Naoshima

直島海岸　ー　終わった！

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First, a tease –

Check out that nice embossing! But I’m getting way ahead of myself 😉

The 直島海岸 (Naoshima coast) print was finished awhile back. Here are some in-process images.

  • after first green impression
  • after turquoise and brown
  • after paynes on lower rocks
  • green on just the trees
  • after that
  • everything drying!
  • final print, including shadows on cliff face and on rocks by the shore

This paper was pretty difficult to work with because it is thick and rather rough. I have a lot of it; I will have to figure out how to make it work. On the plus side, it is really tough and stands up well to multiple impressions with vigorous baren work. And it is 100% kozo, and came to me sized. I should not be complaining! Next time I will try starting with a lot more water on the paper.

Progress on the rockpile

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Here’s the array of pigments I’ll be using. All but the perylene violet on the right were used on the test prints. I decided to add some to burnt sienna, which made it more red (dish at the bottom in the second shot), for a bokashi on the red block that can be seen in the most recent impression, which is shown below.

I’ve finished 8 impressions so far. Two for the key block, one for the lightest shading, two for blue, two for the reddish and orangish hues in the dishes above, and one for shading under the trees on the far shore.

The paper I am using is “Shin Hosho” from Woodlike Matsumura. 100% mulberry. It has a darker, off-white tone than the “Shin Torinoko” I am using for testing. I found I needed to use a darker hue for the first, cream-color shading block. I hope I didn’t’ go too dark too soon! The washi is on the bottom here:

Below are example prints after the 7th and after the 8th impression. I am finding it very difficult to get a nice smooth color on this paper. The color blocks are laying down a sort of granular texture despite plenty of paste and a firm baren.

Lazy person’s multiple key block

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I started the real run of prints on mulberry paper! I printed the entire key block first in light Payne’s gray, but wanted to darken the border and the lines on the rocks.

I think I’ve mentioned that the rock pile print might call for ‘mudabori’, or wasted carving. This is a technique where key lines are originally carved, then transferred to another block where they are carved to be printed in another color, and the original lines are carved away. It turns out I only removed a few of the lines from the lightest parts of the rocks in the foreground that will be taken care of by a block I will print in a light blue. But I did try one weird trick 🙂

Here’s what I did: I cut a piece of card stock, and used it as a mask.

Then, I did a second print run using a light sepia. To succeed, I needed to match the registration of the first impression exactly. I am pretty happy with the result! I only messed up the registration on one sheet of test paper.

Here’s one of the resulting washi sheets. Sorry about the low light, but you can probably see that the border and the rocks have lines darkened by the sepia, while the trees and distant shore still have fairly light lines.

Quick note

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It’s definitely Spring here. I have a Mexican Plum in front that is COMPLETELY covered in blooms.

They really aren’t any good to eat, sadly, but I think the birds like them.

I’ve finished carving the final, I hope, block for the rockpile print. It’s not quite done in this shot. Chisels are 1mm and 3mm, for scale.

More test printing soon, then hopefully can start printing in earnest this weekend! Stay tuned.

Rockpile progress

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I’ve added another color, burnt sienna, to the two surviving test prints (there were three, but I made the boneheaded move of printing one upside down, of course) . Also the test on top has a bit of a turquoise bokashi that deserves its own block on the sky and water. I might have registration problems with the green; that is too be seen.

Next, I printed the key block lines in a light sumi on test #2.

Many of these lines are way too heavy, but this will let me see which I can trim down, which I can eliminate completely, and where I truly have registration issues. Progress!

Overdue update!

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It’s been awhile. I finished the Fall print, but not soon enough to send as a Fall card. We have a brand new year. And, I have made significant progress on a new print!

I finished carving the initial key block some time ago. There are lots of lines; it took awhile! Here is is before and after I cleaned off the transfer paper.

My hope for this print is that I can move in the direction of the subtlety and detail of some of the shin-hanga prints. This is an open question at this point! I think it is possible that many of the lines of this block may get replaced later by lines on other blocks, and so be carved away. (This is called “mudabori”, or “wasted carving.”)

Here’s an early test print showing the key block lines and a light shading block, printed using neutral tint.

Today I started trying out colors! I’m printing without the key block lines at first, to see which areas work well without them.

One more test print adding some green:

I have one more already-carved block that will add a reddish-brown color. Then I will think about what other blocks are needed, what needs to be trimmed, etc. This one will be long in the making, but I think it will be worth it!