woodblock techniques

Let's hear it for process! If you want to try your patience, learn (any?) Japanese technique. Moku hanga will drive you nutty, or maybe you have to already be that way. (For an example of how absorbing/demanding this medium can be, look up David Bull.) And it can be expensive because good tools, hard wood (for holding detail), and the right paper make big - enormous - differences. But the results sometimes make it all worthwhile. (I have yet to experience that, after 2 workshops and 8 or 9 attempts, with several blocks each; but I am still trying!) Just look at the work of Hokusai or Hiroshige for inspiration, and remind yourself that this technique was developed as a group project, in feudal Japan, during the heyday of the Edo Period. There are also lots of folks today doing exciting things - McClain's is a good place to start.

Here are (unfortunately blurry shots of) a block and test print from along the path to my final decisions for "Walt's Iris", above (a 10-block print, edition of 3, 2005). Aesthetically not a milestone, but a success in terms of registration.

The main point of this post is to show water based (as opposed to oil-based) woodblock printing. The ink dyes the fibers of the paper instead of adhering to the surface. Soon I'll post some examples of the oil-based process, more commonly taught and practiced in the West.





Below, soft shina blocks with transfers, ready to cut. These were for a small print (image to come) made last December, and based on a painting by Milton Avery. I made a short edition of this, to do something fun for the holiday season. It wasn't that much fun in the end (for I cried). I may revisit it, adding a block and using stiffer paper.