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