David Bull - FundRaising Dinner, and Gift print suggestion

The 2008 Gift Print Page

It's nice to be able to report that the 2008 Gift Print turned out to be the most successful I have ever offered. Whether because of my silly little video presented here, or perhaps the 'early bird' price that was on offer, or because the price/value of these prints is perceived as a very good bargain in this time of economic difficulties ... I can't say. A great number of people who purchased one last year came back ... and ordered multiple copies this time.

(Note: this Gift Print page stays open all year, and the prints can be ordered anytime. A new one will be added to the selection in time for the 'gift season' next autumn ...)


	Announcing David's $100,000-a-plate fundraising dinner! "Hello, this is Tokyo woodblock printmaker David Bull. Every year at this time, I prepare a special package of one of my small woodblock prints, and offer it as a 'gift item'. But this year is a bit special - I am also planning a special dinner to kick off the gift print 'season'. "We've all heard about those 'hundred dollar a plate' fundraising dinners, where you get to rub shoulders with somebody notable, while at the same time seeing your money go to a good cause. I'm going to up the ante. I have a great cause - my woodblock printmaking activities - and I've arranged for a couple of very special guests for this dinner: Mr. Bill Gates, and his good friend Mr. Warren Buffett. For a hundred dollars a plate? No way. This is going to be a very exclusive dinner. There will be only ten tickets available, and they are a hundred thousand dollars each. All in aid of this very good cause." To hear David announce the rest of the details of this event, watch this video! (6 minutes - 12Mb) (Note: if the player isn't working for you, the raw video file can be seen here.)

The Gift Print

Each year as we approach the gift season, I select one of the designs from my many series, get the blocks out of the storeroom, print up a batch specifically for this purpose, and put it into my Mokuhankan catalogue. The gift print for this year is a beautiful image of a leaping 'koi' taken from a woodblock printed kimono catalogue from the Meiji era.

(Some images on this page can be clicked to show a larger version)

To make the print, I carved the image onto blocks of mountain cherry, and then used fine quality hand-made Japanese paper to pull the impressions.

Shall we zoom in a bit closer?

leaping carp woodblock print - enlargement

A special feature of this kind of print is the way that the printed lines get embossed into the paper. To see this in the way that the viewers of that century did, one must turn off any overhead lighting and hold the print near a window or lamp. The light falling horizontally across the print will then highlight the embossments and allow the full texture of the beautiful Japanese paper to be enjoyed.

Packaging ...

I have prepared a little folder ...

... with the print mounted carefully on a backboard, and accompanied by a short descriptive pamphlet giving some background. The print is the standard Japanese 'hagaki' size, which works out to around 6 x 4 1/2 inches.

The print package is slipped into an envelope ... which is wrapped in a traditional wrapping paper (pattern will vary) ... and mailed from Tokyo in an envelope with current Japanese commemorative stamps. (stamps will vary from package to package ...)

Price ...

The price of this print is US$30, including packing and postage (air mail) to anywhere on the planet. I can send it to you, or directly to somebody on your behalf as a 'gift' item (see details on the order form below).

(Note: I have also printed up more copies of the images I used in the previous two years, a design of a flying crane by Suzuki Harunobu, and a pair of birds by Isoda Koryusai, and you can choose one of these instead if you wish. Just check the appropriate box on the order form below.)

The prints are made completely by hand ... if you want to read more about the process I use to create them, there is plenty of material in this section of the website.

If you like this idea of a woodblock print as a gift, but would like to view a larger selection of them, here are a couple more options:

A selection of single prints is available from my Mokuhankan online shop.
Sets of prints - available for gift subscription - are outlined on this page.

Thank you!

Gift Print Order Form

Please fill out this form to have one of the prints sent to you (or a recipient of your choice) from my Tokyo workshop. You will receive one of the hand-made prints as illustrated above, sent AirMail to the address you enter here.

This is the 'quick order form' for a single copy of the print, at $30.00 (US), sent AirMail as described above; if you wish to purchase multiple copies, combine your order with other prints, or choose the EMS express shipping option, please use the shopping cart over on my Mokuhankan website instead.

Your name:

Email address:

Email confirmation:

Which print would you like?

		Leaping Carp
		Koryusai - Heron and Crow
		Harunobu - Crane at Sunrise

Where is the print to be sent?

To you directly ...
To a gift recipient ...
Include their name in the first line of the address section.
We will gift-wrap the print, and include a note letting them know that it was sent by you.

Address (enter exactly as you wish the address label to read):

Please enter comments or other notes for Dave here.

Once everything is ready, please click here to move ahead to the next step, where you can select a payment method (Paypal, credit card, cheque, money order, etc.) and then confirm the order (if you wish):