Posted by Dave Bull at 2:57 AM, November 5, 2011 [Permalink]
After all the postings about such things as insulation and assistants, perhaps we've all forgotten just what this is all about ... yes, time for some printmaking!
Mystique #16 shipped exactly on schedule on September 15th. I knew that the next one would be late, because of the interruption caused by the 10 day trip to Canada to see my family, but I didn't know that it would get this far off! What got in the way was the necessity of getting a stack of Gift Prints ready. Back last spring I had planned to get those all printed and set aside quite early this year, but with all the extra projects going on over on the Mokuhankan side of my affairs this year, it just wasn't possible. So there went another couple of weeks.
And of course, having two printer trainees here has eaten up enormous amounts of time ... not to mention the 'week off' I just had while busy with the construction progress on the workroom ...
But over the past few days I have tried to get the ship back on course, and can now report that eight of the ten blocks for the next Mystique print are now done. Here's a quick rundown of what they look like - roughly snapped at the workbench this evening:
Can you 'assemble' the image in your mind?
There are two more to go, but they will have to wait a couple of days. Calligrapher Tauchi-san is currently drawing up the title, and as for the block that will be the background area, I can't carve that until I have done a proof run of these first eight ... That'll begin I guess tomorrow ...
While I have your attention, here's an interesting little update on the construction progress ...
Here's a snapshot of one of the workshop front windows taken this morning when I came down to work:
Look at all that condensation! Oops! Houston, do we have a problem?
Nope. Let's look closer. Do you see any drips running off the bottom of the window?
None at all. Why?
Because the condensation is on the outside!
This is interesting. Moist morning air condenses on cold surfaces. And the insulation rating of these windows - which are triple glass, argon filled - is so high that even with the room inside now warmed up, the outer surface of the glass stays completely cold.
Over the next hour or so, the moisture gradually evaporated, leaving the view clear ... and the room inside warm and dry ...