Posted by Dave Bull at 2:25 AM, April 13, 2012 [Permalink]

So - after a break of nearly three months (!), I'm back at the printing bench, baren in hand, for the beginning of real work on the new Arts of Japan series.

But the first impression of the first print certainly isn't very interesting! (These progress images will all be linked to enlargements ...)

It's a blank block, printed with a base tint for the entire image area. I didn't use this for the test prints that I made, and they came out far too bare and 'clean'. This will give the print a pleasant kind of 'tone', once it's done.

Next up is what is known as the 'ji-zuri' - the key block on which all the rest will be based:

Those two steps were actually done yesterday, and this morning saw the first colour go into place:

I have no idea how many impressions this is going to take. There are ten block faces for this print itself, and three more that will be used for all prints in the series. But many of the blocks will be used more than once ...