moku hanga [woodblock printing] clip # 2

No matter how much I play with other printing methods, my one true love will always be moku hanga (Japanese style woodblock printing).

Ages ago I posted a link to this popular video about moku hanga. Today via Ximena's blog I found a link to this other really good moku hanga video (above). And the narration is in English. At one point you will even see someone wrapping a new bamboo leaf around their baren (circular hand press). This, as Annie will attest is a pretty difficult skill to learn. It's a good video covering the basics and you can see the way people traditionally worked this method by sitting on the floor (on zabetons) at a low printing table. In Kyoto there are still a few small workshops that continue working in this way. I was lucky enough to visit a working studio when I lived there. I am still amazed how closely they worked together on the floor with materials stacked all around them. One day I will scan my photos of this visit and post them here for you. Promise.

Why is moku hanga my one true printmaking love? I think it's due to the simplicity of the materials and yet how tricky they are to master together. The video mentions the variables - there are many to learn how to work with (and around). This is so true! Does that sound like madness?

Do you have one creative medium you keep going back to?

moku hanga clip

The wonderful things you can find on youtube - it's endless! I found this cute 4 min 30 sec video with a young Japanese woman demonstrating the moku hanga (Japanese style woodblock printing) printmaking method. She's in a cramped little studio space like all the printmakers I visited in Kyoto work in. They use every inch of space and sit on the floor when they print just likes she's doing.

There's one quirky bit in the video I really like. About halfway through you'll see her lift the baren (round printing disc) to her face which is offscreen. She's doing something which I was also taught to do but often surprises people the first time they see it (and clearly surprises her guests as they all start talking about it). She's wiping the bamboo leaf covered baren across her face or in her hair to get oil from her body onto the dry bamboo leaf. This lubricates the leaf before it rubs across the back of the damp paper she's printing with. Her visitors start talking in quite an animated manner at this point and you'll hear the Japanese word 'abura' repeated which means 'oil' as she explains what she's doing. So cute! Enjoy.

still life blue, the transformation

I'm trying to convert my 'still life blue' design (3rd image below) into a Japanese style woodblock print for a commission. I spent all yesterday afternoon working at this table sketching it out (it will be bigger this time) and putting the design onto blocks.

It's a lot of fun sketching out the design onto the wood but because this one will have 5 colours it needs 5 different blocks and super careful registration to make sure it all lines up when I print. The bonus is I recently ordered some moku hanga style shina plywood from Japan (thanks to baren forum and an old contact I had from my Japan days in Tokyo - Woodlike Matsumura) and it arrived a little while ago so I have plenty to work with. No more scrimping and placing designs on the unused ends of old blocks.

And the end result will look something like my giclee print (above) but because it will be a woodblock print it will have a very different character. Anyone like to guess just how many weeks 5 blocks will take me to carve? I like to take things at a leisurely pace.

PS. my giclee print is available to buy in the OZ Bushfire Appeal etsy shop. All funds raised go to the Australian Red Cross to help the 7000 people who were displaced by the fires last week.

slow days

Some days I feel like these snails: slow, slow, slow. But that's a good thing in my book because sometimes the pace of life is just too speedy for my liking. Slow walks down at the creek, sipping cups of tea slowly in the sun, slow afternoons of reading books and having naps, and best of all, slow food.

Unfortunately it's not really possible to print slowly. Well, not with the moku hanga method anyway. Too slow means inks and wood that dry up and does not bode well for the end result. The Japanese say that it's best to print on a humid, rainy day to keep the process moist. Our desert-like climate in Melbourne means that rainy days are scarce and the air is dry, dry, dry. So I had to print these new wee cards with a speed bordering on mania this morning.

moku hanga (Japanese woodblock printing)

People often ask me about the process of making a Japanese woodblock print. Other kinds of printmaking techniques like etching are more well known than woodblock printing in Australia. I think a lot of people are quite fascinated by the carving of the actual wood blocks which are an artwork in themselves. There are so many cute things about the Japanese method of woodblock printing: the lovely little bamboo leaf covered baren used for rubbing the paper during printmaking, the small, funky horse hair brushes used to place the ink of the wood, bowls of watercolour inks, the small carving tools, and the use of beautiful Japanese papers. And what I really love is the portability of art form itself. If you're printing a small block, it's possible to set up and print in just about any space, even the floor! I've travelled with my tools (including carving tools) on international flights (post 9/11) with no trouble at all (not in my carry-on luggage of course!). I've just found this interesting article (with pictures) by Eva Pietzcker and Miriam Zegrer on Japanese woodblock, known as moku hanga in Japanese. It covers Japanese woodblock history, technique, materials and printing. They've even included pictures of cute brushes and baren discs.

The print seen here is a Japanese woodblock, Adabana, by Kyoto-based artist Richard Steiner.