Dutch travelers, Holland Barens, and the Genius Loci

Aafke and Bastiaan

I'm enjoying the company of two young Dutch artists, Aafke Ytsma and Bastiaan Epker who are traveling from the Netherlands to Cyprus for an artists' residency but they've turned the road trip itself from Holland to the Mediterranean into a separate project and have sponsors and patrons that are supporting their journey.  Aafke and Bastiaan are producing Mokuhanga postcards, one for each stop along the way that they're cutting and printing and then sending back to their sponsors.  Aafke is a painter and Bastiaan an oil-based woodblock artist but they're now using traditional Mokuhanga techniques on these mail-art pieces.

They're now in Florence I'm sharing my studio space with them so they can work out their next prints and hopefully will have enough time to imagine, carve, and print a new image based on their visit here.
The works and trip are based on the concept of the Genius Loci--the spirit or spirits of a particular place--and they're interpreting that individually, with each of them working and producing alternate prints.

I've been communicating with Aafke for a few months after she shared with me some photos of two barens she had made using my blog posts on making twisted-cord barens as a model.

Fine and coarse barens made from twisted, wax cords on a cardboard backing

A good tie-job but they're covered with waxed paper that isn't going to last.....

                                        

Finished Barens

She was happy with how well they worked but was having trouble sourcing a material in Holland for covering them. I was so impressed by her work that I sent her a few bamboo leaves from the garden so they could be properly covered and asking that she share with me her comments on how they perform.
And when I heard she'd be passing through Florence on the way to Cyprus we agreed to meet to share some stories and that I'd be able to have them as guests in my studio so they could have a temporary work space.  Today we spent the day in the studio looking at materials and I got to see their completed blocks and a few prints and they were able to get to work on the next ones.
I hope I'll be able to post photos of the finished print/s soon.
Tomorrow, since they're working on the local spirit, I'm going to try to introduce them to the Olive Trees and see if they also like picking Tuscan olives.

Baren Time

The bamboo in the garden is coming up and that means I'll be gathering takenokawa--the leaf sheaths or culms from the bamboo plant that I use for covering my barens.

I have a few workshops and classes starting next month and one of the things that always interests students are my home-made barens.  A basic plastic baren like we use in my classes costs just $6.00 but as the papers get thicker and the work more complicated, a stronger baren with a little more "feel" and heft makes printing easier and improves the quality of the printed image. Mid-range barens get expensive fast, and professional barens can cost--depending on type--from $150 to over $1000.


The one's I make take a few days to put together but cost just about $5.00 in materials and work well enough for beginners and students on both thin Japanese papers and thicker European papers and will function until one has made enough prints to think about moving to a better tool.  Instructions on how they're made can be found in earlier posts--the biggest change I've made is in hardening the twisted twine with PVA glue so it will stay hard longer--and using different strings to make medium or harder barens. I've had 3 of my barens find new homes recently so I have to make a few new ones so I'll have some for my next workshop for students to try out. For someone who wants to make their own look over my earlier posts:
http://rospobio.blogspot.it/2013/05/making-twisted-cord-baren.html   or  http://rospobio.blogspot.it/2015/01/home-made-barens-revisited-and-now-on.html

Bloodlust

You'll have to make what you will of this little thing.
The words I repeat often, sottovoce, and are the closest thing to a mantra that comes out of my mouth, usually just before or sometimes after.
But I haven't succeeded.
and I haven't been able to achieve any sort of state of enlightenment.
Not yet.

I think of Kasturba
and wonder how she felt about the Mahatma's vow of chastity.
Was she tired of it all, and relieved to be done with all that.
Or was she angry and resentful, despite the higher calling and important things in the world that needed doing outside.

But then I think of Bukowski, who couldn't be bothered with any of that,
and a bug on the wall while he's sitting on the pot writing poetry.
And we know how that ends.

"Desire", 3'x6" original wood engraving with hand set type and egg tempera.

Baren Tests

I spent a few hours yesterday testing my home-made barens and comparing them to the professional-grade Murasaki (strong) and the ball-bearing barens that I already own.


These tests were performed on damp, double-weight, coated bond paper for inkjet papers.
It's what I use for demos and proofing as it is easy to register and prints well when damp.
Then the heavier barens were also tested on Magnani Incisioni, a 190g/m2 etching paper that I use for some of my smaller moku hanga works and that prints well when a good baren is used with lots of pressure.
Not surprisingly, the best impressions, cleanly and efficiently printed with little effort were with my $150 Murasaki Baren.  More suprising, instead, was learning that my twisted-cord Barens all worked reasonably well. They needed more work and rubbing and left a lighter impression but improved greatly by printing twice.
My Thumbtack baren was too strong for this small piece of wood, printing over the grain and causing the paper to slip. With extra care to keep the paper from moving, it also gave a decent impression.
My Ball-Bearing baren was surprisingly weak on thick paper.

My twisted-cord barens all performed surprisingly well for a cheap baren made from humble materials and designed to be suitable for beginning users.
They needed more concerted pressure to get an impression, but with TWO passes, yielded very satisfactory results. This impression is from my nylon twisted-cord baren, printed Twice.

Baren #4, printed twice.

 And here is one printed with a twisted hemp cord coil: one impression on damp bond paper.

Baren # 8 Hemp cord and vinivil

While my thumbtack baren was harder to use. I had paper slippage (three times) with the dampened bond paper which wasn't a problem with any other baren. With incomplete rubbing I got Baren-suji, the marks left by the baren path.
But with care to make sure the paper didn't move, the impression was good, but heavy. The wood grain was partially lost, and there is some color that squished out here and there from the heavier pressure.

Thumbtack Baren, Rives etching paper.

Thumbtack Baren/Bond paper

Thumbtack baren, suji and slippage.

The Murasaki Baren printed cleanly on both the etching and bond papers.

Surprisingly,  My expensive ball-bearing baren was the weakest:

Ball-Bearing baren

This was not a blinded test. I knew which baren I was using and varied the pressure and effort of rubbing to match the baren.  My goal was to find out if I could get a decent impression from each baren not how they would all print with the same effort.
I'd like to go back and retest the ball-bearing and thumb tack barens to see how they perform on normal and medium-weight washi and with  bigger passages of printed color.
Another fun test would be to print a small batch of prints, using different barens for each copy but on the same paper.  This would allow me to see the tonal variations of the various barens in multiblock prints. 
I'd also like to print a big section of color using them to see how the tack baren performs when really worked hard. 

Baren Play--home-made barens revisited. Italianism schedule?

In preparation for tomorrow's ITALIANISM art fair and creative conference in Rome, I've been busy making barens. While technically, I think I'll be demonstrating moku hanga printing and carving....it's a group of artists and designers, and in my experience, the baren is what really makes people curious.

I make these twisted-cord barens for my moku hanga workshops--they work better than the plastic ones--but I'm still looking for how to improve them.  Since I'm working more often with Western papers (as it's still hard and expensive to get Japanese washi way out here in Florence), I continue to look for ways to strengthen the barens to allow them to work well on thicker papers.

 
I made a thumb tack baren (after seeing examples on the web) which has steel 9mm tacks. They're quite hard, but far apart so I'm curious to see how it prints. It should be a hard baren, suitable for color passages on thick paper.

Tomorrow I'm demonstrating moku hanga.
It's a long day 10am through probably 8-10pm (when the music starts).

So here's the tentative schedule I'm planning on following.
10am-noon:  Organize my table and work on a small carving for later printing (baren tests).
12:00-4:30pm--I'm printing copies of my Boteh print from white paper to as far as I get.
4:30-5:30  alternative barens: How to make a home-made twisted cord baren.
5:30-6:30  printing tests with a Murasaki/Twisted Cord/Thumbtack and Ball-bearing baren.
7:00 until I'm too tired: More Boteh Braid printing.

I'll be answering questions, and discussing some of the prints I'll have on display for who stops to look or ask.
It should be fun!

Takenokawa----that time of year again

This is a new bamboo cane and it's growing almost 1' a day.

Ah Spring, when the lusty thoughts of young men everywhere turn to takenokawa.
The bamboo is growing at the rate of a foot a day and that means about once a day, the thin, tough culm that surrounds the growing segment is dropping off too.
I noticed new bamboo shoots in the garden last week and knew it was time to go hunting.
I have a large paper bag as I won't need anything else.

Thank you spring; you have replenished my supply of baren-leaf covers (barengawa) for the year.
(This stand of bamboo has canes that range from 1" to almost 3.5" in diameter....the largest will easily open to 14-15cm when dampened and stretched and a great many of the smaller ones will stretch to 12-14cm...enough to cover my home-made barens).  It rained yesterday so I'll let these sit outside today as there is a drying wind and I'll put them away later before it gets damp in the evening.  I'll check again in a few days as there will be as many again littering the ground.
I recommend you go visit your botanical garden soon with a shopping bag.

Home made Barens revisited (and now on sale on Etsy)

Baren#3; Hemp cord and matte medium. Now on my etsy site.

I've been using my home made barens for a little over a year now and I've had a chance to make some changes and tweaks. Mostly I've found a way to stiffen the cords--white glue and/or matte medium seems to work well.  I've also added paper and glue to the backing disk--this makes it stiffer and just looks cooler.
I just finished Baren #4--a heavy-weight baren made from a marine nylon cord that was hard to twist (I needed 3 tries and 2 helpers).

Baren #4 Nylon cord and Glue 12cm

I have also taken apart the hemp-twine baren that had softened over time (Baren #3) and refurbished it by adding a few paper discs (japanese washi and glue) to stiffen the back and then treated the cord with an white glue and matte medium to fill in the gaps and waterproof and stiffen it.
Now with a new takenokawa (leaf cover) and yellow varnish it's like new and ready for printing.

Hemp twine and matte medium. Baren #3- 11.5cm size

Again my goal is to figure out a way to make decent, inexpensive barens for student and new moku hanga printers...and since many of these are still working with western papers to economize I want to see how they'll print in those situations.
It turns out that these are pretty good as barens go. They are not as strong as my Murasaki professional or a ball-bearing baren.  I need to break both of them in a little bit as the knots are still a little too prominent--I'll be printing later this week and a few impressions of solid color areas will do the trick.  I specifically want to try out the heavy one on a beefy 100+ g/m2 Japanese paper as well as a smooth Italian etching paper......so I can try them side by side with my Murasaki. I'm still looking for the perfect cord....I hope to try waxed cotton twine (macrame cord) next.

New leaf cover.

 Pastry cardboard with glue and washi added to try to stiffen it.

I gave an earlier baren, covered with a shelf paper takenokawa, to a colleague in Milan--and she's been using it in her classes and it's holding up well--and since I've gotten several queries from her students about whether I would make these available, I've put one up on Etsy to see if there is indeed, any interest.

www.toadprints.etsy.com now has Baren #3 freshly listed.

Cost: 35 Euro plus shipping-New backing paper (a couple of layers of paper and acrylic matte medium), waterproofing and strengthening of the cord with glue.  Freshly wrapped with a zero-km bamboo leaf cover (takenokawa) from my Italian garden--and that's not all; for new printers, I'll also guarantee the cover--I'll replace it for up to 6 months if it tears from normal wear or printing---(since that's a task that new printers seem to universally fear when they start moku hanga printing.  You have to get it to me but I'll rewrap it with a new leaf for free).

I think this is a great deal: it has several hours of labor, has been tested, you can return if it isn't what you want AND if it's still too expensive--you can make your own following the steps I outlined in an earlier post.  Check back as I'll be making a couple of these next month and posting them to Etsy too. And I'll be posting the results of my printing tests next week.

See: www.toadprints.etsy.com

Moku Hanga in Florence (Part 3); Getting Ready for the Fair

Well, I was casually, and then a little more pointedly, and now I am frantically preparing for my demonstration this weekend of moku hanga printmaking.
It's THREE days, from 11am to 8pm and I'm there for all of it.  I know the subject will be a success, the process of moku hanga is fascinating to watch...most people have done linoleum prints in their youth or have seen rubber stamps so they get the general concept, but as practiced to produce multicolor prints it is always a bit confusing to watch--it seems almost like magic.
My concern is that I'm not an expert and I'm a little uncomfortable pretending to be an authority.
It's a Japanese cultural fair and usually very well-run and attended and there will be people there who are experts in all things Japanese. Members of the local Japanese community will be there as well as many Italian locals interested in Japanese and Asian culture, sport or food.  Certainly there will be collectors of Japanese art and a few practitioners of Calligraphy (there's an excellent school here in Florence). So while I'll have a section behind me with a panel briefly discussing the history of moku hanga and Ukiyo-e prints, I've decided to be deliberately very brief--and I'll direct serious inquiries to better informed resources. Most of what I've prepared explains the craft: the tools, paper, brushes and technique that go into making a print.
It's what I do know reasonably well and can talk about and demonstrate effectively.

My plan is to have some illustrative panels set up behind explaining the tools and steps and with some examples of traditional Ukiyo-e and sosuka hanga prints (as well as a few of my own).
On the table(s) I'll have blocks and prints in sleeves, bamboo leaves, barens, jars of pigment etc.

I'm starting a new print just for the exhibit and I'll be carving the keyblock and color blocks in the morning. Then I'll switch to printing and try several 1-2 hour blocks of printing working from blocks and prints I have already carved (I'm low on a few prints and I'll be printing them there). Meanwhile, I hope to be able to chat while I'm working--explaining the process illustrated both in the photos behind me and on the bench before me.

Hopefully I'll be able to get far enough on the new work to be able to print it on the third day as the final demonstration.  

Directions?

"Right of Way", work in progress/proof state. (moku hanga)

Well, I'm back at work in the studio for the first time in almost three months.

I started working on this print last April and I had hoped to finish it before the Summer arrived and I left for the USA.  But it's bigger than I usually work (about 20" x 22") and just dealing with the paper-- using a carry sheet to move the damp paper safely to and from the damp pack to the block combined with the process of carefully inking and printing from the big blocks just takes longer and I didn't want to be rushed.

Detail of one of the blocks: arrows and grass

I pulled just a quick proof before leaving, and saw that I had a fair amount of work still to do with the blocks, so I put them away for later.
But I'm finally back.

While I can't say I'm totally free to jump right back into the studio full-time, I did manage to dampen some paper and work a few hours each of the last few days to pull some proper proofs on student-grade washi.
As is typical for my working style, I'm still making decisions as I go along and I'm glad now that I left the printing for when I came back.  There are still some decisions to make and some changes the blocks will need to get this where I want it to go and make sure they're printing cleanly before I use my good paper. Hopefully in the next week or so I'll be able to focus and concentrate on making it right, instead of just "done".

"Right of Way", proof state. Moku hanga woodblock print.

This still needs about 3-4 passes of color and I have to tweak the registration a bit....and there's a big colored border that will change the look a lot.

I'll explain more about what I'm up to when this is finished.......

Stumps and flowers

Cardinal Creeper, wood engraving and watercolor; 8"x8".

About a year ago, I was walking home from the clinic on one of my last shifts of the Summer. I noted a neighbor had almost finished taking out a boxwood hedge. The tops had been sawn off and they were trying to dig and pry out the stumps and roots. My first thought was whether any could be salvaged for Bonsai....Boxwood takes forever to grow and an abandoned plant would be perfect....but these had been too badly damaged. But I asked the owner if I could grab a few pieces.....I heard boxwood was ideally suited for wood engraving....and I'd never tried it as it's become too hard to find endgrain blocks and too expensive to have them made....but I could saw off the end of a stump and these would cost only my labor.

I came back with a box, threw in the fattest trunks and took them home. I didn't have time to properly treat them; but I put half in my mildly damp studio and the others I put under the Pizza oven/which was covered with a tarp. I hoped in my year away that they would dry....and not crack too badly.



This Summer, I've been too busy with house works and other health issues to really do any artwork. But I did have time to pull out the stumps and survey the wood.  Most of the big pieces had checked (cracked) rather badly.....but I sawed off a few rounds........I sanded a couple smooth; and took the ugliest, most suited to a test carving, and continued sanding until it was glass smooth.

I drew a sketch of a plant I've been meaning to do a print of for a couple of years....
Cardinal climber or creeper (the name changes and they're not exactly the same....but it's a cross of a wild and domestic climbing morning glory). It's a great humming bird attractor and I've planted it a couple of times with little success, but last Summer my housemate Sandy got some to grow; and I took a few sketches/photos.

So armed with a subject; a sketch; a wood round; and a few engraving tools I decided to give it a go.
Since this will be only one block and the registration will not be an issue. I just redrew my sketch onto the smooth end. I tinted the block with a little greenish wash to help show the future cuts.
It was a bit of a mess; I didn't really know how to hold or use the tint--the sharp pointed tool used to outline my shapes. Nor did the scorpers---clearing tools seem to want to obey my clumsy hands.  But by the second day, I resharpened the tools,  tried holding them at a shallower angle and things started to go better. And by the time I decided I was done (parts were shaggy and ragged, others clean and well-defined). This was meant to be a test and I didn't want to expend too much time and energy on an experiment.

After one day of hacking and stuttering....

A few days later; the tools are sharper, and I'm going about it from a shallower angle.

Cardinal Climber, 8"x8" on Echizen Kozo; Akua Carbon Black Intaglio ink.

And here is the result.

These were printed by hand using a baren. I printed a few onto a Japanese paper (echizen kozo--here) and two papers better suited for engravings and etchings.

The back of the block was still uneven stump so printing was a bit of a disaster...I ended up making a clay base to hold the block, I'd lay the damp paper in place, set it with a light pressure of the baren, then pick the whole thing up and supported with one hand from behind, rub the surface with the baren hard....I got the hang of it after about 4-5.......

The few good, even impressions I'll leave alone.
The few weak impressions I'll go over as above with some watercolor.......
 
It was fun to try and the results, although crude, are appealing--I like the crisp effects the crosshatching yields, and I'm not really used to working in black and white--but I'll try to pick out a few ideas that will work well in this format and technique.  I like close hand work and detail, so it's a technique I might be able to use to my advantage, once I get better at it.

I'll let the stumps dry for another year (they'll carve better). But I'll take a few rounds with me when I head back to Italy this September.  It's a totally different technique than moku hanga, and I'll have to work really small......but I want to try another one......

Wear and Tear

I reached another small milestone--I had to repair the takenokawa (cover) on my home-made Baren.  This means that I've been using them and my 11cm hemp-twine and glue, twisted-cord baren developed a tear bad enough during the print run of horses that I had to stop using it. (See my post on making one: http://rospobio.blogspot.it/2013/05/making-twisted-cord-baren.html).

No worry. Practice works and I'm no longer panicking when I have to tie on a new one (I've done it now almost a dozen times....).
I'm also no longer worried about running out of bamboo leaf culms since I found a stash on the ground in the garden's bamboo patch.....and there's probably a botanical garden near you too where you can find some big enough to try out (http://rospobio.blogspot.it/2013/05/bamboo-skin.html).

So:
Snip, trash, rinse, rinse, stretch, stretch, smooth, smooth, rub, rub, rub, pleat, pleat, pleat, tie and snip.
There you are; all done.
It does get easier.
And this will definitely work.

Ready for the next one.

PS. This works reasonably well as a medium-soft baren and I used it on the thinner Japanese papers where my Murasaki baren was too hard and when I wanted a little mottling/wood grain to show.
My other home-made baren (14 cm kite-string twisted cord) instead worked really well for printing the key block.  Neither are strong enough for really good smooth color but I'm pretty happy with how they both perform.