Today's postings
- [Baren 42221] Future Calendar Exchange? ("Ellen Shipley")
- [Baren 42222] Exchange #47 technique question (Linda Beeman)
- [Baren 42223] Re: Exchange #47 technique question (Julio.Rodriguez # walgreens.com)
- [Baren 42224] Baren Member blogs: Update Notification (Blog Manager)
I know it's way too late to think of a calendar exchange at this point, but would there be any interest for one for next year? When would something like this have to be done in order to get a calendar out by the fall?
Has anyone done an exchange like this before? Should there be a theme?
Just mulling it over.
Ellen
Andrea,
I have never used a key block. Some moku hanga artists do and some don't. It's more about the use of pigment - watercolor, woodblocks, hand printing.
Linda Beeman
www.lindabeemanprintmaker.blogspot.com
I always felt that the most important thing to experience when doing moku
hanga is the actual printing.....as Dave would often say a good printer
can make
good prints out of almost any block....or something like that ! The magic
happens with the selection of appropriate colors, gradations, special
techniques, etc.
To me what separates the techniques is that with traditional japanese the
pigments are embedded into the paper itself....thus you get that nice
bleedthru on the
verso of the paper and you see the very fine embossing in the areas that
remain white & untouched, the print becomes a 3-D object.....as compare to
western style were the oil ink sits on top of the paper....
Japanese paper beats all other for traditional technique...try it ! You
don't have to go top of the line....even Dick Blick carries decent
Japanese paper at around $3-5 a sheet...
Using a baren or baren-like tool also will get you that feeling that's
unique to moku-hanga.
So I would suggest this.......
- carve your blocks as you always do (key block or not)
- use whatever decent water-based pigments you have available
- make your own paste with some rice-flour & water (recipes found at
barenforum.org)
- USE Japanese hand-made paper (you won't regret it !)
- use a baren; the plastic pla-baren or other student grade barens on the
Mall are inexpensive (worse case use a baren-like tool: spoon, doorknob,
etc..).
and most important of all have lots & lots of fun.....Julio
Digest Appendix
Postings made on [Baren] members' blogs
over the past 24 hours ...