[Baren] Daily Digest

Today's postings

[Baren 36633] Sanding blocks & Printing with india ink (Tiberiu Chelcea)
[Baren 36634] Re: Sanding blocks & Printing with india ink (Dave Bull)
[Baren 36635] new work in progress/Shin Torinoko for hanshita paper. (Rosposfe # aol.com)
[Baren 36636] Re: Sanding blocks & Printing with india ink (eli griggs)
[Baren 36637] Re: Sanding blocks & Printing with india ink (Scholes Graham)
[Baren 36638] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)

Message 1
From: Tiberiu Chelcea
Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2008 22:51:19 GMT
Subject: [Baren 36633] Sanding blocks & Printing with india ink
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I've just started learning to print japanese style, and it's generally going extremely so-so-ish,
but that's to be expected in the beginning. I have a couple of questions though, for which I could
not find answers in the forum archives and/or other places.

The first one is about the preparation of the block for carving & printing. I was used to sanding
the block with very fine sandpaper (320 grit). My test block is roughly half predominantly white
line (i.e. it will print mostly black with some fine white lines) and half black line
(mostly white with some black lines). I did sand it, but somehow managed to miss a part of the
white line half. When printing it, that area seemed to print the best, giving me an uniform color.
The sanded area was too smooth, and the brush was pretty much wiping the pigment off it, and thus
printing with streaks. Does this mean that I should not sand the block before carving, or does
that mean that there was another cause for this (not enough nori... too much nori... too much
brush pressure...) ?

The second question is about printing with india ink. Initially, I've tried to print with sumi ink
and Createx monotype black. None of them gave me a nice, deep black. I know that it's possible to
get a deeper black by printing twice, but would have prefered to get it in one go. On a whim, I've
tried printing with india ink (from a bottle like this:
http://www.artistcraftsman.com/servlet/the-25454/Speedball-Super-Black-India/Detail )
and it seems to work much better. It does seem a bit more runny than sumi ink, so there could be problems
with fine details. However, I've searched again the forums and people seem to use india ink to either draw
the image on the block or, in a highly diluted form, to help them with carving -- but not for printing.
Are there any problems with using india ink for printing (e.g. non-archival)?

I should mention that at this point I'm mostly interested in printing b&w images, not multi-color blocks.

Thanks,
Tibi

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Message 2
From: Dave Bull
Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:05:55 GMT
Subject: [Baren 36634] Re: Sanding blocks & Printing with india ink
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Tiberiu wrote:
> I did sand it, but somehow managed to miss a part ....
> When printing it, that area seemed to print the best,

Well, your answer is right there ... you just did an experiment, and
got some results!

Without knowing what kind of wood you are using, I can't make any
recommendation, but for what it's worth, I have never sanded a block
(standard Japanese cherry, _planed_ to a glass finish).

> It does seem a bit more runny than sumi ink, so there
> could be problems with fine details.

Problems with key block details come the other way - when the pigment
is too thick. You might try putting either some gum arabic, or just
standard nikawa (liquid hide glue) to thicken it up a little, and help
give a more solid black. When printing thick blacks with nikawa, you
can sometimes leave off the nori ...

> I should mention that at this point I'm mostly interested in printing
> b&w images, not multi-color blocks.

Black is tough. If you can print good black, you can print anything ...

Dave

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Message 3
From: Rosposfe # aol.com
Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:35:33 GMT
Subject: [Baren 36635] new work in progress/Shin Torinoko for hanshita paper.
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Thanks to all who replied to my question regarding vivid secondary colors.
I'll keep experimenting and will try a few of the many suggestions given.

I am working on a new print which has a few new firsts (for me). I am
trying out carving from a drawing sketched directly on a poplar plank from
the local building supply store ($6/board foot). It cut a bit ragged at first
with the toh so I switched to a narrow V gouge and it cut much better and I
finished most of the outlining with that. But once I resharpened all my tools
and settled into carving it seemed to behave better and all the detail work
was done with a 4.5mm hangi-toh.
This print was pulled using Shin-torinoko(from McClains) and sumi ink.
What was a surprise was that I used this inexpensive "proofing" paper and it
worked great for printing the hanshitas for my color blocks. I printed the
black on the smooth side of this rather thick paper and glued them face down
on other pieces of poplar (Long Drug's brand white glue) and with a bit of
moist fingertip and patient rubbing the paper delaminated quite easily and left me
with a very thin hanshita image. Neat! just like in the Baren
encyclopedia..........
the print can be seen at: rospobio.blogspot.com/
Andrew Stone

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Message 4
From: eli griggs
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:02:47 GMT
Subject: [Baren 36636] Re: Sanding blocks & Printing with india ink
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"However, I've searched again the forums and people
seem to use India ink to either draw the image on the
block or, in a highly diluted form, to help them with
carving -- but not for printing. Are there any
problems with using india ink for printing (e.g.
non-archival)?"

Others here may give a more complete answer but here's
try.

Most India ink is made with shellac, usually in an
alcohol base. The alcohol will evaporate quickly and
the shellac will gum up your block.

Some printmakers like myself will shellac the block
prior to carving and the India ink blends right in
with the shellac, giving a good contrast when carving
light colored woods.

As a side note, with one or two exceptions, India inks
can not be used in fountain pens because they will
quickly clog the works up.

I hope this helps, Eli

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Message 5
From: Scholes Graham
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:33:54 GMT
Subject: [Baren 36637] Re: Sanding blocks & Printing with india ink
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Tiberiu Chelcea wrote:

> I've just started learning to print japanese style, and it's
> generally going extremely so-so-ish, but that's to be expected in
> the beginning. I have a couple of questions though, for which I
> could not find answers in the forum archives and/or other places.

Hi Tibi.

> The first one is about the preparation of the block for carving &
> printing. I was used to sanding the block with very fine sandpaper
> (320 grit).

From the first plate I prepared I sanded ..... with following
grit... 120, 220, or 320, to 400 to 600.... with combination of oil
and varnish for the last 600 grit. This is a technique from ....
Noboru Sawai who learned it from Toshi Yashida. You definitely want
it smooth.... Dave Bull sez .... (standard Japanese cherry, _planed_
to a glass finish). “Glass finish“ is the operative word.... To
achieve the expertise of wheeling a plane to get smooth surface is a
life long sport onto itself.

If you are using basswood with the oil/varnish combo... 50% of each by
the way ... you *can* get a very smooth surface when buffing with the
600 grit paper.

> I've tried to print with sumi ink and Createx monotype black. None
> of them gave me a nice, deep black.

This material will build up in time and it will fill in the fine lines
of the plate.... Sumi ink is the trued and tried stuff for black
printing. It is important to understand that you can not pile pigment
on a plate to get coverage.... I have never been able to get a large
areas with fine lines to cover with one printing. I have some works
that have 4 printings...(mind they are big prints) to get the effect I
want. You should know that this sport is a numbers game..... the more
the better.

>I should mention that at this point I'm mostly interested in
> printing b&w images, not multi-color blocks.

Good.... starting with the toughest is a fast way to learn. .....

Regards
Graham

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Message 6
From: Blog Manager
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2008 03:55:57 GMT
Subject: [Baren 36638] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification
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Baren Archives

[Baren] - the International Forum for Woodblock Printmaking

Volume: 44 / Number: 4488

Monday, 18th of August, 2008

Today's postings

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