Posted by Dave Bull at 7:47 AM, July 25, 2010 [Permalink]
Let's have an update on the progress of the colour block carving. Here are shots of the sides completed so far (these are clickable), along with a bit of explanation about what is happening.
First is the key block, with the Hasui image visible on the right half. The design for image #6 will later be cut onto the blank left side:
The next photos are five sides of three pieces of wood (I'm still not quite finished the sixth side). These are the colour zones for the Hasui image. They are cut onto the blocks in 'heads and tails' fashion, with registration marks at both ends of each face.
So what's going on? The answer is easy - the left-hand print of this pair is going to be a sumi-zuri - a 'black printed' image. It won't have any colour blocks. So rather than waste half of each piece, I put that image on the 'outside' of each pair, and then just cut a set of colour blocks for the Hasui image as though there were no pairing going on at all.
The two designs will stay together through the whole printing process though, because they have to get the final embossed pattern together, and will then be cut apart as usual after drying.
The reason for doing it this way is the large number of impressions that the Hasui print is probably going to need - maybe 15 or so. If it were paired with an image that also needed many impressions, the overall total would be too many for safety in this hot season. (The paper would have to stay moist just too long ...)
So I paired these up - the print with many impressions together with one with few impressions. The Hasui will be the August print (and I'm studying the daily 'storm cloud' sunsets that we've been having all week long, for ideas on the colouring ...)
