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Mine, all mine! (Maybe!)

For the past few months, I have been posting small 'countdown' images, showing a series of numbers being crossed off. This was the one from a month ago, showing 'one' left:

Well, here we are at the end of the month, and this weekend, it is time to post the final version:

Those of you who have read the Autumn edition of my newsletter posted the other day already know what this is about. November 1st is Mortgage Liberation Day!

The countdown was simply showing the progress of the 120 monthly payments of the ten-year term of my housing loan. Sometime in the coming week, when the final paperwork gets stamped with my seal, and the last legal fees are paid, this house/workshop will be 'all mine'.

Two stories in my newsletter give a bit more background: the original story (from ten years ago) about buying the house, and the current story about paying for it.

And I paid for the whole thing with my baren! Wow! (Actually, my collectors paid for it, but you know what I mean!)

But.

I was chatting with my mother last night on Skype, and she asked me about the upcoming typhoon. Huh? I don't have a TV here, and without actively checking a news or weather report on the 'net, I am sometimes a bit behind events ... She suggested that I take a look.

I immediately went to a weather page, and found this:

Woot! A large, and strong one - Typhoon Chaba - is scheduled to be somewhere around right on top of me come Sunday morning. Now that circle is pretty wide, so we don't yet know just who will get the brunt of it, but I wonder ...

Sunday morning. The day before closing the loan. Could it be that the gods are planning a bit of a 'chuckle' here? Hmm ... Stay tuned!

Posted by Dave Bull at 8:48 AM | Comments (7)

A visitor from the past ...

Carver Ito Susumu passed away in early 1999, about eighty years old. Although I can't go so far as to call him my 'teacher', he was one of the craftsmen who helped me climb to where I am now.

After first meeting him at a public demonstration in 1989, I had asked to be allowed to visit him 'on occasion' to sit and observe his work, but he demurred, on the grounds that he was too busy, and that it would be a distraction. He was, of course, correct in that!

But some years later, during the making of a TV program in 1993, the producer wanted to include scenes with me 'learning' from some of the older craftsmen, so she arranged for such a meeting to take place (presumably compensating him for the lost working time ...). On the appointed day, we showed up at his place, camera crew in tow, and we spent some time with him. The producer had nothing prepared, but simply left the two of us to sit and talk about whatever came up, while the crew filmed it all for possible use in the program (which is archived here).

As it happens, that was the end of my 'carving lessons', because I never did get another chance to spend time in his workshop.

But the story continues. The same producer came back again as I was nearing the end of the long poet's series, and asked my cooperation in the production of a one hour 'made for TV' documentary on my work. I gave my assent, and we went ahead with the production. We didn't get back to Ito-san's workshop, but they did re-use some of the old footage in the new program, which aired in February of 1999 (and that program is available here.)

Sadly, Ito-san never saw it, because he had passed away a couple of weeks earlier.

A short time after the broadcast, I received a small package in the mail from the producer, who knew how important that previous visit with Ito-san had been to me. Inside were four VTR tapes - the 'raw' footage taken in 1993, very little of which had made its way into either of the two programs. Instead of just leaving it on the cutting room floor, she felt that I would like to have it.

Would I!

The tapes have slept in my storage room ever since. Until a couple of weeks ago, when during a conversation with the NHK producer of the recent Japanophiles program, the topic somehow came up. He asked to see them and I dug them out. He thought that there might perhaps be some way to use some of this footage in our program, so asked to borrow them, and requested the contact information of the producer of the original program, which I happily supplied.

As it turned out, he wasn't able to make use of the material in the new program, but when he sent them back to me, he included a little gift - DVD dubs of the old tapes.

The package arrived this afternoon, and I have just spent the past hour - when I should have been working - sitting beside Ito-san again, listening intently as he explains his sharpening procedure. And as my Japanese comprehension is vastly improved over what it was seventeen years ago (!), the lessons are much more useful to me this time!

The producer of the original program in 1993 has given me permission to use these any way I like, so it seems like it might be a good idea to edit these, and get them online ... as soon as I get a 'minute', that is!

Here are a few quick screengrabs ...

 

 

Posted by Dave Bull at 9:38 AM | Comments (3)

Here is the NHK program in better quality

Here is a much better quality version of the NHK 'Japanophiles' program. After you click 'play' to begin the streaming, it may take a minute or so to begin playing (depending on your bandwidth), as the 28 minute video file is quite large.

I hope you will leave your comments on the program! (You can do that back on the original video page)

Posted by Dave Bull at 8:38 AM

New eBook available in the 'Library'!

It's been a long time since I've been able to announce one of these, but can now tell you that I have just published another in the 'Classics of Woodblock Printmaking' series of eBooks.

This is the fourth in the series, after previous volumes by Hiroshi Yoshida, Frank Morley-Fletcher, and John Platt.

The 'new' one is a freshly edited version of the original book published in 1894 by the US National Museum, based on source material provided by Mr. T. Tokuno in Japan.

Here's a quick quote from the introduction: "The Japanese government of the day made a gift to the U.S. National Museum of a complete set of printmaking equipment, including carving and printing tools, pigments, blocks, paper samples - everything involved in the process of making prints. In addition to the materials themselves, illustrated written descriptions of many aspects of the craft were included, and this pamphlet is a detailed summary of those descriptions."

The eBook is now available as an 'instant' download from my Mokuhankan shop, at $5 - information here. Note that the full text still remains in my online library, where it can be - of course - read at no cost. The only reasons you might want to purchase this are: to have your own 'copy' always handy, to have it in a properly formatted and readable layout, and ... to help support what goes on around here!

Thanks also, to collector Mr. Dale Evans, for the (gentle) kick to get this project rolling again ... (I think we'll be mentioning him again tomorrow ... depends on how much time I have left after tonight's printing work ...)

Posted by Dave Bull at 8:20 AM | Comments (0)

Deskwork days ...

When I finished printing on the recent batch of the current print, I put this notice up on the webcam, to let people know I wouldn't be at the bench over the next few days:

"This batch of prints is now done. After a few days of deskwork, printing of the next batch will get under way, probably on the weekend sometime ..."

Well, here we are in the middle of the 'deskwork' ...

After updating my bookkeeping software with the information on this new print, I pull up the list of collectors and start the invoicing. I still get a good kick out of seeing this every month. I'm not the kind of guy who sits here rubbing his hands together counting his money (what money?), but it is very satisfying watching this stream of invoices pouring out of the printer (a small Canon laser model).

At the same time that the physical copies of the invoices are being generated, the information is also being sent to a database on the woodblock.com website, where collectors are able to access it. Once the invoicing is finished, my software fires off an email to each person letting them know that the billing has now been done, and this includes a link to the page on the website where they can see this new invoice. This page is linked directly to a payment processor. It's not quite 'one-click' for the collectors to make their payments, but it's pretty close!

I then gather everything together ready for Ichikawa-san's pickup later in the afternoon (I called her a couple of days ago, once the timetable had become clear, to let her know when this would be happening ...):

Top left of that pic shows the stack of story sheets, which I printed last night (Epson laser). On top of them is the pack of trimmed and signed prints. Bottom left are the sheets of address labels, the invoices, and post office payment slips (for Japanese collectors who choose to pay that way). Middle right are the mat boards, with the print title, which I printed yesterday (Epson inkjet). Bottom right is a 'master list' for Ichikawa-san, showing her 'who gets what'. This is necessary because some of the collectors are 'gift' subscriptions, and they get no invoices, some are 'complimentary' (my folks!), and others may have notes or other items to be included. She simply follows the instructions on this list, and packs as directed.

I forgot to include them in the photo, but I also prepare for her a stack of a recent commemorative stamp issue:

Having nice stamps on the packages has become a very much appreciated 'feature' of these shipments, and I've heard from quite a number of the collectors that these are eagerly awaited by stamp collecting family members! This month's issue features scenes of the Inland Sea. (I am a 'very important customer' of my little local post office!)

While she is here this evening I will also load into her car a couple of cartons of the cardboard shipping cases for this series. These are working very well. The entire package - including print, story sheet, backboard, plastic protector, paperwork, cardboard stiffener, and outer wrapper - comes in at just under 150 grams, saving 90 yen over the next level of postage (that's more than a dollar for overseas collectors), and we have yet to receive a single report of damage during shipping.

With that preparation out of the way, the next waiting job is to prepare the 'back issues' - prints from my previous sets being sent out to collectors, a job that is done on the 15th of every month. It's a sprinkling of poets' prints, some Solitudes books, and a few prints from the Surimono Albums, as well as a couple from the previous Treasure Chest:

Starting next month, that will be augmented by a number of new collectors who have joined this current series upon seeing the NHK program the other day, and who have started at #1 ...

This next part is fun. While I was preparing those back numbers, I heard the 'you have mail' chime ringing in the background now and then, and when I had a moment free to check, found that a number of those emails announcing the invoicing had been received ... and processed. A stream of notifications from Paypal has been coming in ...

I'll watch those continue to arrive over the next few days, and will then initiate a 'draw down' to my bank account here in Japan (converting to yen during the transaction). Come the end of the month, the bank will reach in to the account automatically, and take out what they need for the mortgage payment. I also transfer some of the yen over to my account at 7-11, from which I pay other bills as required, and I use the 7-11 ATM for such bits of cash as I need (for the supermarket, etc.).

That is something else that I still shake my head in amazement at ... pieces of blank washi paper have been transformed into food and shelter, all in the space of about two weeks, start to finish. Incredible!

The only time in my life when the 'system' worked more directly than this was when I was busking in London back in the early 1970s. I would play my flute in front of the Royal Festival Hall for an hour or so, then pick up the coins and head off to get some fish and chips, paying from the stash.

The downside to living this way is of course that there is no 'backup' ... no 'net'. You keep running, you can keep eating. But stop for a minute ...

And speaking of 'stopping' ... no way! This evening's work is to do the sizing on the paper for the second batch of this image, and printing will get under way (again!) in the morning. Those prints will go into my inventory, and will eventually be sent out as 'back issues', as we saw here.

Posted by Dave Bull at 7:51 AM | Comments (1)

Mystique Series - #7 - printing finished

So here we are, as planned, the final two impressions.

Not sure if this next one will actually be very visible here - it's a 2nd cover of the greenish tone at the top of the persimmon. The first one wasn't deep enough, so we'll give it a bit more:

And that's it for the image itself. All that's left is the outer karazuri embossing:

Note that what you see here isn't what will actually be shipped - the print will be trimmed on all four sides, as well as having the baren embossment applied down in the lower right corner.

And now to get the backboards printed with the print name and # etc., print out the story sheets, and then get it all ready for pickup by Ichikawa-san, the lady who handles my wrapping and shipping.

Posted by Dave Bull at 7:24 AM | Comments (3)

Mystique Series - #7 - printing stages 13~14

I thought that I might make the cartouche background a different colour this time - maybe pick up a tone from the persimmon, but decided not to, as I think that would pull attention away from the main image. So we'll go with the 'standard' pale red:

And with the open sky being such a light colour, we need something at the edge of it to offset the moon. A nice curved gradation should fill the bill:

I think two more should do it; I might be able to get those done tonight, but if not, then it'll be tomorrow morning - which will mean this batch of 120 sheets (with two prints side-by-side) will have taken exactly one week, start to finish. (Eight days if I count the paper sizing step ...)

Posted by Dave Bull at 8:49 AM | Comments (1)

Mystique Series - #7 - printing stages 10~12

Three today, although most of the work on the first one was done yesterday ...

And all three of these are kind of subtle, but do make the print a lot more attractive. First is a green/brown gradation around the top of the persimmon:

Then we switch to the other end of the fruit, for a bit of shading down there:

This next one will only be visible in the enlargement (if there) - it is a secondary tone that picks out many of the details of the insect:

(Once we're done, and I have time for it, I'll take a closeup scan of the insect, so we can see that better ...)

Three to go ...

Posted by Dave Bull at 7:15 AM | Comments (0)

Watch the NHK program here!

For the benefit of those who didn't get a chance to watch the recent NHK program on my work in the Japanophiles series, I'm putting a version of it here on the RoundTable.

At the moment of writing, I haven't received a good copy of the program from NHK, so this temporary version (videoed from my monitor, and cropped to a 4:3 ratio) will have to do for now. It's 30 minutes long, and will start to stream when you roll over it and press the 'play' button ...

[Update: a high resolution version is now available, on this page, for those with good bandwidth.]

Please use the comments below to let me know what you think about it!

Posted by Dave Bull at 7:14 AM | Comments (33)

Mystique Series - #7 - printing stage 9

Just one stage to report today - the other three I did were over on the other side of the sheet ...

This was a 'rough' one - not carefully delineated. It's just a splash of dark green rubbed on the base end of the 'last leaf' ...

I think we have six more to go, but it might be seven, still not quite sure. There should be a good batch to report tomorrow ...

Posted by Dave Bull at 7:54 AM | Comments (0)

Mystique Series - #7 - printing stages 7~8

Two more ... regular as clockwork, I am this week!

The base tone for the sky. Although this is a night scene, the original designer (or the printers, more likely) decided not to make it all that dark. But once we're done, it'll look very atmospheric, I think ...

And finally we get some colour. There will be three impressions in all on this persimmon, but we start with this base tone of a slightly 'dirty' vermillion.

(And again, the 'invisible' partner print is also making progress too)

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

Mystique Series - #7 - printing stages 5~6

Another two stages today ... not a very productive pace, but there are other jobs happening too ...

Here's the base colour for the leaf. Actually that's not really true, as we've already had a 'base' - the previous grey tone. (This is not going to be a very 'happy' leaf!)

Next up is the tint on the tree trunk. As we will see later, this is actually a night scene, so there are going to be a lot of different greys involved. But I don't think the overall effect will be too gloomy ... we'll see.

(At the same time as these have been building up, impressions on the 'partner' print have been accumulating too, and that print now has four stages done. We'll get to see that one next month ...)

Posted by Dave Bull at 7:57 AM | Comments (0)

Mystique Series - #7 - printing stages 3~4

Now that the basic outlines of the design are in place, we can start to fill in some of the 'colours':

The registration is pretty critical here - some of the lines on the legs of that insect are so thin, there is just no margin for error at all.

And now that the position of that leaf has been defined clearly, the next 'outline' block can be safely printed:

I actually got more than this done today, but those parts were over on the other side of the sheet, the part for print #8 ...

Posted by Dave Bull at 7:07 AM | Comments (1)

Mystique Series - #7 - printing stages 1~2

Back when I was making the My Solitudes series, I made it a point to show a progress set of images during the construction of each print. I haven't been doing that for the current series, mostly because the prints are much more 'open' images - there is nothing specifically difficult to understand about how they are made.

But I was asked by one of the collectors in an email the other day about this, so I guess - why not - let's do one for this current print. It's not like I have nothing else to do ... (How's that for making somebody feel guilty?

It's actually not so easy this time though, because as there are two prints being made at the same time on a longish strip of paper, it won't fit in my scanner (a typical A4 model). So only one of the two prints in this pair will appear, and it will be #7, a surimono design by Hokusai.

Let's get under way!

We don't need to bother with the blank paper, so here's the first step (these will be clickable for larger versions):

That is printed from a block that is being used to print the design outlines for the entire series, as they are all based on the same dimensions and the same layouts (one each, vertical and horizontal) In case there is anybody out there who can't read Japanese, the vertical text is the series name: Hanga Tamatebako - Bi no Nazo (literally: Print Treasure Box - Beauty's Puzzle) (Believe me, it does make sense in the original Japanese!)

Then, starting on the block set carved specifically for this image, the key block comes first:

Also carved on this block is the title of this particular image: Aki Fukamu, which is one of those seasonal 'keywords' in the language, referring to 'Late Autumn'. I'm still not sure what I will put on the story sheets as the English title. Maybe just that, I guess ...

Posted by Dave Bull at 7:52 AM | Comments (1)