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What is a Print Exchange.


Feminist Contraption #12 as Conceived by the Male Artist or Fem-trap #12

By : Eli Griggs

Eli sent in a full description on how he made his woodcut print for the WIAP exchange. The full text has been included below. I also asked him, privately about his image.

Josephine



Webpage:
http://www.geocities.com/eli_griggs/mypage.html


Q: Why a 'Mason' Jar?"

As for the jar, growing up "Southern", some of my earliest memories are "Ball-Mason" brand jars.

They are used for the home 'canning' or 'preserving of food from farms and gardens and roadside vendors, and the jars are an icon of a heritage still very much alive.

Many a young girl learned to feed her family from 'put-up' jars of tomatoes, pickles, okra, snap beans, peaches, apples, etc. found in Mama's pantry.

Mason jars of jams and simple sweet wines and just about any food you might think of, were shared as gifts among family, friends or neighbours at 'most any opportunity or occasion.

The variety of foods grown were great and the quality of a homemaker, in some parts, was often judged on how well she could preserve jars of clean, tasty foods.

When compared to the bland, ubiquitous canned goods offered up by supermarkets, the well prepared garden foods of the South, were a gourmet feast.

These jars were/are also used for ice water drinking, bootleg moonshine, hiding money, catching fireflies and crickets and ladybugs and just about anything else you might think of.

There is a legal grain liquor that is marketed in Mason jars (or some corporate imitation) and a few years back, a large family restaurant chain with a "down home" theme served its cold drinks in Mason jars.

The restaurant, which featured first rate "country cooking" failed, in large part due to it's name "Po'Folks." People do remember the drinking jars though!

Anyway, I chose the Mason 'brand' because if it's worth putting up, a woman is going to do so with a Mason jar.


Feminist Contraption #12 as Conceived by the Male Artist or Fem-trap #12

By : Eli Griggs

When I design a print, I usually will either work from several sketch books, in which I have made random marks and ‘doodles’, without any clear direction or intent as to a final design or I will take a single sheet of paper, the size of the intended image area and begin to lightly sketch by making random marks, allowing the elements to come together within the format of the intended block. I almost never take an existing painting or watercolour and try to turn it into a print, believing that, in general, it is best to keep the process fresh.

For this print I decided to have some fun. The full length title pretty much tells all you need to know about the subject and I do not think that I could or need to explain it much futher that as a bit of tongue-in-cheek.

I tend to use the Golden Rectangle to lay out the design area, deciding first what size square, when elongated in one direction (1 x 1.618) will best fit into the area of the sheet.

I also ghost in the divisions of the Golden Rectangle in both diagonals, which helps me with several design considerations. I do not often overlay or layer my images so I feel that this little bit of Greek Math is very helpful, assisting in the placement of single elements. I do not use the Golden Section or Golden Rectangle in all my work, but in the case of Fem-trap #12 I did. This print was laid out as approximately 21cm x 35 cm. (13.5 x 8.3 inches) on a sheet of about 28 cm x38 cm (11 x15inches).

Once I decided on a theme, (a t.v. broadcast sparked a memory of a collage guest lecturer who could not describe what exactly defined feminist art as feminist), I simply drew out the main elements, changing a few along the way, but basically the design was ‘born’ whole.

About the only thing I had trouble with was the counterweight to the safety pin. I started out with a down feather, but after two pages of sketching and a few fly- tying plumes taped onto the same, I decided to use a dandelion seed. I liked the structure much better than feathers.

Once I have the design, I will prepare the block.

For this print I used Cherry, which is my preferred wood for woodcut. I sanded the block with an orbital, variable speed Qpalm’ machine, using first 60 girt paper, followed by progressively finer grits to 220. I do not try to remove all traces of grain, my goal is only to produce a clean, flat ground for my design. All machine planers, no matter how fine, leave ripple marks which should be removed. The sander I use is fitted with a hook and loop base, so changing papers is quick and easy. This encourages using the sanding papers properly, not skipping grits in misdirected efforts to ‘hurry up and finish’. The variable speed is very useful because I can adjust for different woods, such as a soft white wood, and work more efficiently.

This board, truth be told, was less good than it might have been because of the inclusion of lighter sections of growth, ‘tear-out’ and considerable figure, including some ‘birds- eye’ knots. I prefer straight, even grained boards, but have had some difficulty of late, finding them locally, in the sizes I need. This board was originally 2 meters, 44 cm (eight feet) by 24.76 cm wide (9 3/4 inches) and 18 mm (3/4inch) thick.

It cost 33$US and I was able to cut one decent, almost straight grain block from it about the same size as the one I needed for this print. This board could have been made into beautiful boxes or picture frames. As ground for woodcut it need a lot of ‘editing’ and even then I am only able to use about a third of it for woodcuts.

After the board is sanded, I carefully vacuum and then wipe away any trace of dust and sanding grit, with a ‘tack‘ cloth. I examine the block by touch and eye to make sure no grit that can damage my tools remain. I then shellac the board, using a 2 lb. cut of fresh orange shellac. I gave this piece of wood three light coats, wiping it on by muslin cloth and dry sanding lightly with a 400 grit wet/dry automotive paper mounted in a firm rubber block between coats. I used the shellac to help avoid cross grain breakout; I believe the shellac has a mild ‘binding effect on the wood, which assist in thin line carving. It also helps the block to receive the ink.

Once the block is prepared, I make up a small batch of rice flour paste, mixing one tablespoon of flour to three of cool water. I slowly heat, over a medium flame, the mix in a teflon lined glass pan, stirring the mix continuously with a homemade wooden whisk. I take care not to over heat the mix and remove and replaced it over the heat several times until it reaches the proper state. I put this aside to cool to room temperature before using.

I prepared a sheet of Japanese paper, Silk Gampi in the case of Fem-trap #12 with a tracing of my design. This paper is very fine and I drew my design onto the smooth face with a Pigma pen, which gives a uniform black line, a line which will not bleed when damp. I only drew the outline of the print, leaving any decisions about how to finish a line to the carving stage. I did make some notations as to shadows on my sheet of Gampi, only because I want to have my thought down where I will see it and move on to something else.

Once my transfer was prepared and the rice paste cooled, I applied a smear of paste to the block surface, being careful to work quickly and evenly. Once the paste is down, I take the flat of my palm and, working the entire block, slap it up and down onto the paste. This raised small peaks of paste, which allowed the sheet of Gampi to be adjusted slightly as I laid it down. I quickly wiped my hand with a dry paper towel, there is no time for a wash, and took hold of the design.

I placed the Gampi, face down, working fast, holding both ends up from the block and allowing the middle to make contact first. I then lowered the right hand side onto the block adjusting as needed. Then I put down the left side. I smooth the paper down from the center out and set the block aside to completely dry. I should note that I did not make any alignment marks on the block or transfer. I later regretted that because a misalignment in the transfer caused all my ‘paper drops’ to be off. The method of using the paste and the Japanese paper I learned from the Baren web group, which is dedicated to woodcut. However had this been a multi-colour block, the casual way I worked would have been wholly unacceptable, with nothing aligned properly.

The Gampi is so thin that, when dry, it will not obscure the grain of the wood or provide any obstacle to my carving.

I will also note that I will sometimes take a sheet of Kitakata, and run it thru my inkjet, printing onto the face side, a scanned-in sketch for a block. I will paste down the sheet face down and after it has dried, carefully abrade the back of the sheet with a slightly damp finger, rolling away the layers that make up the paper until my design appears to be drawn on to the block. It is a very fine layer of paper that contains the design, but it is so thin that it seems that the design is drawn onto the block. I only need remove the excess paper over the drawn lines, so that I might cut in my outline. Using the scanner/printer method allows for the easy resizing of the image and the inclusion of computer generated text.

I like to work at my drafting table for delicate carving of blocks.

Once my design was down and dry, I started cutting in the design as drawn, using a Japanese Hangi-to knife. I tend to cut only the most important lines, skipping about the block as I saw fit, being mindful that the knife cuts will be in effect the ‘brush’ marks of my work.

The knife is held at a slight angle, with the flat of the blade leaned against the line that will be preserved. If the line is thin... cut on both sides... the base is wide, like a mountain and the peak, the part that will print, is well supported. The tip of the knife penetrates about a mm or so, and is drawn across the block in such a fashion as to move slightly past the lines ending. These over cuts will not interfere with the design as long as I am careful. Where two lines intersect and a wasting is indicated, a small triangle chip is removed. This helps show where lines have already been cut and assist in the clearing out latter on.

I next used a small, deep ‘U’ #11 gouge to outline or separate the waste areas from the design. This helps control splitting wood that may run up under or into an area of the design and also provides a bit of shock proofing to the important material of the design.

One more benefit is the heavy gouges can be quickly placed next to a design area without fear of working too close to the lines. By using the ‘U’ I decided well in advance how close I would work to the design with the large tools.

After all the important knife and liner gouge cuts were made, I took set of mallet gouges, and began to clear away the excess wood. I worked at a waist high bench that is mounted to the floor and set the block against a stop that is nailed to the bench top. This allows me to remove wood quickly and adjust the block as needed, all the while reducing any movement from the table.

I used Pfeil “Swiss Made” carving tools for this work, which I prefer to Japanese steel for this sort of action. The less brittle nature of the Pfeil steel does not mean that it is not able to be brought to a very sharp edge or that it is inferior to the Japanese tool steel. The Japanese tool, made by applying a cutting layer of high carbon steel to a backing layer of iron does hold a sharper edge, but reputedly at a price. It can chip when improperly levered against the wood and is more likely to be damaged by hidden knots. A loose grip on the tool when worked by a mallet can also cause damage. The Pfeil tool is more forgiving, can be used with a loose grip and is every bit up to the challenges of clearing away Cherry. I do not worry that I will have to stop and reshape the geometry of a tool because of a chipped edge.

I used a # 9 sweep in 15 mm, a # 8 in 18 mm (they are ‘C’ shaped) and an almost flat # 2 sweep in 20 mm for the mallet work. It should be noted again that the knife is the tool that leaves its mark upon the wood (with one minor exception in this print), so where a gouge is used, no impression is taken. I did not use any ‘V’ tools for this block.

With an exception to the ‘U’ gouge or ‘liner’, I give a slight rotation to the gouges as I work, which helps slice the wood fibers and gives a cleaner cut. This also helps preserve the cutting edge.

After the main of the wasting is completed, I began to remove the waste areas from the block where I could not use a mallet driven gouge. I use a number of small, palm woodcut tools, in a variety of sweeps, to work the block. These tools are also of Pfeil manufacture and pushed/rotated by the right hand, while the left hand provides counter force to the shaft of the tool, with a finger or two. This helps prevent a sudden ‘shooting out’ of the tool if it should skip or be deflected upon a hard spot or encounter a soft area while being forced thru the wood. The only time I will not have two hands on a edge tool is when I am using a mallet or my right hand palm to lightly tap the #2 gouge over a small section of waste wood that needs clearing or controlling a straight edge guide. Remembering that the greatest force is applied just before the sudden giving away of material is a lesson I have learned the hard way, thru several spoiled blocks.

I only clear the waste wood up to a point, near to but never against the line of the design. For this work I use Japanese knifes and bull nosed flat chisels, Ai-suki, in traditional style handles. I used several knives with right hand bevels that have different angles to the blade, for different cutting action. I have also mounted the blades in traditional styled handles, made in different woods. This allows me to reach out and take hold of the pattern I want, without giving any thought to sorting through any number of tools for the right one.

The main knife I used is mounted in an Ebony handle (very black) and has an angle of 38 degrees, for general cutting. It is 6mm in width and can be held as a pencil is held or in a fist, with the thumb on top of the top. It is very sharp and I will stop often to sharpen and polish the blade, using a series of waterstones in grits from 800 to 8000.

I also hone the blades (and other tools) with woodworkers honing compound applied to wood forms. These knife blades are at their best when sharpened in such a way as to have only two angles meet. No micro bevels and a perfectly flat back!

The second knife I used is a 4.5 mm wide blade, shaped to a very acute 65 degrees. This blade is used for tight curves and smallish circles. It has a handle of Brazil Wood, (a orange-brown wood) and is more difficult to sharpen well, because of the small face of the longer bevel that is way too easy to round over!

The third knife I use on this block was a 6 mm blade, with a very shallow angle of 24 degrees. It was used to incise lines with a straight edge guide. Because it is less acute in angle, more of the cutting edge is in the wood as it is drawn along the block, preventing wandering. I mounted this blade into a handle of Pink Ivory, a dense, pink wood for easy identification.

These knifes are general pulled toward me and I use the fingers of the left hand to guide the blades of the first two. The left hand secured the straight edge for use with the third blade.

I will note that the handles provided by the Japanese suppler were smaller than the ones I have made, both in diameter and length. I also use a sliver of bamboo skewer to bridge the gap of the knife slot that runs the length of each of the handles, for comfort.

As I cut the final lines of the design, I also began working with the small Ai-suki. These are run up against the lines to remove the waste wood from the knife cuts and also as small digging tools, in areas that a gouge is too large or unwieldy to work. I also used one of these tools to remove from the surface of the lips, the smallest of slivers, so as to make soft, rounded depressions, that would not print. It was my hope to imitate the blotted lip print left behind on a tissue.

The traditional Ai-suki I used for this are 6 mm and 3 mm wide. I also have a pair of small, homemade tools mounted in visually different woods, made from sewing machine needles. These I learned to make after reading about them on the Baren web site. Ai-suki are indispensable. They are held by the right hand, placed between the thumb and forefinger, butted against the web of the hand. It is a bit of remembering to use the tool this way, but it is worth it, because it aids control. I also use fingers from the left hand to control the blade.

I like to use a black Sharpie pen to mark the face of areas that are completed as I clean up my cuts. This also helps show small knife cuts in shadow areas, as they are made.

After all my carving, I remove the last of the Gampi that was paste down. Often I was able to gently pull the paper away as I carved, but a final removal of the paper is made by laying a slightly wet paper towel on the surface of the block. The towel is removed after a minute and the last of the paper and paste is wiped away.

I had to make a small repair to the block, just below the top portion of the guillotine blade. The strip of wood that was to denote the top edge of the wooden blade support, was damaged during carving and I decided that it would be easier to remove that entire section, rather than glue in an awkward patch.

I had earlier sawed a small flat of wood from the shellacked face, in an area that was to be wasted away and had held it in reserve. I now took this piece of wood and cut a section, close to the size I needed. I trimmed the patch to width and length, along the grain rather than attempting a cross-grain piece, like that which I was replacing. After getting the piece sized, I needed to reduce the thickness. I did this by applying a bit of double sided tape to the face and mounting it, upside down to my bench. I used a finely adjusted block plane to remove shavings until I achieved a thickness I liked. I then glued down the very thin section onto my block, using Tite-bond II water resistant yellow glue.

I also repaired two very small sections. I did not attempt to replace or show every missing line on the design. I believe that some lines are less important that others and whether removed by design or accident, the viewer will fill in the gaps with his/her imagination.

I fitted a three sided frame to my work bench, which I nail in place. This supported the block on the sides and top and keeps it from moving out from under me when printing. The frame also supports the paper, being of the same hight as the printing surface. I also tackwith small brads, two small guides of wood on top of the printing frame. These were guides in only a general sort of way.

Fem-trap #12 was printed on Kitakata Green, a Gampi paper that I tore to size. I used Graphic Chemical Water Soluble Ink (black). I applied this with a ‘hard’ Hunt Speedball brayer, four inches in length to roll up the block. I have delayed buying professional grade brayers until latter this year, but can not hold off much longer. The Speedball brayer drops one of its steel pins every now and again and the entire thing will fall apart, often on top of my block! It makes me crazy.

I also used a small dauber to ink the replaced section I described above. I had trimmed the thickness down a breath too far and to make matters worst, the section curled up on two sides. This is why there is so much variation in this area on the prints. The dauber is one I made out of a divided, small rubber ball, placed into a patch of deer skin, ball side down and, after the material is gathered tight around the flat top, tied firm with a strip of buckskin.

To use it I make a small rolling motion on my pallet, to pick up ink, and repeat the motion across the area I want to ink.

I inked the area with the dauber first and then rolled up the block with the brayer.

The Graphic ink has a nice feel to it and I have used it before. I like it very much and do not alter it in any way, although Graphic makes a reducer for this line of inks. This print was the largest number of sheets I had ever used this ink for and I found that I needed to clean the block often. I kept a toothbrush beside my pallet and would work over the entire block after each print to try to keep the excess ink in check. I also used a paper towel folded and taped into a sort of stick. I did end up loosing detail in the dandelion seeds ‘feather’ and in the pin, despite my best efforts. I also noted build up in other areas, but in general have few complaints.

I did have something go wrong while printing that bothered me. During printing the area of the seed I mention previously, seemed to not only clog up a bit, but seemed to swell tight. I decide to try to open one of the vanes a bit with a knife, for better definition. The wood however was soft and gummy, not from surface ink, but something about the wood itself. The tiny area I was working on pulled apart and in my opinion, became problem area. A lesson learned, again... LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE!!!

To print this block I used a ball bearing baren of my own design and manufacture and a small wooden spoon.

The baren I used is made of a disk of 18 mm thick (3/4) mahogany into which a disk of ultra high density plastic is set . The bearings run on this surface quite well. A 1 mm plate of brass is drilled for a fairly open arrangement of 3 mm steel ball bearings. This plate is about 105 mm across and is held in place by small brass wood screws, which are countersunk into the plate. The steel ball run smoothly in the brass and over time will improve in their action. The only portion of the assembly that extends beyond the wood disk are the tips of the balls.

This baren is not a imitation of the Japanese style tools. There is no handle and it is not thin. The side of the disk is slightly angled inward toward the top, for a comfortable grip. The thickness of the wood and the weight of the tool allows me to gently roll it over the top of the print, without much downward pressure and print successfully. This was important because of the open nature of the design. Had I used a lighter tool, I may have broken out thin lines by applying too much pressure.

Whenever I dropped a sheet onto the inked block, I placed a sheet of mylar over the sheet and worked the baren over the back of the design. Having the supporting frame as tall as the printing surface helps keep the baren from dropping down over edges that may be damaged by being hit from the side. The inked areas begin to show thru the sheet and help guide my efforts. After a few moments I remove the mylar and use the baren directly on the paper, in small circles. Though I probably could pull the print after this point, I do not. I take up my wood spoon and gently work over the block as added insurance. I also turn the spoon to use the short cut- off handle to bring up the area I had repaired. I then ran my finger across that area as a last thought and pull the print.

A note about the repaired area, about half way thru the printing run, it seemed to uncurl and I had little trouble printing it afterwards.

I work in my home and it is very small. To dry prints, I have strung two lines down the hall outside my studio/workshop. I used two cloths pins to hang the prints, back to back, with a third for weight on the bottom.

This is another reason I like the Graphic ink. It dries quickly.

Clean-up was easy. The ink on the pallet and brayer is wetted with a spray bottle of water and wiped clean with newspaper and paper towels. The brayer also cleaned by using Orange Goop, which is designed to clean, among other things, printers ink. The block receives a light spritz of water and is wiped of excess ink. I do not try to scrub it clean. The shellac surface wipes off well and bit of effort with the toothbrush takes care of most build-up. I cover the face of the block with an extra rejected print, or heavy brown paper, which I rub a heel stone (pigmented wax block) to bring up a image of the block being stored.

When the prints were dry and gathered up, I used a # 2H pencil to sign them. A 2H is just right for signing, being neither too soft and smearing or hard. I like the Derwent Graphic pencils best of all the pencils I have ever tried and keep a couple on hand for only signing work.

I used a print reject to decide on how I should align my signature and other info. It was then that I discovered how far out my drops were. If I had tried to sign these prints without working out a repeatable method, no two would have been alike. However, I have the good fortune of having a large parallel bar on my drafting table and used that and a triangle square to decide on an orientation for signing. After working out the best alignment I could, it was a simple thing to use the bar to line up an area for signing.

I noted on each print that it is a woodcut because I want to help non-printmakers identify the method used in making prints.

Eli Griggs June 2001