'Stretch' to read the full entry | Separate page (with discussion [7])

And then lean to the left ...

I watched carefully at the appropriate times for the 'beads' to appear, although none did (that I noticed). But it was spectacular nonetheless, and I'm very happy to have been able to see this ... the 'ring' effect was beautiful!

I don't have any way to take a photo of it for you, but I think you can find such photos elsewhere!

Update: Over on collector Mr. Shigeyoshi Ushiro san's blog, he posted this photo, which he says he got by using a small hole punched in a cardboard box. A bit cloudy in his area it seems, but it was still visible ...

'Shrink' back down ... | Discussion [7]

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Seeing it reminded me instantly of my own first 'view' of the Kamakura Daibutsu more than thirty years ago. We were walking through back streets from the station, and caught this kind of glimpse from a distance - just the top of the statue looming over other buildings. "There it is!" Seeing it that way heightened our eagerness to get closer and see the 'real thing' ...

So I think I'll base my print on this concept. As for the 'style', I'm going to take a general shin-hanga approach, modelling the three areas (statue, roof, distant greenery) with overlaid colour blocks and nezumi-ban.

But we need an outline drawing first, and - as we saw in the earlier post introducing not-very-well-drawn versions by Hiroshige, Keith, and Hasui - this statue is not easy to 'capture' in outline.

Here's a first attempt to trace over that (blurry) photo, with some cropping and editing to get the overall shape:

Don't run away just yet ... we can do better than that ...

The eye and mouth are both very difficult, but after a number of inbetween steps too tedious to show here, it starts to look a bit better:

Illustrator friend Jed Henry over in the US made a suggestion that I should 'elevate' the head away from the roof line, and that's clearly an improvement:

The eye still looked slightly 'evil', and I thought that reversing the curve would eradicate that feeling:

... but it only made it worse. I don't feel that any of the illustrators I showed in the previous post could catch the eyes properly either, but once I simplified the line, and also 'gentled' the curve of his jaw/chin ...

... he began to radiate some proper 'peace and harmony'. But returning to the original photo, I realize that somewhere along the line I managed to get him sitting up a bit too straight, so I pushed his head forward a bit:

And that, I think, is where I am going to leave it for a bit. I've already begun carving the rooftop and greenery, but will keep the 'head space' clear until at least tomorrow, so that I can let this sink in and percolate for a while.

'Shrink' back down ... | Discussion [4]

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What a mournful looking Daibutsu! Did Hiroshige actually go and look at it? It seems doubtful ...

British designer Elizabeth Keith did one in 1919 (carved/printed by Watanabe):

And Kawase Hasui had two kicks at the cat, a simple postcard version, and a large o-ban print. This was also by Watanabe, and it's curious to see that both the Watanabe editions use leaf shadows on the stonework, although in Hasui's version the steps have changed, as the statue's base was apparently destroyed in the 1923 earthquake.

It's curious also that Hasui - just like Hiroshige - got the thing 'wrong'. Here's a photo from basically the same angle as Hasui's version:

Not quite sure why Hasui thought that the Daibutsu might look better with a football helmet ...

Anyway, all those designers took the same basic approach - a full view of the statue in its surroundings with some overhanging tree branches for 'compositional effect'. I don't think I have quite that much room, and there's a idea I've been mulling over for quite some time ... but let's save that for the next post!

'Shrink' back down ... | Discussion [1]

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The rest of the time today was spent working with Tsushima-san on her 'Yoshida' proofing, and running up to the woodshop every time my little timer told me that a batch of glue was ready to unclamp. I'm trying to get the next batch of cases done, and am laying up the laminated paulownia tops. This time, I'm also mixing in the first bunch of cases for the Mokuhankan 'Hangaclub' project, so that we can perhaps get that underway without too much more delay ...

'Shrink' back down ... | Discussion [7]

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And Lee-san - who is here for a couple of days this week - got right to work on the spraying. You can see where we haven't yet had time to knock out those breeze blocks separating the two rooms:

This 'spray booth' is a lot more pleasant than the one he got stuck with last week ...

And of course, the light is much better ...

After the testing last week, we decided to go with two coats of a fairly simple water-base varnish, giving the cases a pretty vigorous sanding between coats:

We're not attempting a 'super gloss' professional finish like the one on the previous Mystique series cases; we just don't have the experience or the resources to do that, and as we haven't used wood filler, the grain is fairly 'open'. The finish on these cases thus has a sort of 'natural' look, and we think it's quite attractive.

Putting the two coats on this batch was one very long day!

The cases then went back upstairs to the woodshop for final polishing, checking, and this important step - what is Tsushima-san doing?

Levelling the feet of course! She's working on a doubled glass plate, which is about the only way we could create an absolutely flat surface:

We'll temporarily skip the next couple of photos, which show the cases being 'loaded' with the first print, stand and acrylic panel (because they 'reveal' the interior and opening mechanism). But it all ends up looking like this:

It's a basically simple item, but we think it has turned out pretty well, and Lee-san and I shook hands in congratulations this evening at the conclusion of the work on this batch.

As for the other aspect of this - whether making the cases ourselves was actually a good idea from a business point of view ... this is perhaps something we can leave for another day. I don't want to spoil the mood tonight!

'Shrink' back down ... | Discussion [2]

A 'top secret' post, describing how the print cases are built ...

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This next post in the ongoing sequence of how our storage cases are being made is a bit different. It's not being posted 'openly' on this blog for everybody to see.

It's not that it's 'secret', it's because there are readers of this blog who do not want to see this just yet. They have ordered the print series, are looking forward to receiving the print and case, and are also looking forward to seeing how it 'works'.

As I mentioned earlier, we have been testing this with visitors to our place, and quite a few of these people have been unable to open the case when we give it to them. Now I should make it clear that this isn't any kind of 'puzzle' box - it's a straight-forward little box for storing the prints, with a lid that opens to allow the contents to be inspected.

But they are having 'trouble' for a couple of reasons. One is that the 'lid' isn't actually all that obvious - there are no hinges, no latch, no openings of any kind, nor does it have a drawer like last year's case. And the other is that we have made it a bit stiff, expecting that as the cases are used bit by bit, they will 'open up' to be looser and easier to handle (as indeed, we have found with our testing). So people aren't really sure how much force they can safely apply, without breaking something. So we'll be putting a note/letter into the package, letting people know how it opens ...

But it seems that among the collectors are some who also want to play this little 'game' ... having fun working it out for themselves. If this is you, then don't click here, because that link is to a sequence of photos showing how it all works.

And as for our 'regular' update, the current batch of 50 cases has now reached the end of the woodwork stage - they are all properly 'shaped', have their feet formed, and are ready for final sanding and varnishing.

'Shrink' back down ... | Discussion [2]

The first cases get finished!

'Stretch' to read the full entry | Separate page (with discussion [3])

We're getting closer to the 'end' of the long process of making the first batch of these storage cases; we've seen any number of photos of the main workbench, with the cases changing shape bit by bit each time. Here are a couple of recent versions:

... and this scene is also familiar, I think ...

But this one has a different aspect. What's with the collection of small bottles and jars?

Getting ready for the finishing stage, of course! Here's our ultra-modern, highly-appointed, 'super clean room' spray booth!

That's Lee-san doing the spraying; he's here for two days ... And although that spray booth may not look very appetizing, it does the job!

Meanwhile, the boss was upstairs in the woodshop, busy with one of the more unpleasant stages of the work (and very noisy, too ...)

And the boxes keep building up and up ... There isn't any printing being done here this week, so my printing alcove is pressed into service as a 'drying room'. Here are a bunch of cases, and a number of the 'stands' ...

Note the highly imaginative use of the large flat file as a drying rack!

Here is one of the first ones to come out the far end of the production line ... This is actually one of the same cases shown in the photo above (and the next one) ; under various illuminations it looks completely different. I have no idea what actual colour it will appear to you in your own home ...

And here it is, seen in the wild, in its natural habitat!

That's one down, only 199 to go!

'Shrink' back down ... | Discussion [3]

Having my table saw go out of commission put a bit of a dint in the plan for the next day, but the router table came to the rescue, and the final work on getting all the parts ready for assembly was finished late last night:

'Stretch' to read the full entry | Separate page (with discussion [3])

A couple of days ago, I showed a photograph of my workbench covered with case parts ... Having my table saw go out of commission put a bit of a dint in the plan for the next day, but the router table came to the rescue, and the final work on getting all the parts ready for assembly was finished late last night:

The tops are all jointed, glued up, and grooved for the stand, and the small pieces for the front of the case have been split on the bandsaw at a 5 degree angle; this will be the 'lip' of the case opening. (These parts are taped together so that the pairs won't get separated.)

Who needs a table saw to cut the tops to perfect 90 degree angles, when you can do it this way on the router?

So with all the preparation work done, I got to work early this morning on getting them all assembled - Henry Ford look out!

Young printer trainee Fujii-san showed up unexpectedly part-way through the morning, but she has now progressed enough that she can do productive practice without me helicoptering around, so she spent the day down in the printing room by herself doing stacks of practice prints. I only had to drop in occasionally to see how she was doing, and check the paper moisture, etc.

So I kept at it all day long, and by knocking off time this evening, all those parts had magically become boxes!

I then began the step of fitting all the tops, and that part of it takes a bit of time, because no matter how carefully I made all the individual parts, fitting the tops accurately is a matter of sanding and fiddling with each one to get it to 'feel' just right ...

'Shrink' back down ... | Discussion [3]

After another long day at the router table, the parts for the next batch of 50 cases are almost ready:

'Stretch' to read the full entry | Separate page (with discussion [1])

After another long day at the router table, the parts for the next batch of 50 cases are almost ready:

Meanwhile, over on another shelf, the stack of 'finished' (actually 'un-finished') cases grows into the distance ...

They are coming out quite nice. These earliest ones show some slight gaps in the final fitting of the tops; at that point we hadn't yet got our system quite worked out perfectly ... By the time we've made all 200, we'll be experts!

And looking at that case reminds me to mention that as we have moved along with this project, every time we have a visitor to the workshop, we put a case in front of them and ask them to open it.

Almost nobody can. At least not without quite some investigation, poking around, and trying this and that ... We're beginning to get a bit concerned that when the cases arrive at their destinations, most people won't know what to do with them, so we're planning to put a paper wrapper around them, with some basic instructions on 'How to get started' ...

And yesterday evening, our newest tool arrived ('special delivery' from the home center on the back of my bicycle), and you know what this means - tomorrow will be the first tests of the staining/finishing stage!

And just where are we going to do all that spraying? Easy! In the 'brand-new', 18 year old, 25+ square meter extension to our workroom! More on this when we get the sledgehammer busy in a couple of days!

'Shrink' back down ... | Discussion [1]

While the printing crew is busy up in the woodshop working on the cases, Yasui-san is alone down in the workroom steadily getting the prints themselves ready for shipping.

'Stretch' to read the full entry | Separate page (with discussion [0])

No time for anything but a skeletal blog update tonight ...

While the printing crew is busy up in the woodshop working on the cases, Yasui-san is alone down in the workroom steadily getting the prints themselves ready for shipping. As you can see from this photo, for this series, we've found a solution to that problem of having the shape of the photo corners showing through the thin print paper!

Each print on its mat gets folded inside a sheet with a small descriptive story about it:

This batch will be posted in the morning, to that batch of collectors who have 'volunteered' to have their cases shipped later ...

And meanwhile, back upstairs, they're still at it. Drilling the case bottoms for the finger holes ...

... and then sanding the results:

It didn't take her long to think of a 'better way' to do it ...

And when we had a moment to look up at the view outside the window, this is what we could see!

'Shrink' back down ...