Haven't had much time for updating these progress pages, but here's a recent sequence of photos showing the first carving on one side of the next pair of prints.

As usual, if you are a collector, and don't want to 'spoil' the surprise of opening the package, then you had better leave now ... :-)

(This sequence of photos was shot quite casually, at different times of day, and the colour balance thus changes as we go along ... Apologies for that ...)

Here's the key block, with the hanshita pasted down, and before carving begins. (I have intentionally blurred out the area that will be print #4 ...) These all have clickable enlargements ...

And here's how it progressed ...

I didn't shoot anything during the colour block carving the other day, but it went smoothly. I did a quick test proof this morning (we're working on just the left side of this pair just now, because of the time pressure), and it turned out pretty close to what I want on this one. I'll do a bit more proofing this evening, to finalize some of the colours, but in the meantime, have moistened 120 sheets of paper, and printing will get under way tomorrow, with the first impression coming off my little tabletop etching press ... (??)

Posted by Dave Bull at 6:49 AM | Comments (7)

Today is a 'recovery' day ... after getting home from the weekend spent downtown at the Design Festa.

Here's the Tokyo Big Sight, the gigantic convention centre where the event was held:

I forgot to snap a shot before beginning the setup work, but remembered a few minutes later. I had rented a 'mini-booth', which is exactly one tatami mat in size, along with a back panel. I got a 'bonus' in that my neighbour had rented a side panel, and didn't mind if I used my side of it (technically against the convention rules).

People lined up waiting for the doors to open, and once the clock hit opening time, it just went nuts. Tens and tens of thousands of people came through the place over the two days, in what was pretty much a non-stop river that streamed by our booths (nearly 3,000 booths, and an estimated 60,000+ attendees ...).

I had no chance to take pictures, shoot any video, get food, take bathroom breaks ... nothing. I stood up and grabbed this single shot, during a momentary break in the flow:

(It's interesting that although driving in Japan is on the left like Britain, people walk down aisles like this on the right, so they saw my images on the side panel as they came in my direction ...)

How did it go? Mixed - I sold a pile of the little postcard-size print that I had on display, enough to pay the show expenses, etc., but made no additions to the subscriber list. That was pretty much to be expected I think, as there simply was no chance for quiet conversation with people. But around 800 pamphlets walked away over the two days, so perhaps there will be a bit of 'after effect' later; we'll see.

It was a lot of fun, but now I have to get back to the waiting blocks. The next pair of prints (#3 #4) has to be carved, proofed, and printed (at least the first batch of 120 or so) before I head off to Canada on June 4th for my parents' 60th anniversary reunion. And that's only 2 1/2 weeks away ... The stuffed email Inbox is going to have to wait a little bit longer ...

[Update:] I posed for any number of souvenir photos during the two days, but most people just then walked away, and I myself had no chance to see the shots. But one of the guests - an interesting guy who goes by the handle 'Joe' - sent me this one:

His hobby is doing (perfect!) imitations of various Johnny Depp characters, and you don't need me to tell you which one this is!

Posted by Dave Bull at 6:26 AM | Comments (1)

Back when I first announced the Mystique of the Japanese Print series, I added a little bit of encouragement for people to subscribe, by making an 'early bird' offer - a free small print to be given to everybody who signed on to the new series early.

Just over 50 people 'qualified' for the print by getting their order in before the deadline, and since then, I've had the preparation of those gift prints on my 'to do' list. It's been a wonderful credit to the collectors that even though nearly two months has passed, not one of them has complained about these gifts being late, or even asked where they are ...

Well, here they are!

I cut and dampened paper late yesterday afternoon, and got this batch of 112 finished up just after lunch today. I made more than I needed for the gifts, and will be offering the rest of them as a 'special' at the Design Festa event this coming weekend.

So to the 'early bird' winners who have been waiting for these, they will be included in the package together with your second print in the series, scheduled for shipping in the middle of next week. Thank you for your patience!

Posted by Dave Bull at 6:37 AM | Comments (5)

Now that the 'Mystique' boxes are beginning to arrive at destinations around the world, photos are coming in!

As soon as I get a minute, I'm going to set up a page on the Mystique site with a collection of photos of the Treasure Chest 'in the wild' as it were. So all you collectors out there, once you get it set up in a nice location, please send me a photo (by email). (I'll respect your privacy, of course, and will simply identify them by city I guess ...)

To get started, here's one I received yesterday (click these for enlargements) ...

(Gent, Belgium)

... along with mine, which shows 'Fuji in front of fuji ...'

(Ome, Tokyo)

... and one from just 'down the street' ...

(Haijima, Tokyo)

When you take your shots, don't focus too closely on the box - we all know what that looks like by now. Let's see where it is living!

[Scroll down to see the photos that have come in ...]

Posted by Dave Bull at 6:41 AM | Comments (17)

A few weeks ago, we saw some of the views 'from my window' ... time for another one today!

But first, the view looking back at the house:

If you look carefully, you can see that there is indeed a house in there somewhere!

Here's what I see out the window directly behind my computer screen:

And this is the storeroom upstairs ... (difficult to shoot both the darkish room and the bright outside ...):

This is what it looks like looking down from that window to the street below:

This is the view from my bedroom window:

And this was taken from the upstairs balcony:

Perhaps because of the fairly cool spring we've had, I'm not sure, but this wisteria has gone crazy this year, with far more blossoms than in previous years. But once the flowering is finished, I'm going to have to call one of the neighbours - a man who works in roofing - and get him to bring over a tall ladder. We're going to have to cull a bit of this thing. I don't mind having it spreading around like this, but it has arrived at the front of the house, and obviously intends to follow all the wires and cables ... and that's trouble ...

Posted by Dave Bull at 6:24 AM | Comments (4)

I will be taking part in the Design Festa event being held here in Tokyo on the weekend of the 15th and 16th. It's a twice-yearly event that is kind of difficult to describe. The organizer's web site tries like this:

Design Festa is a biannual International Art Event, started in 1994. It is open to all artists from all over the world to exhibit their creative talent freely. 8,500 artists working in a variety of mediums will be present, turning the two day event into artistic chaos! There will be Booth areas (2700 booths), an Outdoor live-show stage, an Indoor stage, a Mini-theater Space and a Restaurant and Cafe/Bar Area, all for your enjoyment during these two days filled with art, energy, excitement and discovery!

Artistic chaos? Does that sound like me? Not really I guess ... but anyway, I decided to sign up for this one, as it really does sound like a lot of fun. It's mostly a pretty young crowd, and far and away most of the exhibitors are amateurs taking advantage of the show's very cheap rates for exhibiting, but I'm not really bothered about that. I'm thinking in terms of simply 'getting out' of the quiet shell of my workroom for a weekend, meeting a whole bunch of new people, and just seeing what happens.

Just look at this shot of one corner of the display area (from a previous show):

I think this should be a pretty good chance for a whole lot of new people to learn about my work ...

Here's a rough map of the show. I'm upstairs (the red star), right on the aisle running between the Mini Theatre and the 'Restaulant' area ... (click for enlargement)

My booth # is C+1594 The show runs from 11 to 7 both days, at the Tokyo Big Site. More about the show, including travel directions, videos, etc. is on their web site here.

Posted by Dave Bull at 7:23 AM | Comments (0)