Lesson #11: Reinforcing the 'kento' corner of the paper ...

Sometimes the figures we come across when reading about traditional Japanese printmaking seem quite hard to believe. Some Ukiyo-e prints of beautiful women in multi-layered kimono were printed with three dozen or more impressions; I have a set of blocks here in my shop for a print by modern artist Okada Yoshio that took more than 90; and a recent TV program here showed a large print being made that took more than 200 impressions ...

When one considers that the paper, Japanese 'hosho', is always in a damp condition when being printed on, it seems beyond belief that it can stand up to the punishment it receives during this long and involved process.

But it stands up very well indeed, and provided it is allowed to rest and 'breath' for at least a couple of hours between repeated printing on any particular area of the sheet, it will accept all this punishment, and more.

One particular spot on the sheet though, does start to show wear from repeated printing - the corner that is inserted into the 'kagi', the L-shaped registration mark. No matter how carefully the printer slips the sheet into the mark, the moist and thus soft tip of the exposed corner inevitably starts to become a bit battered. On prints containing delicate registration, this can cause major problems towards the end of the process.

The solution is simple - before starting the printing, even before making the paper wet, apply a thin solution of clear nail polish to that corner of the paper. Don't brush on so much that the clear shape of the corner is distorted; use just enough to give the paper adequate strength to survive the repeated insertions into the registration mark. The paper will thus slip smoothly into the corner as many times as needed.

What did they do in the old days before nail-polish was invented? No problem - a small dab of 'urushi' (Japanese lacquer) did the trick ...