Table of Contents of this Outline

Here is a list of the general categories of entries in this Encyclopedia:

• General Aspects of Woodblock Prints
• Tools and Materials
• Printmaking process
• Technical notes
• Visits to Craftsmen
• Dictionary
• Library
• Exhibitions

Note: The Encyclopedia is in the middle of a major renovation, with the page designs being completely renewed and updated. So you will encounter a mix of old and new as you browse through, which may be quite confusing. Hopefully, it won't take too long to finish the job ...

• 'Traditional' vs 'Creative' printmaking in Japan
• 'Seditious Beauty' - How woodblock prints can change history ...
• 'Woodblock Dreams' - a story about a very special woodblock. (The photographs will be of particular interest to those with a desire to learn more about traditional carving techniques.)
• Viewing prints
• Discussion: Japanese Traditional Prints - Just who 'made' them anyway?
• Discussion: Carved lines in Japanese traditional prints - How do they differ from the 'originals'?

• Tools for carving:
  • Basic Carving Tools
  • Sharpening Stones
  • Basic Sharpening Procedure
  • Ito-san's Carving Knife
• Tools for printing:
  • The 'hon' (real) baren
  • Other types of baren
  • Breaking in a new baren
  • Re-covering the baren
    • A 'comic' version of the re-covering pages
    • A Q&A Session based on the re-covering pages
  • Fundamentals of baren use
  • Softening the brushes by machine
  • Printing bench
  • The Printer's workspace
  • Making 'hakobi' (pigment brushes)
    • A 'comic' version of the hakobi-making pages
  • 'Alternative' barens
• Wood:
  • Bringing home some cherry planks ...
• Paper:
  • Traditional Japanese Paper Dimensions
  • A Collection of Sizing Recipies
  • Overview of the Sizing Process
• Pigments:
  • Preparing powder pigments
  • Paste ... why?
  • Various paste recipies
  • Sadako's paste recipe
• Workshop:
  • A Portable Carving/Printing 'Kit' ...

• Basic Process of Making a Print:
  • The Traditional 'Key Block' Method
  • Step by step through a simple print ... - (a 'photo sequence' showing the making of my print for the [Baren Exchange #2])
  • 'Your First Print' - Making a woodblock print on your kitchen table ...
• Printing:
  • Paper preparation before printing
  • Moistening paper
  • Moistening paper (further considerations)
  • Drying prints
• Carving:
  • Carving in 'three stages' - Traditional Japanese printmaking uses three types of carving tool, and the work progresses through three stages ...
  • Making colour separations - This illustrates the process that follows after the 'key block' has been carved.
  • Carving the colour blocks - Generally the same three stages as the key block, but with a few differences...
• Hanshita Preparation:
  • Making a hanshita using a colour copy machine

• Other carving techniques:
  • Cutting the hair on ukiyo-e prints
• Other printing techniques:
  • Embossing
  • Basic Gradation Printing
  • Gradation printing example - (short photo essay)
  • Printing a curved gradation
  • The Chinese Printing Method
  • Adding a 'Seal' to your print
  • Printing with Metal Powders
  • A 'Scattered Gold' Background
  • Printing with Mica Powder
  • Printing a Mica Background
  • Gradation Printing
• One-point lessons:
  • General:
    • Reducing block warpage.
  • Printing tools:
    • Brush hair length
    • Using shims in the baren
    • The 'sandpaper' baren
    • Baren Miscellania ...
  • Pigments and paste:
    • Making bokuju (sumi 'juice')
    • Storing pigment in alcohol
  • The Printing Process:
    • Using 'nagura' on the blocks
    • Re-inking blocks
    • Reinforcing the 'Kento' corner
    • 'Locking' the paper in place
    • Order of sheets when printing
    • Avoiding brush 'lines'
    • Maintaining consistent colour
    • Getting the block warmed up for printing
    • 'Flipping' sheets during printing
    • Printing very delicate colours
    • Protecting the paper from 'sagging'
    • Cleaning fresh 'blots' from prints
    • Making paper 'soft' for printing
    • Some 'bounce' in the woodblocks
    • Moistening the printing brush
  • Carving tools:
    • Sharpening narrow chisels
    • Making sharpening stones for curved chisels
    • Making sharpening stones for curved chisels (part two)
    • Reducing knife breakage
  • The Carving Process:
    • How deep to carve
    • Recessed registration marks
    • Block shrinkage trouble ...
    • Avoiding 'kento' stains ...
  • Troubleshooting:
    • Dealing with shrunken colour blocks
    • Removing prints from a glued backing

Facts! Facts! Facts! That's all you've been finding in this website! Yes, one needs to have the facts in order to learn how to do something, but there is always so much more to the story ...

No matter how detailed the descriptions become, if the discussions remain purely technical, then a completely false view of any topic is given. Woodblock printmaking is something done by people!

Not all woodblock printers are willing or able to write about their life and work. Should they thus remain unknown to us and hidden from view? I don't believe so. Here are some descriptive visits to printmakers (and print craftsmen) in different parts of the world, in stories that will bring you another face of woodblock printmaking; these are some of the men behind the chisels and barens.

• Mr. Keizaburo Matsuzaki - Printer
• Mr. Shintaro Shimano - Block maker
• Mr. Kinzaburo Usui - Blacksmith
• Mr. Kikuo Gosho - Baren maker
• Mr. Kazuo Yamaguchi - Paper maker
• Kaneko Shoten - Bamboo skin shop
• Mr. Isami Misawa - Paper sizer
• Mr. Akio Miyagawa - Brush maker
• Mr. Teruo Souma - Mulberry supplier
• Mr. Kazuyuki Matsuyoshi - Pigment shop owner
• Mr. Susumu Ito - Woodblock carver
• Mr. Kenji Seki - Printer
• Two young 'shokunin'
• Mrs. Iwano - Papermaker's mother
• Mr. Shinkichi Numabe - Printer

• Common Japanese terms

Over the years, there have been a number of books written about the art and craft of woodblock printmaking, but as they have hardly fallen into the category of 'best-sellers', they soon went out of print, and are now exceedingly difficult to find. It is sometimes possible to turn up one of these volumes through an Internet search, but even when one is located, it is inevitably priced as a 'collector's item', and the contents thus remain inaccessible to the typical woodblock printmaker.

I have managed to accumulate a small library of these rare volumes, and am one-by-one scanning them in, and uploading them to this web site. Except as otherwise noted, all of these on-line editions contain the complete original text and all illustrations.

Here is the list of volumes currently available. Others will be added as they become known to me (and as copyrights expire, making their addition permissible).

Some of these books are also available as complete downloadable pdf files. See the Mokuhankan website.

Woodcut Printmaking (on the plank ...)

	Japanese Wood-cutting and Wood-cut Printing - T. Tokuno, Smithsonian Institution 1894
	Chats on Japanese Prints (in preparation ... partial text) - A. Davison Ficke, London 1915
	Woodblock Printing - by the Japanese Method (eBook available) - F. Morley Fletcher, London 1916
	Tools and Materials Illustrating the Japanese Method of Colour-Printing - Edward F. Strange, London 1924
	Colour Printing with Linoleum and Wood Blocks - A. W. Seaby, Leicester 1925
	Colour Block Prints - Hesketh Hubbard, London 1934
	Japanese Wood-Block Printing (eBook available) - Hiroshi Yoshida, Tokyo 1939
	Hiroshi Yoshida: Print-Maker - Ben Bruce Blakeney, Tokyo 1950
	The Making of Japanese Prints (excerpts) - Chie Hirano, Boston 1939
	The Relief Print (excerpts) - Watson & Kent, New York 1945
	Woodcuts and Wood Engravings, How I Make Them - H. A. Mueller, New York 1945
	Colour Woodcuts (eBook available) - John Platt, London 1948

Wood Engraving (on the end grain ...)

	Wood Engraving - R.J. Beedham, London 1921
	Woodcuts and Some Words (excerpts) - E.G. Craig, London 1923
	A Woodcut Manual - J.J. Lankes, New York 1932
	The Relief Print (excerpts) - Watson & Kent, New York 1945
	Woodcuts and Wood Engravings, How I Make Them - H. A. Mueller, New York 1945

• 'Collaborations' - Western designers with Japanese craftsmen
  • Japanese traditional printmaking is a group effort - publisher, designer, carver and printer are all different people. What happens when the designer is a westerner?
• 'Turn of the Century' Printmakers
  • Colour woodblock printmaking enjoyed a 'boom' in Europe and North America from the late 1800's into the early 1900's. Here is an overview of that 'school'.
• "David's Choice"
  • An exhibition of my favourite woodblock prints. Some are prints from my own small 'collection', most are reproduced from book illustrations. What is the criterion for inclusion? Prints that made me say "Look at this!" to whoever happened to be in the room at the time I first saw them ...
• Amateur Printmaking in Japan
  • Woodblock printmaking has been a very common hobby for people in Japan for well over a hundred years now... Would you like to see some of their work? ...
• Nafuda Prints
  • A selection of small woodblock prints of the genre known in Japan as 'nafuda' ...