Showing the inspiration, drawing, painting, and craving of the block, testing, and final print
Some of my first attempts, the main problem being I had too much water on the block, and the cutting is a bit rough and ready!
These picture show a range of paint applications and demos, extending our knowledge of the special effects such as bokashi, kappazuri, haburashi ….
Then began 4 days of intensive instruction from the excellent Tuula Moilanen, a Finnish printmaker and woman of many other skills too, such as speaking fluent Japanese, bookbinding and much else besides. We leant about designing the print, preparing the printing blocks and the carving area, transferring the image to the blocks, carving the blocks, preparing the printing papers, printing the image, finishing and cleaning. We looked at various methods of carving and printing, looked at samples, planned our work, and were taught how to use the tools correctly – some are very fine and must be used in a precise way – Tuula gave many demonstrations. The transfer of the image to the block can be done a several ways, traditional and more contemporary – we used more modern carbon paper method. The colour separation was discussed, and registration marks (kento) so particular to mokuhanga. Arranging the printing area to make printing efficient is vital! As is choosing the right paper and preparing it properly. More of that later ……
A day of finding our way around the locality, preparing for our 4 weeks in the studio ….
there are amazing views of Fuji-san from the southern side of the residence, and of the mountains around Lake Kawaguchi from the north…. spectacular! Waking up to those views can’t help but inspire you, and the area is well known as a muse for artists….
