Posted by Dave Bull at 11:22 PM, June 1, 2007
Continued from [River in Summer - 12] | Starting point of the thread is [River in Summer]
Let's have a look at the printing bench - where all the action will be taking place for the next couple of weeks. Here's an overview:
It's too bad I didn't take this shot a couple of days ago ... before Tamura-san across the river blasted his hillside with a weed-eater, leaving nothing but brown wreckage. It'll gradually come back to life, and then, just when it starts to get nice and green - a most pleasant sight out my window - he'll tear it all up again ... Sigh ...
Anyway, we can't see many of the tools from here, so let's move closer:
Here's a shot looking down at the platform, showing my blue cushion, and the materials on my right side:
The paper waiting to be printed is in the package on the table directly in front of me (face down), and the sheets are moved one by one onto the block, and then into the package on the right (face up). When the batch is done, the position of the two packages is switched, of course ... ready for the next colour.
The block on the bench is a 'blank' block, and I am printing a beta-ban impression, with no pigment - just a small amount of paste and water. This is mostly for preparing the paper, giving it a nice smooth surface, ready for a clean impression of the key block, which will be next.
I am not using a real baren for this impression, but have pulled one of my 'bearing barens' out of the drawer. For printing a beta block like this one, no finesse is necessary at all, just basic power. (I also want to avoid wear and tear on my good barens as well.) This is the only impression on this print which will be done by the steel baren; all the rest will use my normal barens ...
The next shot shows the left side of the work area:
You can certainly get a good idea of the palette for this print! Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be working my way through all those greens ...
The thread continues in [River in Summer - 14] ...