Message 1
From: "April Vollmer"
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 08:22:25 -0500
Subject: [Baren 27390] Mike Lyon/Akua
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Mike never ceases to amaze me! I thank him for the details on the rice
paste. I get in a rut and have been using methyl cellulose all the time, I
will try his recipe!

I put photos of the Union College show up on my website, finally. I am
getting geared up for some teaching this summer. I've been working on a book
of my trip to Japan, and printing too, but it is hard to keep up with Mike!

Have I missed any posts about SGC? I will be going for a couple of days, and
hope to see some baren-ers there.

BTW, I would like to clarify my position about Akua Color monoprint ink. It
is great for monoprint, but not as good as pigment for hanga woodcut. It is
a little thick and sticky for Japanese printing. It will work, and will mix
with pigments too. Use it if you have it in the studio, the drip bottles are
handy for small stuff. My apologies if I mislead anyone.

Best,

April
www.aprilvollmer.com

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Message 2
From: Wanda Robertson
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 11:23:15 -0800
Subject: [Baren 27391] Re: New Baren Digest (Text) V30 #2991 (Mar 11, 2005)
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Hey, Sarah,

I'd be glad to add you to my rooster exchange list - I've sent out part of an
un-numbered edition already, but I have more to go - and more
experimenting with my image.

Dave, those in Matsumura-san's collection are very inspiring. I can
see a lot of time being spent all over both our countries
participating in this spirited exchange. By the way - the name rooster
is not reserved only for chickens - many male fowl are called
"roosters". I don't know about flamingos or sparrows - but hey, it
makes a nice change, doesn't it? :-)

Wanda

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Message 3
From: Daniel Dew
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 14:53:57 -0500
Subject: [Baren 27392] Funny Story
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Day #7 of my hanga experience;

I need to make some of this paste stuff, Mike was nice enough to offer
a "recipe".
Not being near an arts supply store and not wanting to wait around
days, I remembered a new Chinese/Japanese/Korean market that just
opened up a few blocks down the street.
So off I go to the market. Wow, what a treat! These stores have
everything, or if they don't, they will gladly order it for you.
After explaining that it wasn't Chinese Painting, or Sumi Painting, but
Japanese printmaking, the store owner was sure I needed traditional
Japanese Sumi ink from Japan and Camel hair brushes from China to do my
"printing".
I finally just handed over Mike's recipe.
After much nodding, he took me to the very dark recesses and produced
two 1 pound bags. The only thing I could make out on them was
"Glutinous Rice Flour" on one and "Rice Flour" on the other. At only
$1.00 each, I thought what the heck.
Now, is this the right stuff?

If it is not, anyone have a good food recipe for it? lol


Daniel L. Dew

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Message 4
From: Mike Lyon
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 14:09:25 -0600
Subject: [Baren 27393] Re: Funny Story
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Dan Dew wrote:
>After much nodding, he took me to the very dark recesses and produced two
>1 pound bags. The only thing I could make out on them was "Glutinous Rice
>Flour" on one and "Rice Flour" on the other. At only $1.00 each, I
>thought what the heck.
>Now, is this the right stuff?

Well, it'll 'work' more or less -- you can just take 1/8 cup of the flour
and mix water into little by little it stiring with a fork (as if you were
going to make gravy) until it is smooth and pretty liquid -- maybe like
between cream and milk? Then heat until it thickens (just under boiling)
and then cool and use... But this will be somewhat more opaque than starch
and has lots of other stuff in it and will tend to mold even on your
prints! So, if I were you, I'd save it for food and move on...

You CAN extract the starch from your rice flour if you're really into it,
though:

"To extract wheat starch from flour: Mix flour with enough water to produce
a stiff dough. Knead 5-10 minutes, adding water if necessary, until the
dough is of "earlobe" consistency- soft but not sticky. (It is kneading in
the presence of moisture that causes the proteins to combine into gluten.)
Submerge the ball in a bowl of water and knead with both hands to work out
the starch. At intervals pour off the milky starch water through a strainer
into a separate large container; then refill the original bowl with fresh
water and continue the underwater kneading. Repeat the procedure two or
three times, or until the ball of dough has been reduced to a spongy
elastic mass of gluten which can be discarded. Allow the large container
of starch water to settle and then gently pour off the top water. What
remains is starch." (pg 24, Japanese Book-Binding by Kojiro Ikegami)

OR: Go the the grocery (while you're waiting for your rice starch to
arrive mail order but still want to print NOW) or your cupboard and get
some CORN STARCH -- it's much more what you want than rice flour -- mix it
as above (this is NOT rocket science :)) and cook it up -- it should ought
to work very well (although I confess that I haven't tried this one yet
myself -- but I'd bet you a quarter it's second only to rice starch!!

-- Mike

Mike Lyon

Kansas City, Missouri
http://mlyon.com

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Message 5
From: aqua4tis # aol.com
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 15:10:46 -0500
Subject: [Baren 27394] Re: New Baren Digest (Text) V30 #2991 (Mar 11, 2005)
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sarah
id also be glad to add you to my rooster exchange im almost ready to send them along with the monkeys i owe everyone (nothing like getting behind!!!)
georga

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Message 6
From: Charles Morgan
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 13:46:31 -0800
Subject: [Baren 27395] Re: Funny Story
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Mike wrote:
>Go the the grocery (while you're waiting for your rice starch to arrive
>mail order but still want to print NOW) or your cupboard and get some CORN
>STARCH -- it's much more what you want than rice flour -- mix it as above
>(this is NOT rocket science :)) and cook it up -- it should ought to work
>very well (although I confess that I haven't tried this one yet myself --
>but I'd bet you a quarter it's second only to rice starch!!

Corn starch works just fine. Mix two (2) tablespoons of corn starch into
one (1) cup of COLD water ... will make a sort of milky suspension. Heat
carefully in a saucepan, stirring all the time, until it loses the milky
look and becomes translucent ... it never becomes clear. Let it cool ...
makes a very thick paste ... thin with water. Keeps a day or two in the
studio ... keeps a week in the fridge ... can be frozen.

I have used this for making wonderful transparent ink for screen printing
... just add a bit of quality water color or pigment dispersion. Dries
clear, with no milky look at all.

Cheers ...... Charles

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