Written on May 30, 1989 [Permalink]

May 21

Printed the sumi of the 10 samples. Matsuzaki phoned to thank us for the print, and with answers to the questions I asked in the accompanying letter about making pink. He says that the red pigment I have been trying unsuccessfully to use, must be dissolved in alcohol first, before attempting to mix or thin it for printing. As we had suspected, he also says that the use of white pigment (gofun), is verboten, as areas where it is used cover up the black lines too much. He gave us a recipe for making various shades of pink. The takkyubin man also brought a box of o-kashi from Yamaguchi-san, thanking us for the prints.

May 22

In the morning, Hanamori-san came round with his pictures (I forgot to mention that he came and picked up some prints the other day). They look OK, better than I can do myself with our little camera. If I could afford to have a colour pamphlet printed, these would be the shots I would use. As he had requested, I gave him a nice copy of each of the prints.

The 'interview' was rather a disappointment. The photographer was 'busy' and unable to come, and the interviewer was a new company employee who didn't have much experience at anything, certainly not interviewing. He had a stock list of questions prepared by the newspaper for interviewing foreigners (How do you like Japan? ...), and we never really got beyond that kind of stuff. In the unlikely event that he does manage to get anything into the paper, I can't imagine what relevance it will have to this work... Ah well, maybe next time ... In the evening, I finished up the 10 sheets, trying various shades of the pink stuff. None of them really successful, as I am finding it very difficult to print extremely thin colour like this, without it looking watery and blurred on the print. Matsuzaki-san ... heeeeelp!

May 23

Mailed another 12 flyers to various newspapers, big and small. I've now sent the little sheet to all the big dailies, as well as all the little local papers serving this area. Next - magazines ...

May 25

Got a jolt this morning while reading the paper. The Japan Times, rather than either calling for an interview, or simply throwing my blurb away, have used it in the paper ... Michiyo's picture, and my wording! I don't know if this is good news, or bad news! It's nice to get the exposure, but there's no real information. Anyway, they included our telephone number ...

May 26

The film arrived from Toyo Bunko (three and a half weeks!). Even though the book pages have been shot one to a frame, the photographer kept the page well back, and most of the frame is empty surrounding space. Still, they are definitely better than the last ones, and I think that they will make quite a clear hanshita. Took them to the photo service store, and ordered enlargments of Dainagon Tsunenobu [1-3], and Semi Maru [1-4]. They say to come back on the 1st.

Went to the library to look up some magazine addresses, and sent letters along with two 2L photos (from Hanamori's negatives) of my prints, to four of the big ladies magazines. Although they are mostly fashion, etc., they each have a general and arts section. I think that the women reading these magazines are the most suitable audience for these prints. How to reach them ... ?

Got a phone call as a result of the Japan Times insert. An Australian printmaker wants to get together ... We made an appointment for Sunday June 18th (the earliest time that her family is free).

May 27

Another phone call ... this time from a German printmaker. We chatted for a while, exchanged numbers etc.. She says she will call and come out sometime next month. Prepared 20 sheets for this week's printing attempt.

May 28

Printed the sumi on the 20.

May 29

Phone call this morning from the Nishi Tama Shinbun, one of the local area newspapers, based in Fussa. We made an appointment for 10:00 tomorrow... During the afternoon's printing, we got another call, this time from a Mr. Uekuri, of the Yomiuri Shinbum (Japanese version). He asked if he could come round immediately, and of course we agreed. He arrived about 10 minutes later. This was a very different interview from the one last week. This guy has lots of experience, and knew what type of questions to ask to get to the heart of something. He took a few pictures, talked to us for about an hour, and seemed quite confident of something appearing in the paper in 'about 10 days'. He was encouraging to us about the project, and asked that we call him in the future if we were arranging an exhibition, or some other event.

The colour printing today went very well. I was able to make a decent 'pink' kind of colour, and generally lightened up on all the tones. I changed the brush that I have been using for the red kimono, from a soft paintbrush, to a bristly one that I bought from Matsuyoshi. It made a fantastic difference. The colour now goes on much more smoothly, and most of the 20 went with just a single impression, rather that the triple I was using before. The resulting colour was much less muddy, and quite clear. These are probably the best prints I have made to date (this is a recording!).

May 30

Pleasant interview this morning. Mr. Arai from that local newspaper in Fussa came round, and we had an interesting discussion for about an hour and a half. Apparently, he had a desire to be some kind of artist when he was a student, so he felt some connection with what we are doing. During the interview, I happened to mention Hanamori-san's name in some context, eliciting an immediate response, and an increased warmth to the discussion. This business of contacts and common acquaintances ...

He said that he expected that something would probably appear in one of the June issues (it comes out every 10 days), and as he is the reporter and cameraman and editor, I suppose it will!

While we were talking, Michiyo took another call, this one from 'Foto' magazine, a Japanese language bi-weekly photo journal. They didn't set a date, but suggested that they would be in contact during the second week of June, for photos and an interview. They have a two-page spread in each issue devoted to foreigners doing 'interesting' things in Japan.

I don't know how all these bits of publicity are going to be translated into making a living, but presumably they are all little 'bricks in the wall' ...

After dinner, I took two each of Tenji Tenno [1-1] and Ono no Komachi [1-2] (ganryo and watercolour), and hung them outside on the balcony. They'll catch the sun, and perhaps some rain, etc. We'll see just how these pigments compare in longevity.