Tuesday, April 25, 2017

MOKU HANGA IN ITALY: Upcoming Workshops of Japanese woodblock--Padua/Florence/Ravenna2017



ENGLISH:
I have a few workshops scheduled and in the works for Spring and Fall of 2017.
May 27-28 Noventa Padovana (PADUA); First up is my workshop just outside of Padua, in Noventa Padovana with La Bottega del Cigno and Daniela Veronese--this ex-primary school is now home to a thriving artist cultural association catering to illustrators and painters and other arts and will be hosting a 2-day introductory workshop of Japanese woodblock. Class size is limited to 8 students and there are still places available. (Italian and English)
Contact information is here: http://www.labottegadelcigno.it/ or email: labottegadelcigno@gmail.com

OCTOBER 20-22, Ravenna: I will also be returning to INK33; Enrico Rambaldi's ambitious series of workshops on the various techniques of printmaking in the historic center of Ravenna. I'll be offering a 2 and 1/2 day introductory workshop in Japanese woodblock (In Italian and English). For information: ink33.it o infoink33@gmail.com Phone: 3336907459

NEWS: Florence JUNE 2017; After the success of my January workshop and fielding many requests to offer an additional course, I'm thrilled to report that the historic print studio and workshop, IL BISONTE, has invited me to teach at their beautiful and spacious print studios. I'll have dates finalized this week but it will be a 2-day introductory class and limited to 8 students. 

ITALIANO:
I Prossimi Corsi/Workshop di Stampa Giapponese; Noventa Padovana (Padova), Ravenna, e Firenze.

Noventa Padovana (Padova) il 27/28 MAGGIO:
Sono poco piu' di 4 settimane prima del mio prossimo corso introdottivo di moku hanga/la stampa giapponese presso La Bottega del Cigno a Noventa Padovana. Sara' la prima volta che insegno a Padova e sono contento che sono stato invitato di portare la tecnica della stampa giapponese agli artisti e illustratori che frequentono lo spazio.  Limitato ad 8 studenti ma ci sono ancora posti disponibile.
per info: http://www.labottegadelcigno.it/ o http://www.labottegadelcigno.it/courses_item/workshop-xilografia-moku-hanga/  Email: labottegadelcigno@gmail.com 

Ravenna: 20-22 Oct; Torno a Ravenna e ad INK33, Lo studio di Enrico Rambaldi nel centro storico di Ravenna. Venerdi/Sabato/Domenica--Un po' tempo in piu' per permettere qualche technica extra e' piu' prove di stampa in questo corso base.
per info:  ink33.it o infoink33@gmail.com telefonare al 3336907459

NOTIZIE: Firenze--GIUGNO--c'e ancora di definire le date ma sono stato invitato di offrire un corso presso il storico Studio di Incisione il Bisonte e dove posso accommodare chi mi ha chiesto di offrire un altro corso a Firenze dopo il successo del mio workshop di Gennaio----info e dettagli nei prossimi giorni per questo workshop base di 2 giorni....

 

Thursday, April 20, 2017

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




















Wednesday, April 12, 2017

This time with a little color.

I have been moving forward with my small print series of shunga/erotica/quick sketches and have etched one image/plate and almost finished another. Meanwhile, I cut color blocks for this one and pulled a couple of color proofs using my baren and today quickly inked and proofed the zinc plate with a small table press on top of the color work already laid down.
I'm using a textured Italian etching paper and my zinc plates weren't highly polished so there's a lot of plate tone that is going to greatly influence the final result. 
I think this isn't bad for a color test--I will probably flip color tones for the male and female shapes and try to get it to print a little cleaner.

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Shunga 2

Here are the first three of my sample plates for my erotic/shunga series.
I'm still not sure if I'll be able to pull this off but I'll commit to at least 5 of the images I have in mind and wait until I've got the color blocks done and printed too before I decide if this is worth pursuing.
Of these I'm happy with the 1st two--the third I think needs to be redrawn and etched on a new plate.




Soft-ground etching on zinc waiting for color plates.
They're all either 13cm square or 12cm x 13cm.