Posted by Dave Bull at 7:52 AM, October 6, 2010 [Permalink]
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 ...
