Baren Puzzle Printing by B.Mason & M.Arango
I jumbled all the pictures in somewhat of a sequence without captions. This is the first of six pages. Click on thumbnails to see enlargements.
Any questions? Some of the details of the project, materials and the printing...

Item	Time (hr)	Cost US$	Comments
Wood: 2 ea. 3/4" Cherry plywood 24x36"	0.2	$82	Online order: www.woodcraft.com
Wood: 2 ea. 1/8" Doorskin back 24x36"	0.3	$18	Local home improvement store
Ink: 1.5 cans Daniel Smith Tradit. Black	0.1	$22	Online order: www.danielsmith.com
Paper: 200 ea. Stonehenge Cream	0.1	$224	Online order: www.danielsmith.com
Mailing tubes: 40 ea. Priority Mail Tubes	0.1	$0	Free for US mailing: www.usps.com
Mailing tubes: 12 ea. Heavy Mailing Tubes	0.1	$36	For foreign mailing: www.uline.com
Colophon: Linen paper/Ink cartridge	6	$32	Clickbook print utility www.bluesquirrel.com
Drawing/cutting block/sanding	30	$22	New jigsaw blades!
Mailers for blocks	0.1	$42	Cardboard envelopes www.uline.com
Mailing blocks	4	$86	Domestic postage www.stamps.com
Printing (2 people, 3 long days)	72	$0	Unless you count Barbara's plane ticket
Website and email updates	15	$0	Included in my website costs
Mailing 2 prints/colophon to participants	6	$255	Domestic postage www.stamps.com
Miscellaneous	12	$56	Studio printing supplies, home/office store, etc.
	Time	Cost US $
TOTAL	146	$875	Received $508 from participants

We printed the puzzle on an etching press (Dan Patrick 24" x 36" bed); it is constructed simply but a very good press.

The "sandwich", top to bottom:

-masonite, smooth side down
-single blotter
-paper (Stonehenge cream, dry)
-1/2" of ink (just kidding, Barbara says I use too much ink; 1.5 cans were used for this experiment)
-block: 3/4" cherry plywood glued to luan 1/8" backing for stability
-thin cardboard
-press bed

Again from top to bottom:
-Rough side of masonite contacts the steel roller, smooth side of masonite ensures a flat and even contact with paper/block
-One blotter, sometimes more (depending on block), is used to make up for slight mislevel of blocks. We adjusted the individual block heights with masking tape placed under the blocks; there were still some variations that the blotter takes care of for the most part. I don't ever see a need for soft materials used when printing woodblocks; blankets are used for etching so that the paper will sink into the lines and pick up the ink. IMHO, blankets for woodcuts are just asking for trouble unless embossing is purposely desired. A hard "tympan" works best for woodcuts with blotters as a forgiving aid.
-Paper is thick, Merrican-style, a rather forgiving paper that soaks up quite a bit of ink. A bit harder than 88 but still very nice to work with and smooth.
-Inking was the hardest part since there was so much variation between blocks. Some folks carved bold shapes that demanded quite a bit of ink and some used such delicate lines. Needless to say if we would have inked each block separately we'd still be printing so we found a happy medium that worked for all the blocks. We used an 18" roller to apply the ink (Dan Smith classic black)
-Block, already talked about, had to level and level and level
-Cardboard under the block assures that no shifting will occur as the block simply "digs" into the cardboard when pressure is applied.
-Press bed is very nice, thank you. We marked guides for the placement of the paper with masking tape.

Next time the "frame" will completely surround all the blocks, as the edge blocks were particularly fussy about staying in their slots. Also, I will probaly use solid wood next time, the plywood came apart in a couple of places of the thin framework and we had to stop and glue. Toughest part was inking some trouble areas carefully so that they would print without completely obliterating the details of adjacent blocks.

Other than that, we just worked and worked until the beast was done. Some 30 hours in all, morning to evening. We enjoyed ourselves, laughed a bunch and got Barbara hooked on Flamenco.
Here are her comments: "I had a great time with Maria, hard work but lots of fun also. A great sense of accomplishment as those prints mounted up on the drying rack. I got little vacation to think about stuff from a distance and saw pertoglyphs, my favorite. All in all, time well spent. I had about 100 emails waiting for me..so will get to them in a day or so. Maria was such a great hostess....but I warn you, she is really a hard worker so there is no slacking if you go there to work!

Maria, I was so glad I went to help you, it was way too much work for one! Vacations come in all shapes and when you love printmaking, it was a real vacation! Remember, you promised to make me look better in the photos....we were fairly messy looking while working, so be warned!"