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Block & Burin #45 (Spring 2011) - Wood Engraver's Network

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BLOCK & BURIN<br />

spring <strong>2011</strong> <strong>#45</strong>


Title page photograph: Sylvia Pixley’s wood engraving tools.


& FEATURES<br />

BLOCK BURIN<br />

No. 45 <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2011</strong><br />

<strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong> is the newsletter of the<br />

<strong>Wood</strong> Engravers’ <strong>Network</strong> (WEN)<br />

This issue: <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong> # 45, <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2011</strong><br />

Cover: Carl Montford & the Rain City Engravers<br />

Copy Editor: William Rueter<br />

For information on <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong> contact:<br />

Tony Drehfal, Editor,<br />

W221 East Wisconsin Ave , Nashotah, WI 53058<br />

Phone: 262-367-5191<br />

E-mail: adrehfal@wctc edu<br />

For information on WEN contact:<br />

James Horton, WEN Organizer<br />

3999 Waters Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48103<br />

Phone: 734-665-6044<br />

E-mail: Jimhorton@sbcglobal net<br />

Services of WEN:<br />

• Twice yearly mailing/print exchange<br />

(April & November)<br />

• Membership Guide<br />

• Resources and Materials Guide<br />

• Lending Library<br />

• Workshops and Exhibitions<br />

• Website: www woodengravers net<br />

Since 1994, WEN is an organization for the education<br />

and enjoyment of relief printmaking and in particular<br />

engraving upon end-grain wood<br />

<strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong> uses the Stone Print typeface family<br />

Sumner Stone graciously donated the fonts to WEN<br />

The Editor reserves the right to edit copy to fit as necessary.<br />

Notes from Jim<br />

by Jim Horton 5<br />

Full Circle, Hilary Paynter <strong>Wood</strong> Engravings<br />

Book Review by William Rueter 7<br />

<strong>Burin</strong> Questions & Answers<br />

by Tony Drehfal 15<br />

Old Tool Boxes<br />

by Judith Jaidinger 22<br />

WEN Bundle # 45, <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2011</strong> 26<br />

DEPARTMENTS<br />

Treasurer's Notes by Bill Myers 4<br />

Call for Bundle #46, Autumn <strong>2011</strong> 4<br />

Bundle Participation? 39<br />

A Calendar of Days 40<br />

New Members 42<br />

Changes & Updates 44<br />

Announcements & Notes 45<br />

Advertisements 49


Treasurer’s Notes<br />

by Bill Myers<br />

Treasurer’s Report, May <strong>2011</strong><br />

<strong>2011</strong> dues and workshop deposits are flowing<br />

in, and coming expenses (<strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong> printing,<br />

mailing the bundles, and workshop expenses) are<br />

well covered As of the last treasurer’s report (B&B<br />

Autumn, 2010), our checking account balance was<br />

$5,732 03 The April 5, <strong>2011</strong> checking account<br />

statement shows a balance of $8,429 96 All of the<br />

increase is dues income, which includes some donations<br />

We also have a balance in our PayPal account<br />

of $333 86, making a total of $8763 82 By the time<br />

of the summer workshop expected expenses will<br />

have lowered this balance I will give an update at<br />

the workshop for those present I welcome queries<br />

and suggestions related to our treasury; contact me<br />

at wamyers@stkate edu<br />

Bill Myers<br />

4<br />

Call for Bundle #46<br />

Autumn, <strong>2011</strong><br />

• Contributions are due by August 15, <strong>2011</strong>.<br />

• Send bundle contributions to Sylvia Pixley, 601<br />

Borgess Ave , Monroe, MI 48162<br />

• Quantity: Minimum of 76 (one extra for the Archive)<br />

Our membership is at 180 at this writing<br />

should you wish to distribute to all members<br />

• Size: Maximum 9" x 12"<br />

(We are mailing in a 10" x 13" envelope)<br />

• Anyone submitting prints is ensured of receiving<br />

entire Bundles and moving to the front of the line<br />

for future Bundles<br />

• We recommend sending printing information<br />

with your contributions This is just a suggestion;<br />

not mandatory by any means This information<br />

accompanies your print which is stored in the<br />

Princeton University Graphic Arts Library This<br />

archive holds all WEN material<br />

• We encourage members to sign-up for producing a<br />

cover for <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong>. We will cover expenses<br />

• We welcome (and need) your submissions of<br />

articles, interviews, ads and announcements for<br />

publication in <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong>. Send articles, ads<br />

to,<br />

Tony Drehfal<br />

W221 East Wisconsin Ave<br />

Nashotah, WI 53058, USA<br />

e-mail: adrehfal@wctc edu<br />

Please send written submissions as unformatted<br />

text files via email, it makes the layout far more<br />

simple Please make an effort to use Microsoft Word<br />

for your written submissions Images should be<br />

mailed, or contact Tony for scanning specifics


Notes From Jim<br />

by Jim Horton<br />

Beatrice<br />

Someone once told me that a cat has a fairly small<br />

brain It is easily overloaded Its sensory organs<br />

are certainly fine tuned, but they do not spend a<br />

lot of time in logical thinking In contrast, dogs<br />

have amazing abilities to comprehend, and new<br />

research is just expanding the understanding of<br />

how deeply that can go Cats, you will notice, can<br />

stop on a dime and just plop down and start licking<br />

their paws That is what they do to reset the sensory<br />

overload I’ve seen this many times You are playing<br />

with the toy, the cat is stalking and batting the toy,<br />

and all of a sudden it just stops and starts licking<br />

its paws Beatrice, my tortie calico, is an amazing<br />

huntress I could stock a biology lab with the things<br />

5<br />

she brings me Recently, flying squirrels! Bats! Voles,<br />

baby rabbits, rats, you name it … and she lays them<br />

at my steps She loves to play, but she has this short<br />

attention span What could this possibly have to do<br />

with wood engraving?<br />

Attention span! There are two things that have<br />

happened to me, as I have aged in this instant culture<br />

I am so used to instant everything, that when<br />

engraving I have to retrain myself to put everything<br />

else on the shelf The same goes for drawing In fact,<br />

that is why drawing sessions, such as posed models<br />

from life, are so useful You are there, and everyone<br />

else has the phones turned off, and you can be a part<br />

of the collective energy that is focusing I often joke<br />

that it is a three-hour period, where all my neuroses<br />

disappear One can do this in other ways too A long<br />

walk, a yoga session, a back rub … all these are excellent<br />

ways to turn off the media, and as the hippie<br />

Bible stated: “Be here now, or be now here ”<br />

The second is overload I am speaking strictly<br />

from my own fatigue Even in college, forty-five<br />

years ago, I recall my professors talking about the<br />

bombardment of images They likened the advent<br />

of modernism to a reaction against realistic imagery,<br />

and therefore abstraction was the only true and<br />

viable arena of art We can argue that another time<br />

Di gustibus non est disputandum The point is, we<br />

are bombarded with imagery<br />

If it was bad forty years ago, where are we<br />

now? I think about the folks in our rural past who<br />

spent most of the time in the fields, the barn or<br />

the kitchen A trip to town or church was huge … in<br />

that they needed some sensory input other than


the earth tones of their usual surroundings Just<br />

think what paintings and polychrome prints did<br />

for them Think of the power of a magazine with<br />

colored images Think of church with those stainedglass<br />

windows! These things get a bit lost when up<br />

against Avatar<br />

So it seems that movies are the art of today<br />

People can even buy 3-D TVs now We are bringing<br />

the world into our living room, without the<br />

smells, sounds and feel of an environment We<br />

have special effects that just dazzle your eyes Oh<br />

Lord, the acting is bad though Please just give<br />

me Masterpiece Theater There I can experience<br />

subtlety … real emotion that is not enhanced with<br />

maudlin or rock music My brain is the flat-line,<br />

again, like the cat … slow down and let’s spend some<br />

time looking<br />

I recently taught a class down in North Carolina<br />

John Campbell Folk School is located south<br />

of the Smoky Mountains I was among people who<br />

live simple and art-filled lives They pretty much did<br />

not buy the toys They create and value quiet They<br />

make music with fiddles and banjos They haven’t<br />

paved the wildflowers I had a class that, despite the<br />

difficulties and challenges in drawing for engraving,<br />

spent a problem-solving week with me We left having<br />

made new friends, and experienced techniques<br />

and tools that they will be hard-pressed to find in<br />

many places It haunts me WEN member Nancy<br />

Darrel was there She has made her last kiln-firing,<br />

and is now exclusively working in printmaking<br />

Tom Patterson assisted me Tom jokes that he likes<br />

staying under the radar screen He works slowly and<br />

6<br />

thoughtfully … and not on a sandbag, but holding<br />

the block in his hand He spends hours contemplating<br />

the drawing, working and re-working it<br />

My travels to these workshops are an adventure<br />

They get me out of the house I will be at the<br />

Hamilton <strong>Wood</strong> Type Museum in Two Rivers with<br />

you all in June In early July, Deborah Mae Broad<br />

and I will be teaching at Frogman’s Print & Paper<br />

Workshop in South Dakota Apparently we filled a<br />

class with 26 students! We will be working hard, but<br />

so full of laughs and seeing amazing drawing and<br />

printmaking Oh yeah, the legendary bowling tournament<br />

too In early August, I’ll be at the Augusta<br />

Heritage Festival in Elkins, West Virginia I don’t<br />

know how I manage to keep this class going, but I<br />

seem to have gotten up a class for the last 13 or so<br />

years I mean, most of this environment is pickers,<br />

dancers and singers But amidst the din we quietly<br />

maintain something for the visual arts Lastly, I<br />

will be at Bookworks in Asheville in October I am<br />

so excited about meeting Laurie Corral, and seeing<br />

this now famed location All these venues can be<br />

Googled of course<br />

Maybe this winter, I will get down to work on<br />

the book on the Sander Company I have all this<br />

material, file after file of it, that is historically important<br />

and wonderful to see I just need to be like<br />

my Beatrice cat, and filter the sensory overload, and<br />

focus on it Beware, the phone may be off the hook<br />

Actually, it is the God-darned e-mail That has got to<br />

go! I will lick my paws and reset the overload


Full Circle, Hilary Paynter <strong>Wood</strong> Engravings<br />

Book Review by William Rueter<br />

Hilary Paynter. Full Circle: wood engravings 260 pp<br />

Illustrated (ten pages in colour) <strong>Wood</strong>end Publishing,<br />

2010 Available through Art Matters at the<br />

White Lion Street Gallery (http://www artmatters<br />

org uk/galleries/hp/book/index htm) £25 paperback<br />

(plus shipping and handling) E-mail info@<br />

artmatters.org.uk for order information<br />

Hilary Paynter has produced consistently intriguing<br />

and challenging wood engravings for more than<br />

forty years Full Circle is a record of her mastery of<br />

this most difficult art medium Her work reflects<br />

the vision of a skilled artist and the compassion of<br />

a dedicated and sensitive human being<br />

Born in Dumfernline, Scotland in 1943, Ms<br />

Paynter had an adventurous but somewhat disrupted<br />

life as the daughter of a naval officer The<br />

family moved many times and the constant change<br />

of school and inconsistent education made it difficult<br />

for her make many lasting friends She was<br />

dependent on her family and the self-education she<br />

achieved through books<br />

She initially intended to become a sculptor<br />

and from 1959 to 1964 she attended the Portsmouth<br />

College of Art, where she studied wood<br />

engraving with Gerry Tucker, obtaining a National<br />

Diploma in Design Her ability to think in terms<br />

of three dimensions has given her wood engravings<br />

a remarkable quality Rockpool shows her early<br />

command of shapes and textures With Children in<br />

the <strong>Wood</strong> she creates a dark, unknown childhood<br />

narrative with simplicity and bold strokes In her<br />

professional career of more than 30 years, she has<br />

7<br />

Rockpool (1963) 16 x 12 cm<br />

worked with special-needs children as an educator<br />

and educational psychologist, and in many engravings<br />

she shows great insight into and understanding<br />

of children and youth<br />

Landscapes are a major interest for her She<br />

has travelled widely in Switzerland, China, and the<br />

USA Her outdoor spaces are usually unpopulated,<br />

dramatic, occasionally terrifying Symonds Yat, a<br />

panoramic view of the Wye River near Monmouth,<br />

is a large Plasticard block, approximately 12 x 16<br />

inches: a good example of Ms Paynter’s use of a


wide variety of textures, fascinating perspective,<br />

and astonishing detail always in control Glencoe<br />

also shows the strength of her work as an engraver<br />

of landscapes<br />

Full Circle has arranged more than 500 of<br />

Ms Paynter’s engravings thematically The section<br />

entitled Heroic Structures reflects some of her<br />

Symonds Yat (1991) 30.5 x 39 cm<br />

8<br />

visual comments on the effects of humankind’s<br />

impingement on Nature Bridge in Calabria is a<br />

combination of nine views of the Italian bridge:<br />

a delightful compilation of abstract shapes and<br />

textural combinations<br />

In 1966 Ms Paynter was elected to the Society<br />

of <strong>Wood</strong> Engravers and she has been very active


Elm (1978) 12.5 x 9.5 cm<br />

in the Society of many years In 1984 she helped<br />

in the revival of the Society, which had become<br />

somewhat moribund after the Second World War,<br />

later serving as the Society’s Honorary Secretary and<br />

Chairman – encouraging and supporting interest<br />

in the medium of wood engraving – all this while<br />

raising a young family and studying for her degrees<br />

in education psychology<br />

In 1978, with her engravings for poems by<br />

Benet Weatherhead, Ms Paynter began exploring<br />

book illustration Elm, a riff on a Bewickian subject,<br />

shows her versatility with the finest gravers:<br />

a seemingly simple skill achieved with incredible<br />

subtlely For The Story of Poetry she created more<br />

9<br />

Siluria (2009) 14.5 x 9.5 cm<br />

than 100 engravings She also produced work for<br />

some of the Folio Society’s Shakespeare editions<br />

The Satyricon shows her skilful treatment of roman<br />

capitals and her early experience as a sculptor<br />

is reflected in the blocking of shapes and figures<br />

Legal London Engraved was an opportunity to<br />

develop her mastery of characterful architectural<br />

rendering within the unforgiving medium of the<br />

engraving block In The Texture of the Universe she<br />

suggests regeneration through the layering of images<br />

Siluria, with its detailed patterning and its


Bwyta’n Te (1988) 13 x 10.5 cm Another Cat Show (2008) 18 x 18 cm<br />

profound depiction of nature is among her most<br />

accomplished engravings<br />

Ms Paynter has also done work for Gwasy<br />

Gregynog, the famous Welsh private press Bwyta’n<br />

Te is one of her loveliest small engravings, suggesting<br />

the drinking of tea as a spiritual experience Her<br />

interpretation of animals, combining remarkable<br />

observation with skilled use of the graver, pushes<br />

her toward Joan Hassall’s world of sensitively-engraved<br />

animals – but here Ms Paynter is totally her<br />

own person Another Cat Show is a bravura work: 36<br />

feline portraits on a seven-inch-square block!<br />

Hilary Paynter occasionally uses colour in her<br />

engravings with great courage The book contains<br />

ten pages of reproductions of her work in three and<br />

four colours An engraving of the Spassky Tower in<br />

10<br />

Another Cat Show (2008) Detail


The Metro Project (2004) 2 metres x 22 metres<br />

the Kremlin is a fascinating print, the sky seeming<br />

to be lit with fireworks But Paynter says that planning<br />

colour work robs her of the spontaneity she<br />

enjoys when she engraves solely for reproduction<br />

in black ink<br />

She often works on three or four blocks simultaneously,<br />

moving from one to the other with only<br />

broad outlines to suggest composition and ideas:<br />

probably a habit acquired when she balanced a<br />

professional career with domestic responsibilities<br />

Her spontaneity belies her carefully-created images<br />

and her highly eclectic body of work<br />

11<br />

In 2003 she accepted a commission to celebrate<br />

the 250th anniversary of Thomas Bewick’s<br />

birth with the creation of a mural of enlargements<br />

of her engravings as part of Newcastle’s central<br />

subway station The Metro Project evolved into 32<br />

blocks, stretching to 22 metres (about 24 yards)<br />

with panels bending around the station’s corners<br />

Ms Paynter’s blocks were enlarged to roughly ten<br />

times their original size At this scale every detail<br />

of every engraved stroke is visible It is a measure<br />

of her vision, confidence, and skill that the panels<br />

appear so consistent<br />

The result is a panoramic view of the highlights<br />

of Newcastle-on-Tyne that, for me, is one of the<br />

best reasons to enjoy this book Ms Paynter’s skill<br />

in linking varying perspectives and angles and<br />

creating a flow to her engraved narrative is nothing<br />

less than astonishing She combines subjects from<br />

the Roman occupation to the Industrial Revolution<br />

and contemporary Tyneside life Black Gate<br />

is a good example of her style and subject matter,<br />

with consistently appealing images of Newcastle<br />

She also included small animals and other details<br />

in the foreground to amuse and interest children<br />

waiting for the subway The Metro Project mural is<br />

a remarkable tour-de-force and we are fortunate to<br />

study much of it in detail in this book<br />

Ms Paynter has taken on miscellaneous commissions,<br />

facing the difficulties in dealing with<br />

clients who don’t know what they want, and has<br />

created a number of “rumbustious” bookplates of<br />

a mildly erotic nature for friends and clients She<br />

has also engraved some bread-and-butter prints


for various exhibitions I particularly liked the calm<br />

atmosphere of Pensford with its beautiful balance<br />

of light and dark<br />

Black Gate (2004) 20 x 20 cm<br />

12<br />

For many years Hilary Paynter has taken the<br />

Christmas season seriously, honouring her recipients<br />

with well-conceived engravings on her personal


Christmas cards She has expressed her own social<br />

and political views with them, and also with prints<br />

she has made for herself, since she feels most people<br />

want to avoid ‘difficult’ subjects In Exile is one of her<br />

strongest and most powerful images Based on her<br />

impression of the Hoffmann Garden of the Jewish<br />

Museum in Berlin, it shows an almost Kafkaesque<br />

figure in hiding, overwhelmed by enormous tilted<br />

In Exile (1999) 20 x 25 cm<br />

13<br />

pillars, surrounded by barely-perceived ghostly<br />

shades: an exceedingly dark narrative Perhaps there<br />

is hope among the trees growing distantly atop the<br />

pillars Ms Paynter’s sensitivity toward children and<br />

her experience as a psychologist is brought fully into<br />

play – as is her extraordinary engraving of textures<br />

and tones and her handling of light and shade<br />

For me this is a desert-island engraving, one to re-


turn to and investigate many times<br />

This well-designed book concludes with a chronology<br />

and a useful appendix of Ms Paynter’s prints<br />

that reinforces her incredible range of subjects and<br />

her rich imagination<br />

It seems to me that in the act of engraving in<br />

wood one has to juxtapose opposing elements: to<br />

create warmth with an essentially cold and rigid<br />

medium; to suggest three dimensions using a twodimensional<br />

plane; and to pull light out of darkness<br />

In so much of her work Hilary Paynter succeeds<br />

admirably in convincing us to follow the artistic<br />

vision she has shown for decades<br />

Pensford (1984) 10.5 x 15 cm<br />

14<br />

Self Portrait engraving (1967) 8 x 5 cm


<strong>Burin</strong> Questions & Answers<br />

by Tony Drehfal<br />

Last year I purchased some new burins from<br />

McClain’s Printmaking Supplies I noticed that a<br />

new E C Lyons spitsticker felt “wrong” in my hands<br />

compared to the older burin that I had purchased<br />

from Jim Horton I observed that the angle of the<br />

handle to the tool’s tip was different between the<br />

newer spitsticker and the older one The newer tool<br />

had a steeper angle I e-mailed McClain’s, attaching<br />

a composite photo I created that visually compared<br />

the “new/old” spitsticker angles<br />

Alex at McClain’s replied that she forwarded<br />

my e-mail to E C Lyons and wrote; “EC Lyons is<br />

more than willing to work with you and other<br />

wood engravers on changing the angle of the tang<br />

on any-or all-of their engraving tools Brad said<br />

that because the tools are made by hand, there will<br />

always be slight variations from one to another but<br />

they would do their best to make tools with the angle<br />

that wood engravers want ”<br />

At the same time I wrote a few e-mails to Jim<br />

Horton, and a few other “expert” engravers, including<br />

the photo and asking their opinion about my<br />

burins, and inquiring in general about burin shape<br />

and angle I also looked through the archive of photos<br />

I had taken at the WEN workshops I attended<br />

Looking at them, I observed there was a good deal<br />

of variety in burin shape and design The responses I<br />

15<br />

received echoed my visual observation: burins vary,<br />

engraver’s techniques and methods vary, some folks<br />

could work with all sorts of tools, others were quite<br />

particular in their tool’s shape I received a sort of<br />

consensus that the new tool that I had received was<br />

too steeply angled<br />

A few days later, I wrote Brad S Owens at E C<br />

Lyons thanking him for his offer, and told him that<br />

I would write my fellow wood engravers and see if<br />

I could find some consensus Brad replied; “I am<br />

looking forward to hearing the feedback from the<br />

WEN members on a consensus angle Once we get<br />

a consensus we will manufacture the new angle into<br />

our tools We used to make shortened elliptics but<br />

there wasn’t much demand and manufacturing two<br />

sizes proved very time-consuming & inefficient<br />

When we discontinued the shorts we ended up<br />

shortening the standard elliptic by a half inch or<br />

so to its current length ”<br />

A few weeks later I sent off an e-mail to WEN<br />

members, using the addresses from the most recent<br />

WEN Membership Directory booklet (Quite a few<br />

e-mails bounced back with an “address unknown”<br />

response, in case you are wondering why you were<br />

not contacted ) Attaching the “new/old” composite<br />

image, I wrote my tale of the crooked burin and<br />

asked everyone to share his or her burin preference/observations<br />

After receiving responses from many of the<br />

WEN members that I e-mailed, I found that there<br />

was not enough consensus to forward to Brad at<br />

E C Lyons My questions did elicit some wonderful<br />

responses that I will share here


I do a good deal of tool shortening and sharpening<br />

for people as part of the business and often need<br />

to angle the tangs I don’t have a set angle, just do<br />

it by what looks right Too little isn’t enough and<br />

too much feels uncomfortable in the palm (Sorry,<br />

I don’t think that will help your survey!) I used to<br />

set up tools for Intaglio Printmaker of London, but<br />

passed the job onto a friend Intaglio Printmaker<br />

sells, in my view, the best tools on the market The<br />

steels are F Dick of Germany and the handles are<br />

nicely turned with a deep hollow They are about<br />

£17 each, which is expensive when set beside Lyons,<br />

but I know that they are expensive to produce and<br />

the shop makes little profit on them<br />

Photo of Bewick’s tools courtesy of Chris Daunt<br />

Some years ago I made a study of Thomas<br />

Bewick’s tools, and had access to the famous toolbox,<br />

which is here in Newcastle I measured each<br />

tool for length and angle of grind, and found that<br />

there was little consistency However, the angle of<br />

the tool cutting face was very low by our standards,<br />

16<br />

some being only 20 degrees This is so that the curl<br />

of wood does not fall in front of the tool as you cut,<br />

obscuring the line It works, I tried it! Generally the<br />

tools were very long, though a few were also very<br />

short The handles were varied in design, but none<br />

had the hollowed out area so useful for curling in<br />

the fingers I suspect it is because this is the most<br />

difficult aspect of turning a mushroom handle, but I<br />

don’t know for sure why they didn’t feature it They<br />

were all very sharp, but have never been used since<br />

the master died Amongst the items is a block of<br />

lead or graphite for rubbing the back of the drawings<br />

prior to tracing down and a tool used to lower<br />

sections of the block before engraving<br />

As for my own burin preference, I tend to<br />

prefer a medium bend, but not the arc which I<br />

think you refer to I have a box of old Stubs steels<br />

(one of Bewick’s tools was a Stubs of Sheffield),<br />

which has a dramatic arc from tip to tang, but<br />

could never work comfortably with such a tool<br />

Chris Daunt<br />

I always looked at a tool as something that was<br />

adaptable to whatever was on hand I’ve used long<br />

tools, and short ones, and just adjusted the grip of<br />

my hand I either chocked up or pushed it further<br />

out This works fine for me, but I do acknowledge<br />

that newcomers really need concrete answers to<br />

their questions and tools that absolutely work best<br />

for them I have shortened many a tool for them,<br />

but made changes in angles on the tip of the tool,<br />

and not so much on the tang end Heating a tool and<br />

bending was getting out of my expertise and my will


to do so I’ve a lot of the old tools, and some that<br />

Sander used to sell I imagine these were made by<br />

the older generation of Lyons/Mueller I also have a<br />

number of old European tools, and Gesswein, that<br />

still makes jewelers burins today<br />

What really characterized many of those old<br />

wood engraving tools was a bend along the entire<br />

length of the tool, not just at the tang I think my<br />

larger frustration with tools today is that often the<br />

width of the tool didn’t necessarily correspond to<br />

the number I’ve seen #1’s that were as wide as a<br />

bullsticker I think the tools have improved in the<br />

last few years, though Being the old hippie that I<br />

seem to be, I think people need to experiment, and<br />

make tools do what they want them to do That<br />

is a pretty vague statement, I know But I’ve seen<br />

Deborah Mae Broad do such amazing work with<br />

an old jeweler’s burin I’ve heard David Sander say<br />

that Leonard Baskin only used a #5 spitsticker (accuracy<br />

questionable)<br />

Jim Horton<br />

I mentioned two curves in my book One is the<br />

‘lovely curve’ in the metal itself which I have in<br />

some old (probably European) tools I inherited<br />

from George Buday This produces a greater angle<br />

between the bottom of the tool itself towards the<br />

tip and the bottom of the shank part of the handle<br />

The curve is not in the angle at which the metal is<br />

fixed into the wood but in the back inch / inch-anda-half<br />

of the metal itself, before it narrows to the<br />

haft that slots into the wood This gives, visually, a<br />

lovely swing to the whole tool The curve seems to<br />

17<br />

have been cast into the metal itself<br />

The second is the ‘ferocious kink instead of a<br />

gentle curve’ which I have seen in some tools, where<br />

the metal of a thin tool (like a small-section graver)<br />

has been heated and bent, like a bent hairpin, to try<br />

to achieve the angle between tip and handle that is<br />

thought desirable This second is unpleasant to use<br />

because the kink gets in the way of the fingers and<br />

the section of the metal, not having the flat sides<br />

that make a tint tool and others pleasant to hold,<br />

is too sharp for the fingers<br />

It may also be that the problem is in the mushroom:<br />

many modern handles are too bulbous and<br />

insufficiently hollowed-out, to allow the all-controlling<br />

little finger to tuck securely into an adequately<br />

hollow groove<br />

The old European tools are a joy to hold but<br />

they might take a bit of getting used to if you are<br />

used to a flatter angle What the curve does is to<br />

push the mushroom handle further up into the palm<br />

so that it is easier - indeed entirely natural - for the<br />

fingers to hold the cutting end of the tool lightly and<br />

parallel to the surface of the block True, the wrist<br />

is slightly more raised; this is what may take getting<br />

used to - with the wrist raised, you’d normally be<br />

jabbing the tool into the block<br />

In this business, the hand, which is different<br />

in every person, is also - darn it! - always right; and<br />

all the tool-maker (like the glove-maker) can do is<br />

to try to establish norms which suit the greatest<br />

number of customers<br />

A little while ago, Edwina Ellis worked with the<br />

London suppliers Intaglio Printmaker to establish a


set of blade sections and also I suspect a desirable<br />

blade/handle angle<br />

Simon Brett<br />

There is a huge range of comfort with tool shapes<br />

that I observed In Newcastle it seemed that a<br />

straighter tool ruled - Bewick’s tools were wicked<br />

straight!<br />

I recently purchased engraving tools from Intaglio<br />

Printmaker in London Edwina Ellis helped<br />

them design the shape, bend and handle of their<br />

engraving tools They don’t have any curve to<br />

them really, so it takes a bit of getting used to, but<br />

they feel nice in my hand and the smallest tint tool<br />

makes the tiniest line I have seen They are really<br />

nice tools I know the craftsmanship and care that<br />

goes into them is really good - I met the guy Ian, a<br />

friend of Chris Daunt’s, who puts the bend in the<br />

shaft and the handles on those tools - he definitely<br />

knows what he is doing<br />

Vintage burins might feel better though - I<br />

could see the allure there, tools broken in with love<br />

Joanne Price<br />

Intaglio Printmaker Spitstickers<br />

18<br />

I have definitely noticed some of the tools that are<br />

being used by WEN engravers Since most of them<br />

are purchasing new ones, I found it odd to see some<br />

of these extreme angles you are talking about I<br />

assumed no one was having any trouble because I<br />

hadn’t heard any complaints Personally I wouldn’t<br />

be able to use them It did cross my mind that maybe<br />

they could be meant for metal engraving but I never<br />

pursued the idea<br />

As for the tools that I own, which are all old ones<br />

as you mentioned in your e-mail, they are straight<br />

with a slight angle of the part that inserts into the<br />

handle I will say that each individual engraver customized<br />

his tool to suit the span and length of his<br />

hand This meant some of them are short and some<br />

extremely long<br />

The angle on the end was also important Some<br />

of my tools have long angles and some short and<br />

stubby I like them somewhere in between Each<br />

engraver also had a personal preference of handle<br />

I have long extended ones, which can be put on<br />

short tools, and some very small handles that are<br />

petite and light There are those that are medium<br />

and nestle neatly into the palm of your hand Then<br />

there are the large ones that you see today I can use<br />

them all because I am comfortable with the tool but<br />

it could be very awkward for a beginner Most of<br />

these handles have been changed from tool to tool<br />

so that holes have been drilled to accommodate the<br />

blades needed Sometimes the holes are too large so<br />

that engravers would jam paper plugs along side the<br />

end of the blade going into the handle<br />

Most of my tools were made by Mueller in the


U S The others were made in Germany and France,<br />

so that gives you an idea of just how old they are<br />

Judy Jaidinger<br />

A rule of thumb is as low an angle as tolerable<br />

The angle is, by necessity, higher when the burin is<br />

used for copper engraving because the resistance<br />

is far greater So let us start there Whereas Gabor<br />

Peterdi recommended 35 degrees for copper, the<br />

great master Stanley W Hayter ventured up to 45<br />

degrees, a truly upper limit Not only do I know<br />

this from his book New Ways of Gravure, but I also<br />

have several of his own burins, kindly passed on<br />

to me by one of Hayter’s associates! For wood I<br />

usually stick to 30 degrees and I also use a GRS<br />

Power Hone (thanks to Jim Horton’s recommendation)<br />

where you can adjust the honing angle with<br />

precision Draw several angles, say from 45 to 25<br />

degrees on a cardboard and measure the angle of<br />

your tools If you are satisfied with a tool, that is<br />

if it remains sharp over a long period of use, then<br />

note that angle and stick to it You may find that<br />

different tools require slightly different angles but<br />

measurement will give you an absolute criterion<br />

Richard Franklin<br />

19<br />

I own 9 burins that I’ve acquired over the past 15<br />

years All have been manufactured at Lyons They do<br />

vary a bit, but fall into the straight style My favorite<br />

#1 spitsticker is the straightest of the lot<br />

Dale Kennedy<br />

I have quickly and easily dealt with the differences in<br />

angles of tools from all sources (for example, I have<br />

some old ones that were made in Switzerland) by<br />

heating and bending the tang to the angle I want<br />

The method: lock the tool in a vise just tight enough<br />

to hold it but not scar the shaft Gently tap the<br />

base of the handle with a hammer to loosen it, and<br />

remove (it is simply jammed on in the first place)<br />

Heat the area of the base of the tang with a propane<br />

torch, Bernzomatic being the most common kind<br />

sold in hardware stores It should get close to glowing<br />

red but not bright red Holding the tang with<br />

pliers or vise-grips you can bend it to whatever angle<br />

you like Perhaps make a template in advance so you<br />

aren’t just guessing Clamping the shaft of the tool<br />

in the vise gives it a heat sink to keep the heat from<br />

reaching the tip and damaging the temper While<br />

bending the tang ensure that the bend keeps the<br />

angle of the tang in line with the shaft of the tool<br />

Let the tool cool until there is no more glow but<br />

spit will still boil Carefully holding the tool in pliers<br />

or the like, remove it from the vise and hold it<br />

under running water until it is cool to the touch To<br />

replace the handle, push it on as tightly as it will go<br />

by hand, then, with the pointing the tool vertically<br />

into a piece of wood (I use scrap maple) gently tap<br />

the handle to secure it The only problem I have had


doing this is getting too vigorous with the hammer<br />

at the very last and splitting the handle Fortunately<br />

Lyons also sells handles I believe in having control<br />

over my tools and prefer to shorten, sharpen, and<br />

shape them myself<br />

Bill Myers<br />

Thank you for the opportunity to talk about one<br />

of our favorite topics: tools Being a woman with<br />

small hands I may bring another wrinkle to the<br />

discussion: length When McClain’s discontinued<br />

their shorter length engraving tools I bought up one<br />

of everything I could get my hands on They should<br />

last me awhile, but there will come a time when I<br />

will have to start looking for more<br />

Sylvia Portillo<br />

20<br />

Thanks for starting this conversation It reminds<br />

me of my first engraving tools that I bought from<br />

Vern at Graphic Chemical back in the 1960s He<br />

stocked straight engravers and asked if I wanted it<br />

bent I said yes, so he invited me into the shop where<br />

he clamped most of the tool in a vice and with the<br />

handle removed heated the tang just above the vise<br />

with a torch and bent it with a pair of pliers As he<br />

bent it he asked how much bend I wanted I told him<br />

when to stop (a wild guess on my part since I was<br />

pretty green at the time) So, there is nothing sacred<br />

about the angle of these things Just change the angle<br />

with some heat Do use a vise, as it will act as a heat<br />

sink and keep the working end from overheating<br />

Jack Brubaker<br />

I love that you’ve made me grab my gravers/burins<br />

at this hour of a Saturday morning! I find that, yes,<br />

mine have a range of angles and that I don’t care<br />

After a very scientific analysis of my pal, my #52<br />

graver, I found that it too has the higher angle What<br />

matters most for me is the length of the shaft<br />

A few years ago, when I took engraving again<br />

with Deborah Mae Broad and Jim at Frogman’s,<br />

Deborah delighted and shocked us all by showing us<br />

how to remove, cut down and reattach the metal into


the handle It’s very easy to remove the metal, redrill<br />

and glue it back in after all, whether to change<br />

the angle or shorten it in the process It was one of<br />

the highlights of the course, and reminded me of a<br />

similar discussion/demo by Karen Kunc, when she<br />

shared how she changes the angle of her V-gouges if<br />

she doesn’t like it It sounds so elementary that it’s<br />

humorous that I and the other printmakers would<br />

find it “shocking” and revelatory I bought the tool<br />

I should be able to do whatever I want to it! This<br />

knowledge has been liberating for me, and I now<br />

find myself changing the angle on my U-gouges<br />

with no attending guilt<br />

I have had discussions with McClain’s & Lyons<br />

over the years (visiting their booths at conferences)<br />

“Who really wants those long shanks/shafts on the<br />

engraving tools? I have large hands Do men really<br />

have hands that are that much larger?” I suspect<br />

21<br />

that with the shorter shank I can hold it flatter in<br />

my hand, and as such makes the angle less of an<br />

issue for me, if it is an issue at all I’ve noticed that<br />

I’ve had an opportunity at both vendor tables to<br />

pick up a tool and play with it, while they looked<br />

on interestedly (This not just at me, but with all<br />

the other carvers/engravers too ) It struck me that<br />

they, most assuredly are there to learn from us, and<br />

want the interaction with us, as much or more, so<br />

that we want their tools<br />

With my Deborah Mae Broad instructed skills,<br />

I know I can hand-tailor any tool Perhaps that’s really<br />

the message here Why would we assume that a<br />

tool is made correctly for all of us? Why have we lost<br />

the skills to manipulate and re-craft these extensions<br />

of our hands!?<br />

Sarah Whorf<br />

My early tools were purchased from David Sander<br />

in 1984 I know the shafts were shortened, and<br />

maybe it was David who shortened them Since then<br />

I have ordered most of my tools directly from E C<br />

Lyons My two favorite tools are both spitstickers<br />

from E C Lyons; one is a #2 and one is a #6 One<br />

has a slight bend, the other has a sharper bend I<br />

have used them for years, and never even noticed<br />

the difference In my drawer of tools I have only<br />

two that are “arrow” straight These are the only<br />

two that I find uncomfortable and very rarely use<br />

They have no stamp on the shaft so I do not know<br />

who made them It seems to me that it is all about<br />

personal preference!<br />

Marsha Sweet


Old Tool Boxes<br />

by Judith Jaidinger<br />

About the tool boxes, I have three that I have<br />

kept Some guys were real craftsmen and others<br />

just slapped wood together Because some of<br />

the engravers worked at home (overtime) they<br />

had elaborate leather rolls with sewn partitions<br />

Most of those have dried out They also made<br />

leather sleeves for each tool which I found would<br />

usually fall off in transit The boxes were left at<br />

work for daily jobs and were of varied design<br />

22<br />

The box I use and is my treasure is made of oak<br />

with 4-5 drawers We stripped and refinished it<br />

and polished the brass I lined the drawers with<br />

felt and the notched wood dividers are original<br />

The other box is similar in that it is oak but has 6<br />

stubby drawers I use this for storage The third<br />

box is a soft nondescript wood painted brown<br />

This is also used for tool storage I had 2 others<br />

that just plain fell apart


Tool trade marks & names imprinted on various burins from the vast collection of Judith Jaidinger<br />

25


Bundle No. 45<br />

<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2011</strong><br />

The prints contained in this issue of <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong><br />

have been scanned from WEN Bundle No 45 This<br />

section does not intend to substitute the value of<br />

viewing the original prints as printed by the artist<br />

on fine paper with quality inks, but is meant to<br />

provide a facsimile for WEN members not<br />

receiving bundles Because of space<br />

and reproduction limitations, some<br />

Something Wicked Johanna Mueller (actual size)<br />

Something Wicked was engraved on a High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS) block and was printed on a “Japanese”<br />

paper, using Daniel Smith relief ink An edition of 82 was printed for WEN<br />

26<br />

images have been reduced in size, and color prints<br />

have been reproduced in shades of gray In some<br />

instances a print represented in the bundle may<br />

have been excluded in this section as requested by<br />

the artist All original prints from the bundles are<br />

archived at the Princeton University Graphic<br />

Arts Library, Princeton, New Jersey, with<br />

Agnes Sherman serving as curator


Cascade Falls Nancy Darrell (95%)<br />

“During the 2010 WEN workshop I made a sketch<br />

of Cascade Falls during a group outing It was rough<br />

and vague, but Carl Montford and Joel Moline<br />

encouraged me to make a wood engraving from it<br />

This is an edition of 90 for WEN ”<br />

27<br />

Year of the Rabbit Michelle Morrell (90%)<br />

Year of the Rabbit was engraved on Resingrave and<br />

an edition of 77 was printed for WEN Michelle used<br />

Graphic Chemical ink and printed this WEN edition<br />

on mulberry paper


Dangling Dirk Lee (70%)<br />

Dangling is a wood engraving, printed at the Naked<br />

Man Press, on a Vandercook SP20 (built in 1965),<br />

using Roberts & Carlson ink, on Farbriano orange/<br />

gold colored paper An edition of 100 was printed<br />

for WEN<br />

28<br />

Daphne & Apollo Daniel Williams (38%)<br />

Daphne & Apollo is a linoblock reduction print<br />

Daniel used orange, brown, green and blue waterbased<br />

Speedball inks An edition of 76 was printed<br />

for WEN


Spare Tire Mary Thompson (55%)<br />

Mary sent an assortment of engravings, all of cars,<br />

to WEN for bundle <strong>#45</strong><br />

29<br />

Tiger Eyes Keri R Safranski (70%)<br />

Tiger Eyes was engraved on an end-grain maple block<br />

An edition of 100 was printed for bundle <strong>#45</strong> using<br />

Daniel Smith #79 Black ink and Stathmore Bristol<br />

plate paper


Year of the Hare Colleen Dwire (55%)<br />

Year of the Hare was printed with linoleum blocks using a Vandercook Universal 1 Press Colleen wrote, “This is<br />

a promo piece I send to some children’s book publishers The stock went through the exquisite color copier at<br />

FedEx Kinko’s (printing from a native Illustrator pdf file) before it got to the Vandercook ” “… I’ve discovered<br />

that publishers get excited when they see letterpress work; I am happy to indulge their yearning I get a kick<br />

out of the combination of the computer generated art with the relief image ” An edition of 80 was printed<br />

for WEN<br />

30


Scribe and Cat William Rueter (95%)<br />

Scribe and Cat shows the great British calligrapher and teacher Edward Johnson at work with his cat Pounce It<br />

comes from A Letter from Edward Johnson, produced by The Aliquando Press The quotation behind Johnson<br />

translates as “To work is to pray ” The edition of 150 was printed on Mohawk Superfine paper using Vanson<br />

ink<br />

31


Recycle Sarah Whorf (95%)<br />

Sarah used Resingrave for Recyle An edition of 100 for WEN was printed at Burnt Toast Press using Van Son<br />

Oil-based Plus ink & Daniel Smith litho ink on Neenah recyled cover stock (color “Desert Storm”)<br />

32


Black-headed Grosbeak W Gale Mueller (actual size)<br />

Black-headed Grosbeak was engraved on a Hard Maple<br />

end-grained block Gale printed his edition at The<br />

Millstone Press on a Vandercook SP 15, using Van<br />

Son Black ink on Mohawk Superfine 100# white text<br />

paper An edition of 100 for WEN<br />

33<br />

The Artist W Gale Mueller (75%)<br />

The Artist was engraved on a Castello (Brazilian<br />

Boxwood) end-grained block Gale printed his<br />

edition at The Millstone Press on a Vandercook SP<br />

15, using Van Son Black ink on Mohawk Superfine<br />

100# white text paper An edition of 110 was printed<br />

for WEN


WEN Moth Paul Constance (actual size)<br />

Paul printed WEN Moth, engraved on a piece of<br />

Ivorywood, in an edition of 36 for WEN The edition<br />

was printed on Rives BFK using a bottle jack press<br />

34<br />

Smiling Politician Allan Greenier (actual size)<br />

Allan Greenier printed Smiling Politician in an edition<br />

of 157 for WEN The wood engraving was printed on<br />

a Challenge cylinder proof press using Von Son black<br />

ink on Mohawk Superfine 100T White Text paper


A Wild Hare Runs… Julianna Humphreys (70%)<br />

A Wild Hare Runs Before A Snowstorm is printed in<br />

an edition of 76 for WEN Julianna used end-grain<br />

maple for her engraving The edition is printed using<br />

French Company’s 100# Speckletone True White<br />

paper and Graphic Chemical dark brown ink<br />

35<br />

Looking for the Sun Karin Hokkanen (80%)<br />

Looking for the Sun is a pine block woodcut that Karin<br />

printed with her table top proofing press using black<br />

Speedball water-based ink and 20# gold office paper<br />

“I went for a walk in a cleared area by my house Even<br />

in Florida, in February, almost everything is brown,<br />

except for lots of clumps of moss, glistening in the<br />

morning sun So those clumps were my inspiration<br />

for this image ”


8 Jacks Nikki Vahle-Schneider (95%)<br />

Nikki sent an edition of 80 for WEN 8 Jacks is printed on a #1 Vandercook proof press, using gray and brown<br />

cover stock paper The print is hand colored with watercolor pencils “This print is the letter J out of my<br />

alphabet ”<br />

36


Opening Gerri Carlson (85%)<br />

Gerri sent an edition of 94 for WEN, printed at the<br />

Slow Poke Press on a Challenge proof press Opening<br />

was engraved on a maple block, printed using oilbased<br />

Hostman Steinberg Letterpress Special Matte<br />

Black ink on Zerkall White Book Vellum paper<br />

37<br />

AIDS Service 2010 Cover John Benson (55%)<br />

AIDS Service 2010 Cover is a linoleum block hand<br />

printed by John Benson


Untitled John Johnson (actual size)<br />

This edition, engraved on end-grain hard maple, was printed at the Birdhouse Press on an Albion iron handpress<br />

John used Vanson CML oil base black #2<strong>2011</strong> ink and Sommerset Book paper “This is the key block of a 3<br />

block set, the color blocks not yet engraved This set is planned to be one image for a future circus poster ”<br />

38


Bundle Participation?<br />

Show your stuff!<br />

A Note to All WEN Members on Bundle Participation:<br />

and in particular, those new members that might still<br />

be confused as to what and how the print exchange<br />

works.<br />

A Bundle is a name we dubbed the mailings that take<br />

place twice yearly (<strong>Spring</strong> and Autumn) A Bundle<br />

is a packet of prints, or a “non-digital” show that<br />

comes to your door They are not intended for sale<br />

or speculation They are meant for people to share<br />

the joy of printmaking with others who know and<br />

appreciate what went into their production<br />

We have many levels of expertise represented<br />

There are established professionals along with beginners<br />

There are a few who appreciate prints, but<br />

don't practice printmaking themselves We hope the<br />

Bundles are a means of education We do not publicly<br />

judge or criticize the work that is contributed,<br />

though we are always open to comments, and certainly,<br />

individual contacts can be made to these artists<br />

with your more personal comments and ideas<br />

We love of seeing ink on paper that came from an<br />

artist's hand Sometimes we are awed by the quality<br />

of the work Sometimes we learn from the rawness<br />

of a “Beginner's Mind” as the Zen masters call it,<br />

that hasn’t been influenced by standard practices<br />

and shows the exciting marks of experimentation<br />

“A print is the halfway point between a thing and a<br />

thought,” as Fritz Eichenberg once said To hold it<br />

close to the eye, and see the artists intimate journey<br />

of creation is no small thing In these days of digital<br />

imaging, it is a rare and valued thing perhaps<br />

more so than ever<br />

39<br />

We are always happy to hear of sales and contacts<br />

that result from people seeing someone’s work<br />

in the Bundles, however, that is not the prime reason<br />

we exist WEN is just one place where, if you have<br />

something extra to give, with the spirit of “What<br />

goes around, comes around,” you donate We are<br />

an appreciative audience When you do contribute<br />

to a Bundle, unless you indicate that it not be used<br />

for exhibition, you are giving people the right to<br />

show it to others in educational displays If it were<br />

to be reproduced for commercial use, permissions<br />

must be sought<br />

Bundle participation is not mandatory for<br />

being a member of WEN If you paid your dues,<br />

you will receive a journal, all announcements, a<br />

welcome to come to any of our activities (such as<br />

summer workshops), exhibit in any WEN connected<br />

exhibitions and receive some prints that have been<br />

donated by members You might not receive all the<br />

prints (as members only have to submit a total of 76,<br />

not enough to go around to all) Why that number?<br />

Some of these artists print by hand, slowly, and<br />

to even give away 76 of such work, is asking a lot,<br />

though some do contribute the maximum How do<br />

you get the full array of prints? You do so by contributing<br />

at least 76 prints to a Bundle If you do so,<br />

you are put at the head of the list when the stacks<br />

of prints are sorted into envelopes for mailing If<br />

you never contribute (which there is no pressure to<br />

do so), you will get whatever is left over That list is<br />

sorted by the seniority of when you joined If you<br />

are a newcomer, obviously, you are going to be at the<br />

end of the line But contribute, and you are at the


front of the line This keeps a healthy array of new<br />

artists coming in If contributing every few years,<br />

you are still getting just about everything<br />

We do ask that the work going into a bundle<br />

is by your hand You may contribute brochures,<br />

advertisements or a prospectus All materials are<br />

welcome as long as you feel it would be of interest<br />

and benefit to the group We have received intaglio,<br />

lino and plank-grain woodcuts, which are welcome<br />

Any questions, do contact us<br />

A Calendar of Days<br />

Participate; promote WEN and your work!<br />

We now have a new WEN tradition, A Calendar<br />

of Days, which promotes the <strong>Wood</strong> Engravers’<br />

<strong>Network</strong> to an expanded audience, thanks to our<br />

partnership with Tim and Elke Inkster and their<br />

marvelous literary press, The Porcupine’s Quill<br />

A Calendar of Days includes fourteen reproductions<br />

of wood engravings contributed by artists<br />

from the United States, United Kingdom and<br />

Canada, all of whom are members of the <strong>Wood</strong><br />

Engravers’ <strong>Network</strong> (WEN) The images have been<br />

engraved by hand, proofed letterpress by the artists<br />

themselves, then digitized and printed offset on<br />

the Heidelberg KORD by Tim Inkster at The Porcupine’s<br />

Quill in Erin Village, Wellington County,<br />

Ontario A Calendar of Days is what promises to<br />

be an on-going collaboration between the <strong>Wood</strong><br />

Engravers’ <strong>Network</strong> and The Porcupine’s Quill, a<br />

small publishing company noted for its expertise<br />

in using twentieth-century offset technology to<br />

40<br />

replicate the quality look of a nineteenth-century<br />

letterpress product<br />

For the <strong>Wood</strong> Engravers’ <strong>Network</strong>, our primary<br />

involvement in the production of A Calendar of Days<br />

is to provide high-quality wood engraved prints<br />

that will be reproduced and featured For future<br />

calendars, engravings can be submitted year round<br />

Our hope is that it becomes a regular habit of WEN<br />

members, to print an “extra” proof of their latest<br />

edition and mail it to Tim Inkster Prints not chosen<br />

for the current year’s calendar will be kept as candidates<br />

for future calendars As our pool of prints<br />

grows, finding the best seasonal image for any given<br />

month should become an easier task for Tim<br />

The finished size for A Calendar of Days will<br />

be 8 1/2” high by 5 1/2” wide, with 1/2” margin at<br />

the bottom and 5/8” at the top for a ring binding<br />

Prints will be reproduced in black and white at<br />

their actual size Prints submitted will have to fit<br />

within the following calendar template dimensions:<br />

within a 4”x4” space (3”x3”, 3”x 4”, 3”x3”, etc ) or 5<br />

1/8”width x 4”” height, in which case there will be<br />

no border, and the image will bleed left and right<br />

A border may be used for images less than 4” x 4”<br />

in size<br />

The artists whose work is chosen will be compensated<br />

for the one-time usage of their image in<br />

advance with 10 copies of the calendar, including<br />

freight For this royalty, The Porcupine’s Quill<br />

can reproduce the selected artist’s engraving for<br />

a one-time use in the calendar The artist retains<br />

all copyrights to the image Artists whose work<br />

is selected also will be eligible for a 40% discount


on any additional calendars that they may wish to<br />

order The artists would be paying the freight for<br />

these additional calendars<br />

Tim Inkster will select the engravings to be<br />

reproduced, as The Porcupine’s Quill will have total<br />

creative control over the design and printing of the<br />

calendar If Tim would like to receive any additional<br />

input pertaining to the selection of engravings for<br />

A Calendar of Days, the <strong>Wood</strong> Engravers’ <strong>Network</strong>’s<br />

organizers would be happy to help If the WEN/<br />

PQL Calendar partnership ends, all wood engravings<br />

submitted will be returned to WEN To keep<br />

the process simple, all the prints would be returned<br />

to WEN organizer Jim Horton<br />

At this time, 14 engravings will be chosen<br />

for the current calendar design, including a cover<br />

image, an image for each of the 12 months, and a<br />

“bonus” month – January of the following year<br />

Extra leaves will be included that will include brief<br />

biographies of the contributing artists, calendar<br />

information, etc When you submit an engraved<br />

print, please include your contact information, so<br />

if your image is chosen a follow-up request for your<br />

biographical information can be sent to you<br />

Tim Inkster will determine the retail cost of the<br />

calendar and the number of copies to be printed<br />

WEN members are eligible for a 20% discount off<br />

the list price from The Porcupine’s Quill, excluding<br />

shipping and handling A Calendar of Days is already<br />

listed on amazon com in both the US and the UK<br />

The calendar is also available through Barnes &<br />

Noble (US) and Waterstones (UK) websites<br />

As The Porcupine’s Quill has committed its<br />

41<br />

resources to this endeavor, we believe it is important<br />

that Tim should have enough quality engravings to<br />

select from for the A Calendar of Days effort For the<br />

continued success of this partnership it is essential<br />

that WEN members send Tim Inkster prints on an<br />

ongoing basis, so our collection builds Always print<br />

an “extra” (if the image size fits within the calendar’s<br />

template size) when you can, and mail it to The<br />

Porcupine’s Quill – address below (Write Tim a<br />

nice note while you are at it ) We encourage you to<br />

submit engravings often Our hope is that Tim and<br />

Elke receive so many quality engravings that they<br />

will have a difficult time choosing the best<br />

As our calendar spans a little more than a year,<br />

the topic of the engravings you submit may find a<br />

matching month to represent it Your winter scene<br />

might be competing against another engraver’s<br />

snowy landscape It may be the case that an image<br />

that is more universal, and not having a seasonal<br />

aspect to it, will have a better chance at being selected<br />

As the WEN engraving collection grows<br />

at The Porcupine’s Quill, the calendar’s months<br />

and seasons will find their matches naturally My<br />

advice would be to submit your best, and in time,<br />

your work may be featured on one of 14 pages of A<br />

Calendar of Days<br />

When you mail your submissions, it is<br />

very important that when you fill out the customs<br />

declarations form, and identify the content of the<br />

package (printed material) that you do not assign<br />

any value to what you are mailing The Canadian<br />

Customs collect a 13% Harmonized Sales Tax (HST)<br />

for the value listed on the declarations form This tax


has to be paid before Tim can receive the package<br />

If you sent two wood engravings and valued them<br />

at $50 each, Tim would have to pay $13 HST before<br />

he can receive the parcel! Therefore, any package a<br />

WEN member assigns a substantial value to most<br />

probably will be refused at the Erin, Ontario post<br />

office and returned back to its sender<br />

With your mailing to The Porcupine’s Quill,<br />

please comply with the Canadian Customs and<br />

postal administration addressing requirements<br />

Be sure to display the complete name and address<br />

of both the sender and recipient on your parcel<br />

If you decide to send a proof/print inside a “standard”<br />

letter you won’t need to fill out the customs<br />

declaration form The print may get scrunched a<br />

bit, but it should scan just fine if it is selected for A<br />

Calendar of Days<br />

Please join in our new tradition, A Calendar of<br />

Days, which promotes the <strong>Wood</strong> Engravers’ <strong>Network</strong><br />

and The Porcupine’s Quill WEN encourages<br />

you to participate Mail your engravings, including<br />

your contact information to:<br />

Tim Inkster CM RGD<br />

The Porcupine’s Quill<br />

68 Main Street, PO Box 160<br />

Erin, Ontario N0B 1T0<br />

If you have any questions about A Calendar<br />

of Days or any other WEN-related topic, feel free<br />

to write or call Jim Horton or Tony Drehfal, using<br />

their contact information located in the masthead<br />

from this edition of <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong><br />

42<br />

New Members<br />

Diane Cutter<br />

HC55, Box 9101<br />

Ceiba, Puerto Rica, 00735<br />

cutterstudio@yahoo com<br />

www dianecutter com<br />

Daniel Williams<br />

5 Stagview Lane,<br />

Bahama, North Carolina 27503<br />

414-254-6424<br />

danielw@paintmywords com<br />

www handstampedprints com<br />

Keith R. Cranmer<br />

1808 McGee Ave<br />

Berkeley, California 94703<br />

510-843-0963<br />

studio@keithcranmer com<br />

www keithcranmer com<br />

Keith is the CEO of Seabright Brewery, Inc. He is a<br />

self-taught engraver in metals since 1975. He recently<br />

illustrated a book of love poems by Robert Bly called<br />

The Indigo Bunting.<br />

Laura L. Pharis<br />

309 Arlington St<br />

Lynchburg, Virginia 24503<br />

434-845-2557<br />

lpharis@sbc edu<br />

Linda is a professor of art at Sweet Briar College. Her<br />

education began at Virginia Commonwealth U. She<br />

then studied with Blair-Hughes Stanton (with a diploma)<br />

at Central School of Art & Design in London.


Her MFA was at University of Wisconsin – Madison<br />

where she studied with Ray Gloekler. Linda is a founding<br />

member of One/Off Printmakers in Virginia, where she<br />

is a frequent exhibitor.<br />

John Tiesberg<br />

1460 Simpson St<br />

St Paul, Minnesota 55108<br />

651-645-9299<br />

Awaiting more information from John.<br />

Judy Gerrow<br />

PO Box 3061<br />

New Haven, Conneticut 06515<br />

203-668-3484<br />

Awaiting more information from Judy.<br />

Michelle Fleisher<br />

155 Brewster St<br />

Unit 3D<br />

Bridgeport, Conneticut 06605<br />

Laurie Corral<br />

81 N Liberty St<br />

Asheville, North Carolina 28801<br />

828-255-8444 (M) 828-291-65<br />

41lauriecorral@ mac com<br />

Laurie has a degree in Printmaking from WVU (Morgantown),<br />

an MFA from Cranbrook, and an MA in<br />

Art Ed at U of Illinios. She founded Boookworks, the<br />

esteemed workshop for bookbinding, printmaking,<br />

papermaking, letterpress, etc. in Asheville.<br />

43<br />

Bob Benson<br />

334 Apple Valley Rd<br />

Sevierville, Tennessee 37862<br />

865-453-2781<br />

fax: 1-866-334-1902<br />

865photo@gmail com<br />

Bob has taken several classes in wood engraving at John<br />

Campbell Folk School. He is a fine artist and plays a<br />

mean dobro. Welcome Bob.<br />

Allan Greenier<br />

1005 Whalley Ave<br />

Apt 3<br />

New Haven, Conneticut 06515<br />

203-389-8212<br />

agreenier@snet net<br />

www planetxylo com<br />

Inspired by an exhibition of M. C. Escher, Allan is a<br />

working printmaker and invites WEN members to his<br />

website “<strong>Block</strong> Party Pages”<br />

Caryl Peters<br />

Frog Hollow Press<br />

1758 Armstrong Ave<br />

Victoria, British Columbia V8R5S6<br />

Canada<br />

250-595-3607<br />

carylpeters@telus net<br />

www froghollowpress com<br />

Caryl’s education was at McGill U. She is a publisher,<br />

book designer and now wood engraver. Caryl has worked<br />

with Wesley Bates.


Amy S. Fujimoto<br />

15728 Buena Vista Drive<br />

Derwood, Maryland 20855<br />

301-590-0419<br />

fax: 301-590-0430<br />

amys_fujimoto@yahoo com<br />

Amy is an accomplished artist. She also does watercolor<br />

and traditional woodcut. She delved into wood engraving<br />

at John Campbell this March. Welcome, Amy.<br />

Eric Gulliver<br />

1278 W Ninth St<br />

Cleveland, Ohio 44113<br />

758-1758-1758<br />

eagulliver@gmail com<br />

More info on Eric to come.<br />

Paul Constance<br />

203 S Lee St<br />

Falls Church, Virginia 22046<br />

Changes and Updates<br />

Address Change:<br />

Mika Boyd<br />

2074 Shiloh St , Eugene, Oregon 97401 541-554-<br />

6586 mikab@uoregon edu<br />

Name Change:<br />

Tina Johansen is now Tina Herman<br />

18211 Steiner Rd<br />

Gays Mills, WI 54631<br />

Congratulations Tina!<br />

44


Announcements & Notes<br />

A Clear Blue Sky in Royal Oak<br />

By John Holbrook with wood engravings by James<br />

Todd<br />

WEN member Jim Todd has eight of his wood<br />

engravings featured in a new collection of poems<br />

by John Holbrook titled, A Clear Blue Sky in Royal<br />

Oak<br />

From the Preface: In these poems we are swept<br />

45<br />

along in our daily lives / by unseen currents, bumping<br />

here and there, / our little driftwood heads against / one<br />

thing or another. Listen, when we get down to it / aren’t<br />

we able to find our course / picking up steam like rivers<br />

do in their rapids. // Why argue about / what rivers<br />

and our lives are? John writes all the watermarks with<br />

mineral-pebbly syllables on our lips as we read.<br />

A Clear Blue Sky in Royal Oak is a 96 page handstitched<br />

paper book with spine, and available for<br />

$16 (plus shipping)<br />

Foothills Publishing<br />

P O Box 68<br />

Kanona, New York 14856<br />

(607) 566-3881<br />

http://foothillspublishing com<br />

e-mail: fhp@foothillspublishing com<br />

Eyesight<br />

Recently <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong> editor Tony Drehfal sent<br />

Simon Brett an e-mail, writing: “As I am looking<br />

at ways to engrave longer periods of time, I am<br />

finding using an optivisor to be somewhat a “pain<br />

in the neck ” I recently observed in a photo of your<br />

workspace that you use a magnifying lens that looks<br />

to be mounted on your desk What kind is it? What<br />

is the magnification? If you have any other insights<br />

on magnification tools, please do share them ”<br />

Simon replied: “I don’t know what magnification<br />

my lens is, I bought it forty years ago Its not<br />

fixed to the desk, it is on a weighted, moveable<br />

stand Lenses on stands are available in this country,<br />

if not at art then at hobby shops; look in the


needlework section if necessary I think you can<br />

get them with desk clamps too I have also got an<br />

inherited but little used (by me) lens with a neon<br />

light coiled round it The ‘frame’ is thus 2” thick<br />

around the 5” lens and I find that alienates one from<br />

the work, rather<br />

I think a lens much better for the eyes than<br />

glasses or a visor I’ve never used a visor but didn’t<br />

take to it when I tried one on: again, I found it alienating<br />

from the work Hilary (Paynter) has a nice lens<br />

on a bendy stand like mine but there is no rim to<br />

it at all – the glass is fixed directly to the stand – so<br />

there is no barrier between the naked eye view and<br />

the enlargement except the shift of scale itself<br />

Reasons for my perhaps superstitious views are<br />

attached – it is a footnote from the forthcoming 3rd<br />

edition of <strong>Wood</strong> Engraving How to Do It Juliet used<br />

to wear glasses but dispensed with them some years<br />

ago to the consternation of the opticians!”<br />

To raise your eyes from the block regularly and refocus<br />

on the most distant thing you can see – indeed,<br />

on things at various distances – is commonsense;<br />

Clifford Webb told me to do that It also echoes<br />

the principles of the ‘Bates Method’, a so-called<br />

‘Alexander technique for the eyes’ It is not for a<br />

book like this to commend alternative medical<br />

therapies, but Bates is less a therapy for the eyes<br />

than a way of thinking about them Dr Bates saw<br />

the eye as (among other things) a muscle, and, like<br />

any muscle, subject to tiredness and malfunction<br />

from external causes and from physical or mental<br />

stress or worry An arm or leg held on crutches, even<br />

46<br />

for a short time, loses muscle tone and has to be<br />

exercised to regain it Bates argued that spectacles<br />

put the eye on crutches long-term Just as a crutch<br />

supports the body but takes away the function of<br />

the leg, causing it to weaken, glasses seem to support<br />

the sight but, by fixing the eye’s focal length, take<br />

away its movement and flexibility Stronger and<br />

stronger glasses are required as the eye is deprived<br />

of its natural flexion It recovers less easily than a<br />

leg; but it can be recovered and, more important,<br />

can be saved from unnecessary deterioration by not<br />

resorting to glasses automatically in the first place<br />

By wiser care, the need for glasses can be postponed<br />

or even obviated<br />

This is not to say that eyesight does not change<br />

over the course of a lifetime or deteriorate with age<br />

By this third edition, mine has Rather, it is to say<br />

that there is no need to hasten it on its way<br />

<strong>Wood</strong> engraving, with its particular, close focus<br />

over sustained periods, must test Bates’s ideas to the<br />

extreme; but engravers might at least consider that<br />

a magnifying glass, in relation to which the head<br />

and eye remain in motion, is healthier for the eye<br />

than spectacles, which lock the focal length to and<br />

of the eye itself<br />

The only difficulty is that the limited field of<br />

vision through a magnifying glass can make it hard<br />

to see the whole of a larger block Now in my sixties,<br />

I sometimes put my ordinary reading glasses back<br />

on for that purpose – but I take them off as soon as<br />

I can and use the naked eye whenever I can<br />

See W H Bates Better Eyesight Without Glasses<br />

(1919 and still in print) and http://www seeing


org/ the website of The Bates Association for Vision<br />

Education (UK)<br />

Editor’s Note A new revised and expanded edition<br />

of Simon Brett’s classic <strong>Wood</strong> Engraving How to<br />

do it, has been published by A&C Black and is now<br />

available (See the McClain’s ad in this issue )<br />

Casanova in Venice<br />

Nine original wood engravings by Wesley W Bates,<br />

of Clifford, Ontario, are featured in a new The<br />

Porcupine’s Quill publication titled, Casanova in<br />

Venice: A Raunchy Rhyme by Kildare Dobbs With<br />

Casanova in Venice, The Porcupine’s Quill continues<br />

its marvelous creative partnership with the very best<br />

of Candian authors and wood engravers<br />

Jennifer Fandel of ForeWord Magazine wrote;<br />

“…The ‘raunchy rhyme,’ as noted in the title, is the<br />

supreme delight of Dobbs’s collection Throughout<br />

the book, readers watch outrageous trysts<br />

develop while listening to hilarious double entendre<br />

(‘Awake, my lute!’) and surprising, memorable<br />

rhymes (‘fondle her’ and ‘gondola’) ” “Throughout<br />

47<br />

the collection, Dobbs immerses readers in beautiful,<br />

spare descriptions of Venice as the backdrop of<br />

Casanova’s tale ”<br />

“Entwine our arts with laughter low ”, a James<br />

Joyce quote featured at the start of Casanova in Venice,<br />

sums up how Wesley’s marvelous, playful, and<br />

sometimes titillating wood engravings, partner perfectly<br />

with Dobb’s ribald poem With a close study<br />

of each Bates wood engraving in Casanova in Venice,<br />

it is apparent that his mastery of the burin let him<br />

match, incised line to written word, the wit, warmth<br />

and inventiveness of Dobb’s imagination<br />

For more information about Casanova in Venice<br />

you can visit The Porcupine’s Quill website at,<br />

http://porcupinesquill ca/index html


<strong>2011</strong> Rain City Engravers Calendar<br />

Carl Montford and the Rain City Engravers have<br />

produced a marvelous calendar for themselves, and<br />

shared a copy with the lucky editor of <strong>Block</strong> & <strong>Burin</strong><br />

The calendar included a cover, the twelve months,<br />

three additional prints along with a colophon<br />

48<br />

In Memoriam<br />

<strong>Wood</strong> Engravers’ <strong>Network</strong> Members<br />

Fred Brian<br />

Jane Walker Conneen<br />

Robert Crump<br />

Dale DeArmond<br />

Guy Debenham<br />

Bill Jackson<br />

Eric May<br />

Ann Mikolowski<br />

Erena Rae<br />

Ross Zirkle


Advertisements<br />

Service for WEN Members<br />

In 1980, George A. Walker was all of 19<br />

years old and starting his ~rst year at the<br />

Ontario College of Art when printmaking<br />

instructor Bill Poole challenged him with<br />

a crazy idea: to create ninety-six wood engravings<br />

for a limited, letterpress edition of<br />

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.<br />

The project took ten years to<br />

complete, but only 177 copies were ever<br />

printed. Now Walker is internationally<br />

acclaimed and the Porcupine ’s Quill has ~nally<br />

persuaded the artist to make this<br />

unique project, alongside the classic text<br />

that inspired it, widely available in an o}set<br />

edition at a popular price. Walker ’s<br />

engravings are as playful, surreal and<br />

downright provocative as ever, o}ering a<br />

new and darkly energetic interpretation of<br />

Carroll ’s masterpiece and subtly toying<br />

with Sir John Tenniel ’s famous nineteenth-centur<br />

y illustrations.<br />

Lewis Carroll’s beloved children’s classic<br />

comes to life with almost a hundred<br />

whimsical, eccentric and darkly humorous<br />

wood engravings, all created by the ‘Mad<br />

Hatter ’ of Canadian graphic arts himself,<br />

the award-winning George A. Walker.<br />

49<br />

‘Tender and dark at the same time, these<br />

extraordinar y engravings re+ect their maker<br />

’s youthful energy. An introduction by<br />

Alberto Manguel says it best: ‘‘Glimpses,<br />

snapshots, details of larger scenes tell of<br />

Walker ’s reading, a reading that follows<br />

Alice ’s frantic pace, far from Victorian sobriet<br />

y, from madness to greater madness.’’’<br />

– ForeWord Magazine, Traverse City MI<br />

Available from Ingram, Baker+Taylor,<br />

Amazon or direct from the publisher at<br />

http://porcupinesquill.ca $18.95


51<br />

AREPO AREPO<br />

s t o n e t y p e f o u n d r y . c o m

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