The Process

Making mokuhanga

I'm always humbled to be working in this traditional craft. There have been many great carvers, printers, and designers of ukiyo-e prints over the centuries and I have a lot to learn each and every day.

Here as best as I can, let me try to explain how to make mokuhanga prints, focusing on how I make my prints. 

First I usually sketch using pens, pencils, brushes, and watercolor paints. This is definitely a fun and creative process; it's like an athlete's warm-up. It allows me to visualize the final artwork, working out the compositions and thinking through the colors to be used in the final print.

Next I begin carving the wood blocks. This might be one of the most meditative of all processes in the production of my mokuhanga prints. I start by carving an outline block, or keyblock, on harder woods like cherry. Using the outline block as a guide for other colors to follow, I then carve multiple woodblocks, one for each color in the design in order to make intricate ensemble of colors in my final print. 

After all the blocks are carved, then I create a set of proof prints, checking for the color registration of all the blocks to be used and assigning all the colors. 

Once all the test runs look good and ready, then I cut the handmade kozo paper from Echizen, coating each sheet with warm dosa (sizing) liquid, made with nikawa (animal glue), myoban (alum) and water. It takes a few days for the dosa to be fully absorbed and dry and once it's dry, then I moisten each sheet with water, getting it ready for actual printing. 

Next I put a dab of rice starch on the moistened block, then add finely ground pigments  or watercolor paints. After mixing it with fine soft horsehair brush on the block, I place the moistened paper onto the block, using two kento, the printing guide marks.

Using a baren, a traditional Japanese tool made from bamboo leaves, the image of each block is transferred onto washi paper. This step is repeated for each color, carefully aligning the paper with each block to ensure perfect registration. The pressure applied with the baren allows the ink to transfer smoothly and evenly, producing the rich, vibrant colors that characterize mokuhanga prints.

Each layer of pigments is allowed to be absorbed into the fibre of the paper before the next is applied. Sometimes it takes a few times of burnishing and pulling in order to achieve the depth of the color I'd like. Sometimes it's extremely difficult to achieve 

Letterpress Blockprints

Letterpress printing is a relief printing process and it's similar to mokuhanga. The printed image is produced by a raised surface being inked and then impressed onto a sheet of paper. These raised surfaces have historically been anything from woodcuts to wood engravings, from linocuts to type faces. 

For our limited-edition block prints,  I first sketch with watercolor first. Then I carve multiple woodblocks and linoleum blocks to print from. 

 After making all the color blocks, I mix oil-based etching inks and print one color at a time, using the antique letterpress printing press.