MLYON.com » Woodblock

PVC Heat Shrink Baren Cover

Mike Lyon — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:00:21 +0000

From time to time it’s been difficult to obtain quality takenokawa (bamboo husk) for recovering my barens. For some time I’ve wondered about alternative materials for baren covers, especially about using heat shrink tubing. I bought some six inch wide clear layflat PVC heat shrink tubing (12 inch circumference), cut a length about 2 1/2 times the diameter of my baren, trimmed the ends to make thinner handles and… It seems to have worked pretty well, actually! Covering a baren with takenokawa the traditional way requires a lot of practice and some dexterity. Covering a baren with PVC heat shrink tubing seems to require very little skill or dexterity — as long as you don’t over heat the material (or the baren!) it seems pretty fool-proof.

The particular PVC heat shrink tubing I acquired seems a bit too thin or light weight (5 mil) for a baren. Even so, less flexible than takenokawa but seems hardier. Hardiness is good because the shrink-wrapped baren is completely encased front and back so it’s impossible to rotate the baren during printing so all wear occurs where the high points of the coil press the shrink wrap against the paper and block.

When lubricated with camellia oil, the PVC covering glides over the paper with about the same ‘feel’ as takenokawa, though because it’s completely non-absorbent and glossy smooth, it seems to run dry of lubricant faster than takenokawa and then friction increases…

I think I’ll eventually be able to find a shrink tubing with more ideal characteristics — in the meantime, this stuff seems to work better than I’d expected.

My hon baren in a PVC shrink wrap cover after printing the equivalent of about 800 oban impressions -- no visible wear.

The back of my hon baren with PVC shrink wrap -- because the wrap is a tube of PVC, the back is also wrapped.

Preparing to cover a home made bead chain baren -- PVC shrink tube has been trimmed

coil (bead chain on hot melt glue and paper backing) and backing (plywood sanded into gentle convex shape)

coil and backing inside tube and ends of tube tied to form handle

ready to shrink - heat gun and baren in unshrunk tube

CAREFULLY applying heat to back first, then to front -- too much heat and PVC will melt.

Completed wrap job -- handle side

handle side of shrink wrapped bead chain baren

working side of shrink wrapped bead chain baren

Grass4 77 x 22 inches woodblock print from 12 blocks

Mike Lyon — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:06:17 +0000

October 26, 2010 I completed an edition of five of this 12-block woodcut (77 x 22 inches):

Grass4, Oct 26, 2006, 77 x 22 inches, woodcut from 12 blocks on paper by Iwano Ichibei (edition of 5)

detail of Grass4

Grass 2.2 large woodblock print

Mike Lyon — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:31:31 +0000

I ran a second edition of four sheets from the sixteen blocks used in Grass 2. I was curious to see the effect of transitioning from pale greens into blues into blacks (rather than the simple blues into blacks of the first edition). Also, I’d run into registration problems which affected five of the eight sheets I printed in the first edition — I thought I understood how that had occurred and wanted a test to be certain. The solution worked very well and was quite simple — use a baren to lightly fix each sheet to the block prior to impressing with the rollers.

The prints are very similar, but they feel different… The blue ones are a bit ‘crisper’ somehow and moodier. The green ones have a more liquid feel and seem a little less brooding. Both editions are quite good, I think — no matter where one looks, it’s interesting. I read a lovely book last week — and was struck by this passage:

“…a puddle from last night’s rain is evaporating; a puddle in which Magistrate Shiroyama observes the blurred reflections of gulls wheeling through spokes of sunlight. This world, he thinks, contains just one masterpiece, and that is itself.“

From “The thousand autumns of Jacob De Zoet”
by David Mitchell (Random House, 2010)

Grass 2.2, July 23, 2010, 22.5 x 72 inches, woodcut from 16 cherry plywood blocks on hosho paper by Iwano Ichibei, edition of 4

detail -- registration check lower right

detail -- registration check upper left

detail -- registration check lower left

detail

Grass-2 large woodblock print 22.5 x 72 inches from 16 blocks

Mike Lyon — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 13:33:37 +0000

My lawn seems a near-perfect subject for drawings and woodblock prints. Grass-1 was a drawing (not yet completed). Grass-2 is a woodblock print — sixteen blocks cut two blocks to a sheet of 4×8 foot quarter-inch cherry plywood. Grass-3 is another drawing under construction at the moment. This format allows me to ink and print a block all from one side of my 5 x 10 foot stationary bed pinch-roller press. Images like this one lend themselves very well to my pr0cess. The staccato rhythm of the many transitions from lightest to darkest works so nicely (so long as registration is perfect) and I love the way the quick changes in the blades of grass are moderated by slower visual rhythms of the relatively large clover and other leaves so there’s a bit of music in this print, and a bit of mystery and drama, I feel. Not only the visual cycle of lights and darks, but also something about birth, death, and renewal. My eye spirals through this image, following the shafts of the grass, pausing in the leaves, circling, circling, and I notice that some things are fresh and healthy and others seem to have been chewed up and decayed — and what’s going on under that surface? Dirt and worms and… This kind of (somewhat allegorical) image works for me on many levels and I don’t imagine I’ll grow tired of looking at it… Time will tell!

'Grass-2', July 16, 2010, woodblock print, 22.5 x 72 inches, 16 blocks printed onto 8 sheets of hosho paper by Iwano Ichibei

computer controlled router carves block on sheet of quarter-inch plywood

another view of CNC machining area

Printing accessories, clockwise from lower left: larger mizu-bake (water brush), camelia oil (baren lubricant), pigment suspensions and pigment application brush, smaller mizu-bake, baren (printing pad), hanga bake (printing brush)

Using misu-bake to dampen block

applying pigment to dampened block

using hanga-bake to brush pigment evenly into block

sliding sheet out of paper-delivery drawer and registering it to kento in block -- right foot about to tap switch to close drawer

turning crank to print sheet

after printing block four -- prints in take-up drawer under press.

after printing block 15 -- sheets in take-up drawer under press

detail of completed print

detail of signature and seal on completed print

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1rqU-TUiBI

“Sara” 42×77 inch woodcut from 17 blocks

Mike Lyon — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 20:42:00 +0000

The large (42 x 77 inch) prints of “Sara” reclining on her messy bed have been successfully completed — I selected 8 for the edition plus two proofs. There is some variation among the edition, the greatest differences being in the depth of the deepest tones behind the head and in the top background — these were introduced when I used the baren to print one of the blocks, pressing too hard about half the prints resulting in some loss of color at the edges of the block forms. Something to remember for next time! But overall the ten printed sheets are reasonable uniform, all things considered.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=033cjRyyeDs

video documents start-to-finish printing of one sheet around block four…

"Sara", 42 x 77 inch woodblock print (17 blocks) Permanent Collection, Beach Museum of Art

Sara woodcuts in press take-up drawer -- 14 of 17 blocks have been printed

Sara woodcuts in drawer after 14 of 17 blocks printed

"Sara" exhibited at Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art September-October, 2006

Good lord, it’s hot in my studio! I’m working on “Sara”, a 17 block woodcut on ten sheets of 42 x 77 inch Iwano Ichibei hosho paper. Sweaty work and EXHAUSTING!!! I’m managing to print about 3 or 4 blocks per day and that’s really all I am able to manage! But I’m getting better and better at using the large press I built about seven or eight months ago, even though this is only the third edition I’ve pulled on it.

I handled registration a bit differently this time… The blocks were carved with three identical side kento, each about 1 1/2 inches long, and the center of the middle one was inscribed with a very narrow line. I used a razor blade to produce three flat edges in the deckle of each sheet (parallel to the edge of the sheet)so that they’d line up with the kento in the blocks, and I drew a short pencil line in the center of the middle ‘notch’ to be lined up with the line inscribed in the middle kento. Surprisingly, this worked very well, and I found it easy to register each sheet to the blocks, aligning the pencil mark with the inscribed line on the block. At the far edges, this resulted in about +/- .05 inch of dead on which is plenty close for the image and the eye. Given the size of the sheets I’m not sure I can do much better than that…

– Mike

Framed prints and drawings arrived today…

Mike Lyon — Fri, 26 May 2006 18:21:00 +0000

What a wonderful surprise when John O’Brien called from Dolphin Gallery to let me know that the framing of five of my new (large) works were done — Justin and Greg came by a short while later to deliver the things and here they are all wrapped up in their milky protective plastic wrapping and leaning against the wall of my 2nd floor studio — you get the picture:

Two woodblock prints (far left and 2nd from right) and three pen and ink drawings

Aspen Grove 77×42 inch woodcut plus pigment application video

Mike Lyon — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 17:43:00 +0000

You asked about how I mix and apply pigment…

When printing very pale colors, I generally add pigment dispersion or dry pigment to rice paste or methyl cellulose, mix well, and then dab that onto the damp block and brush out. For more saturated colors, I mix a substantial amount of dry pigment into a bit of paste and water and let stand overnight, stirring well the following day prior to printing — OR — I use pigment dispersion (a pigment-saturated liquid which mixes freely into water) as I demonstrate in the movie below. I add the pigment directly into a damp area of the block and then brush out until I achieve an even and satiny surface suitable for printing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRmV0ZqkvRo

In the video, I’m printing the fourth of 12 carvings onto six 77 x 42 inch sheets (image 75 x 40 inches)… I’m clearly very much on the steep part of the learning curve and my printing’s more or less out of control at the moment — even so, this looks like it’ll be a pretty nice image of the dense aspen grove next to my parents’ home in Colorado.

And… It turned out very well in spite of my poor choice of an MDF core plywood — the MDF tended to swell during damp printing so that it was quite a trick to avoid squeeze out of pigment at the edges of carved areas. Still, the press and printing are progressing nicely, I think!

reduction carving 4x8 foot walnut plywood for 'Aspen Grove'

detail of print showing woodgrain in printing

prints in take-up drawer early in printing

Detail of block after final carving

detail of print

prints in take-up drawer late in printing

completed prints on wall behind press

'Aspen Grove' 2006, 77x40 inches, woodcut on paper made by Iwano Ichibei

Leaves — Pulling the final impression of first 77×42 inch woodcut

Mike Lyon — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 18:53:00 +0000

This morning I pulled the final impressions of my first 77×42 inch woodblock print using my new press… Not bad for a first attempt, actually, but I believe I can greatly improve with more practice! Registration appears to be pretty close to dead-on, thanks to paper maker Iwano Ichibei’s having rocked the paper mold lengthwise so it is very stable in the long direction! Kinda amazes me to be able to maintain such tight registration over 77 inches of paper — I had NOT expected this to be so easy and automatic at all! COOL!

'Leaves', Feb 2006, 77 x 42 inches, woodcut on handmade Japanese paper

detail

'Leaves' prints in takeup drawer after final impressions were pulled.

Here’s a short (3.4mb) movie showing the last impression of the last print (8 blocks were printed on each of 5 sheets) — ends with some dizzying (sorry) close-ups of the print showing rather intense detail:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFaUJBBXwn8

pulling the final impression

OK, here’s about 11 minutes of video showing the first prints coming off the large woodblock printing press I’ve built — the press bed it about 4 1/2 feet wide and 10 feet long and has a novel paper delivery humidor which can present sheets up to 4×8 feet for registering and printing by a single person (actually, I’m a married person, but I print solo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXLWKaSfe64

(carving and printing on new press)

The block on the press is a 4×8 foot sheet of 1/4 inch cherry plywood — easy for me to carry back and forth from the press to the carving machine (only a few feet apart) as this is to be a reduction print, so only one block will be carved, printed, and recarved through the eight printings for theimage.

The papers I’m printing are very thin and very fine Japanese Hosho made by Iwano Ichibei. These are the largest sheets Iwano-san has made in many years — 42 x 77 inches. The are also the largest sheets I’ve EVER handled! But the mechanical aids I’ve designed and built make it so easy!

I feel SOOOooo happy! It works even better than I’d hoped and seems very easy and straight forward… I have a few adjustments to make in moving the paper from the block into the printed paper humi-drawer under the press, but I think that should be a relatively simple improvement.

Considering that these are the VERY FIRST prints I’ve pulled from the press (and that my skill in handling the blocks, sheets, inks, brushes, drawers, etc. can only improve with practice), these first attempts make me feel optimistic! My only regrets at the moment are that I’m no longer young, strong, and/or slender– I’ll have to work on those a bit (LOL)

Mike

– Mike

Computer Carving Machine operational!

Mike Lyon — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 19:13:00 +0000

The Large Press installation is almost done now! This week I’m cutting the final parts — the vacuum plenum for the press itself… This is a somewhat complicated task it turns out, but I believe I’ve got it figured out.

I’ve successfully moved my ShopBot CNC machine from the 3rd to the 1st floor… After cutting a large vacuum plenum to hold 4×8 foot by quarter-inch plywood sheets flat and solidly in place on the machine, I experimented yesterday by carving the dozen blocks for my prints for Baren Forum Mythical Beasts Exchange (#27).

My kids gave me a nifty and TINY little all-digital video camera for XMAS, and I used it to shoot a 2 1/2 minute video of the computer-guided tool in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z2NEUO1lSc

You may want to turn down your volume as the router is very loud and obnoxious… What you’ll see are some brief cuts of V-bit carving to outline the printing shapes, then clearing outside the V-carved areas with a 1/4″ down-spiral — I’ve also shown a couple of views of the control screen — the first shows each line of program code as it’s executed — I think we’re at about line 14,000 in the shot — later there’s a view showing the cutting head position in X (length) Y (width) and Z (height) coordinates.

The blocks turned out quite nicely! I’ll be printing in pinks and greens for this one…

'Hannya' January 22, 2006, chuban (about 10x8) woodcut from twelve blocks for barenforum.org exchange 27 (mythical beasts)

McNeese National Works On Paper Exhibition

Mike Lyon — Sat, 15 Oct 2005 15:00:00 +0000

The McNeese National Works On Paper exhibition of 40 prints was selected by juror Annette DiMeo Carlozzi from over 800 entries. My 30 x 21 inch woodblock print “Anthony” received the “Bank One Purchase Award” of $1,200, entered the permanent collection of McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and was reproduced on the cover of the exhibition catalog. Here’s what the juror had to say about her choice of “Anthony”:

“I was most impressed with Anthony‘s boldness and directness — the content itself — its scale, its lack of sentiment, the graphic beauty of the contrasts. the immediacy, I guess, of the image, married to a technique which seemed to my uneducated eyes to perfectly support that image. It is so monumental as well, which stood out among works that had to be limited to a certain dimension. Most people make small or medium sized works when the dimensions are medium-scaled. Yours was monumental in a really satisfying way.” Annette DiMeo Carlozzi, Curator of American and Contemporary Art Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art The University of Texas at Austin

Gift prints for Japan visit

Mike Lyon — Mon, 04 Oct 2004 18:13:56 +0000

Three small prints from a single block set. After printing, each was cut out and folded into a fancy tissue, then enclosed in a gift envelope. When we visited Japan, I presented these as small gifts to everyone who was kind to us — the reactions were usually a bit hilarious — I’m not too sure that nude woodcuts are the ‘usual’ fare, even in Japan!

"Jessica", "Elizabeth & Rod", "Mia" woodblock prints -- this is what each 11 x 16 inch sheet looked like before the individual prints were cut out. This particular sheet was left uncut, but was signed and numbered 24/24 after the image above was scanned.

The 16 blocks carved for the prints. Each block is 1/4" plywood with a cherry veneer and each is 12 x 16 inches with registration notches (kento) carved into the lower right corner and just left of center on each block. The blocks are very flexible, so I hold them absolutely flat on my printing table using a special vacuum plenum I made for the purpose.

"Elizabeth & Rod" October 4, 2004, 9.3 x 4 inches, woodblock print from 16 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigment in methyl cellulose paste on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 24 sheets printed

"Jessica" October 4, 2004, 9.3 x 4 inches, woodblock print from 16 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigment in methyl cellulose paste on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 24 sheets printed

"Mia" October 4, 2004, 9.3 x 4 inches, woodblock print from 16 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigment in methyl cellulose paste on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 24 sheets printed

Lily and Sarah (spring becomes summer)

Mike Lyon — Tue, 17 Aug 2004 18:08:14 +0000

“Lily & Sarah (Spring Becomes Summer)”, August 17, 2004, 9 x 8 inches, woodblock print from 32 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigments in rice flour paste on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 48 sheets printed — another failed attempt to realize ‘full color’ in a woodcut.

"Lily & Sarah (Spring Becomes Summer)", August 17, 2004, 9 x 8 inches, woodblock print from 32 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigments in rice flour paste on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 48 sheets printed

Danielle

Mike Lyon — Mon, 09 Aug 2004 18:04:30 +0000

“Danielle”, August 9, 2004, 22 x 8 inches, woodblock print from 16 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigment and charcoal in paste of rice starch on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 16 sheets printed.

"Danielle", August 9, 2004, 22 x 8 inches, woodblock print from 16 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigment and charcoal in paste of rice starch on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 16 sheets printed

Rod

Mike Lyon — Thu, 05 Aug 2004 18:00:35 +0000

“Rod”, August 5, 2004, 30 x 21 inches, woodblock print from 16 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigment and neri-zumi in paste of rice starch on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 12 sheets printed.

"Rod", August 5, 2004, 30 x 21 inches, woodblock print from 16 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigment and neri-zumi in paste of rice starch on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 12 sheets printed

Jessica on dark drapery

Mike Lyon — Thu, 01 Jul 2004 17:56:34 +0000

“Jessica on dark drapery”, July 1, 2004, 10 x 15 inches, woodblock print from 16 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigment and neri-zumi in paste of rice starch on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 16 sheets printed.

"Jessica on dark drapery", July 1, 2004, 10 x 15 inches, woodblock print from 16 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigment and neri-zumi in paste of rice starch on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 16 sheets printed

Shannon and Danielle seated

Mike Lyon — Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:49:21 +0000

“Shannon and Danielle seated”, June 30, 2004, 15 x 10 inches, woodblock print from 24 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigment and neri-zumi in paste of rice starch on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 24 sheets printed. I love this frank image of the two girls seated on the box in my studio!

"Shannon and Danielle seated", June 30, 2004, 15 x 10 inches, woodblock print from 24 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigment and neri-zumi in paste of rice starch on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 24 sheets printed

the 24 blocks for Shannon and Danielle seated

Sarah (pink robe)

Mike Lyon — Tue, 29 Jun 2004 17:42:30 +0000

“Sarah (pink robe)”, June 29, 2004, 7 x 22 inches, woodblock print from 16 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigment and neri-zumi in paste of rice starch on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 24 sheets printed.

"Sarah (pink robe)", June 29, 2004, 7 x 22 inches, woodblock print from 16 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigment and neri-zumi in paste of rice starch on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 24 sheets printed

Among my most ‘romantic’ images, this one of Sarah reclining in her pink terry-cloth robe knocks me out! Another experiment in limiting the range of values, this one starts at paper-white and moves only about half-way to black — this ‘low contrast’ technique seems to me to produce a more emotional response than if it were printed with a full range of values (high contrast)…

Elizabeth and Rod

Mike Lyon — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 17:37:25 +0000

Rod, my friend of 20 years and his girlfriend of two weeks, Elizabeth, came down in early June and allowed me to photograph them them… A LOT of interesting images came from that afternoon, including this one which I loved for its quiet contrast between her light and somewhat inflated figure in motion and his dark and heavy and stationary stance behind. This one parodies 19th century sumo images which occasionally depicted sumo in the company of beautiful women.

"Elizabeth and Rod", June 25, 2004, 15 x 10 inches, woodblock print from 24 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigment and neri-zumi in paste of rice starch on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 24 sheets printed

Sarah Reclining

Mike Lyon — Wed, 26 May 2004 17:31:11 +0000

I think this image is pretty much a wooden sort of homage to Bonnard — another print of the same setup is much more like a Cezanne still-life, but this one harkens to Bonnard in my mind. It’s 22 shades of blue-gray are very close together, and I was primarily interested in contrasting the smooth figure with the wrinkled sheets and quilt. I don’t feel that I was altogether successful in that endeavor, but the print is very quiet and beautiful. I think you can see some of the intense modeling of the drapery if you view the enlarged image at full size.

"Sarah", May 26, 2004, 15 x 10 inches, woodblock print from 22 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigment and neri-zumi in paste of rice starch on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 24 sheets printed

Sarah

Mike Lyon — Sat, 15 May 2004 17:26:17 +0000

This is an early portrait of my primary model, Sarah, whose image appears again and again in these pages. This is a detail from an image of her full standing figure made about ten years ago. I have been looking forward to printing this for a long time, but have lacked the skills I felt I needed until now. I began printing about half-way to dark and continued to print deeper and deeper with each successive block. The finished print is VERY blue and feels like hanging in very deep Caribbean water looking to infinity. Blue, blue, blue. Very beautiful print, very nice to look at, very satisfying!

"Sarah", May 15, 2004, 30 x 21 inches, woodblock print from 19 cherry plywood blocks, dry pigment and neri-zumi in paste of rice starch on Iwano Ichibei hosho, 12 sheets