Today's postings
- [Baren 39955] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V49 #5000 (Oct 14, 2009) (Marilynn Smith)
- [Baren 39956] Re: (Bobbi Chukran)
- [Baren 39957] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V49 #5000 (Oct 14, 2009) (jennifer kelly)
- [Baren 39958] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V49 #5000 (Oct 14, 2009) (Bobbi Chukran)
- [Baren 39959] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V49 #5000 (Oct 14, 2009) (jennifer kelly)
- [Baren 39960] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
Message 1
From: Marilynn Smith
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:29:21 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39955] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V49 #5000 (Oct 14, 2009)
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For me one of the most exciting things about being a print maker is
the unexpected results when I pull a print. I am not ever exactly
sure what I will get. The first time I saw a monotype pulled from a
press excited me so much that I had to take that printmaking class. I
can paint a watercolor and it is exactly what I paint, with a print it
is not always exactly what I paint (if it is a painted monotype) or
even totally exactly what I think I will get from my carving. With
collagraph it is even more variable because I am never sure what all
the textures of the objects I glue to the plate will do. I switched
to wood from lino because I wanted a wood like effect. The other
bonus I got with wood was the ability to do details that I can't get
in lino (learned that trying to do a lino for the last exchange that
failed because it would not hold those fine lines). I say if you
don't want the grain to show choose a wood that does not show much or
any or use lino. Why fight it? There is a natural quality to each
piece of wood and I think it is fun to use that quality.
This is not wood block. I was in a beauty supply store getting hair
products. I asked about something to use with my naturally curly hair
and the sales girl made a recommendation. She told me she used to use
it on her naturally curly hair until she started to straighten it.
Yes, she uses chemicals and blow dries her hair to make it STRAIGHT!
I said to her why are you fighting nature? Seems like a lot of work
to me and most women would love to have your natural curl. Seems the
same to me when it comes to a piece of wood, why put in extra steps to
change the surface, why fight it? Why not use something that gives
you what you want without changing it? Just my thoughts.
Marilynn, in windy rainy Nahcotta, Washington
the unexpected results when I pull a print. I am not ever exactly
sure what I will get. The first time I saw a monotype pulled from a
press excited me so much that I had to take that printmaking class. I
can paint a watercolor and it is exactly what I paint, with a print it
is not always exactly what I paint (if it is a painted monotype) or
even totally exactly what I think I will get from my carving. With
collagraph it is even more variable because I am never sure what all
the textures of the objects I glue to the plate will do. I switched
to wood from lino because I wanted a wood like effect. The other
bonus I got with wood was the ability to do details that I can't get
in lino (learned that trying to do a lino for the last exchange that
failed because it would not hold those fine lines). I say if you
don't want the grain to show choose a wood that does not show much or
any or use lino. Why fight it? There is a natural quality to each
piece of wood and I think it is fun to use that quality.
This is not wood block. I was in a beauty supply store getting hair
products. I asked about something to use with my naturally curly hair
and the sales girl made a recommendation. She told me she used to use
it on her naturally curly hair until she started to straighten it.
Yes, she uses chemicals and blow dries her hair to make it STRAIGHT!
I said to her why are you fighting nature? Seems like a lot of work
to me and most women would love to have your natural curl. Seems the
same to me when it comes to a piece of wood, why put in extra steps to
change the surface, why fight it? Why not use something that gives
you what you want without changing it? Just my thoughts.
Marilynn, in windy rainy Nahcotta, Washington
Message 2
From: Bobbi Chukran
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:42:21 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39956] Re:
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> I say if you don't want the grain to show choose a wood that does
>not show much or any or use lino. Why fight it? There is a natural
>quality to each piece of wood and I think it is fun to use that
>quality.
And if you're into experimental printmaking, you can combine the two.
I recently did a monotype print where I printed the background off a
piece of plywood that had beautiful grain. Then I did another layer
of a monotype over that one, using another woodblock that I'd carved
with some simple tree-like designs.
Here's the result....the "Rippling Woodland Stream" print.
http://www.bobbichukran.com/abstract-monoprints.html
This is a technique that I'm definitely going to explore.
bobbi c.
grackle stew studio
>not show much or any or use lino. Why fight it? There is a natural
>quality to each piece of wood and I think it is fun to use that
>quality.
And if you're into experimental printmaking, you can combine the two.
I recently did a monotype print where I printed the background off a
piece of plywood that had beautiful grain. Then I did another layer
of a monotype over that one, using another woodblock that I'd carved
with some simple tree-like designs.
Here's the result....the "Rippling Woodland Stream" print.
http://www.bobbichukran.com/abstract-monoprints.html
This is a technique that I'm definitely going to explore.
bobbi c.
grackle stew studio
Message 3
From: jennifer kelly
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:35:43 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39957] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V49 #5000 (Oct 14, 2009)
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here, here. I could not agree more. As a printmaker I embrace serendipity....and that palpable feeling
of surpise and joy each time a new print is revealed is the exact moment of addiction that exists for me.
Is anyone else hooked on this.
Jenny
Message 4
From: Bobbi Chukran
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:21:50 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39958] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V49 #5000 (Oct 14, 2009)
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>here, here. I could not agree more. As a printmaker I embrace
>serendipity....and that palpable feeling of surpise and joy each
>time a new print is revealed is the exact moment of addiction that
>exists for me. Is anyone else hooked on this.
Well, yeah. LOL
That's why I'm about to give up painting almost completely. I've
been frustrated beyond words for the past five years since I put my
inks away. Now I know why. :--)
bobbi c.
grackle stew studio
http://www.bobbichukran.com
>serendipity....and that palpable feeling of surpise and joy each
>time a new print is revealed is the exact moment of addiction that
>exists for me. Is anyone else hooked on this.
Well, yeah. LOL
That's why I'm about to give up painting almost completely. I've
been frustrated beyond words for the past five years since I put my
inks away. Now I know why. :--)
bobbi c.
grackle stew studio
http://www.bobbichukran.com
Message 5
From: jennifer kelly
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:32:19 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39959] Re: New Baren Digest (HTML) V49 #5000 (Oct 14, 2009)
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LOL yep. I come from the other direction. I gave up printmaking because of an injury. After about 7 years in the wilderness, ie trying to work in other fields, I'm back. I am a printmaker afterall.
Jenny
Digest Appendix
Postings made on [Baren] members' blogs
over the past 24 hours ...
Subject: Big Print, Big Registration Issues
Posted by: Annie B
"Making art provides uncomfortably accurate feedback about the gap that inevitably exists between what you intended to do and what you did." Art & Fear, pg. 4 I knew I had good reason to be afraid of this Vast Unpeopled Lands print, and I was pretty sure that the main reason to fear was the fact that it's so big. I'm using a half-sheet of Nishinouchi, so the paper is 21 x 29 in / 53 x 74 cm and the block shown above is 20 x 30 in / 50 x 76 cm. I've discovered that the bigger the print the more difficult registration becomes. I knew that the tightest registration on this print would be the constellations, because they're composed of fairly thin carved lines that create white areas in the ink of the printed sky. Any off-registration on the multiple passes necessary to get a gradation in the sky printing would fill in the white lines. On Monday I went into the studio and did a first pass. Not bad. Then yesterday I printed the sky again to darken it and that's when the trouble started. I do love the Japanese kento system. Because it's so reliable, I did manage to get quite a few acceptable prints in my little run of 10 sheets of paper, but I also got some real bad ones. Have a look:  If you look at the photo of the block at the beginning of this post, you can see that I put the corner kento at the bottom right. If I had thought it through and put the kento at the top where the sky is (and printed "upside down") the registration would have been much easier, because the closer to the kento the better the registration. It would have been even better if I had used a kento notch instead of the corner as I did on my Three Prophets prints. Obviously the top print in the photo above is not salvageable, but many of them are just a little "fuzzy" in the corner farthest from the kento, like the one in the middle in the photo . . . [Long item has been trimmed at this point. The full blog entry can be viewed here] |
This item is taken from the blog Woodblock Dreams.
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