Written on June 30, 1989 [Permalink]

June 26

Awakened by the telephone this morning. It was a new subscriber - at 7:45! A Mr. 'S' in Kobe had seen the Mainichi article in the morning paper, and called to sign up. He seems to be a Hyakunin Isshu fan, and is involved in some kind of translation or research project involving it (I can't remember too many details, as I wasn't really awake when talking to him!). He ordered one set right out, and said that he would probably want more for his store (antique shop?). A nice start to the day ...

Turned to the sumi printing from yesterday. It went perfectly (well, almost!). Used up the last dregs of the sumi from Matsuzaki-san, so I'll have to get down to grinding the stuff that I have had soaking in a bottle for the last couple of months. Something else to learn ...

The missing negative arrived from Takahashi Company, so I'd better pay them tomorrow.

Zipped over to a cardboard box manufacturer nearby, and ordered a bunch of cardboard for shipping prints and print sets. I can't afford to have them make up the packages (scoring, etc.), but they will cut to rough size. They won't deliver, so when it's ready, I'll get the hand truck from the Elementary school, and go and pick it up.In the evening started printing the colours. Normally, they must wait a day after the sumi is done, but I'm running out of time to do this printing (Wednesday morning is English preparation ...). Printing went very well - smooth motions, easy mixing, and the new (old!) baren is a dream to use. Unlike my old barens, with this one I can feel the printing areas with my palm - it's kind of like getting an expensive pair of leather shoes after wearing plastic soles for years. Worked through till about 1:30.

June 27

Printing, printing, printing. Finished the batch. Of the 38 sheets left from the original 50 (12 wrecked in the sumi on Sunday), 32 are perfect. I can't imagine how anybody could do a better job. The colours are smooth and even, and there are no blotches or uneven patches. 3 have tiny zits in visible places (face, etc.). 2 have registration problems (I slipped when laying them down on the block), and 1 is the start-up copy, which is always mis-registered. My usual pile of blotched copies is virtually non-existent!

Interesting that today I used up two baren skins, and my previous experience was to change them once a year or so!

I forgot to mention the other day, that when Michiyo phoned the baren maker, she ordered a shark skin from him for softening the printing brushes. It arrived today. It looks like a baby, but maybe it's just naturally a small type of shark!

June 28

Worked on the colour blocks for Dainagon Tsunenobu [1-3].

June 29

Went round to the box maker to pick up the cardboard sheets. Michiyo came along, and I borrowed the 'rear-car' from the Elementary School to carry the stuff. The company 'shacho' Mr. Yamashita had expressed a mild interest in my being a printmaker, so we took a print set to show him. He ordered! He turned out to be a bit of an art collector (mostly Nihon-ga), and didn't hesitate. His brother is apparently a bigwig at NHK, and he intends to show the prints to him next time they meet (a couple of times a year). Hmmmm ... He is quite busy now (chugen season), and we are to deliver the prints when he calls us up in a couple of weeks.

June 30

Finished the colour blocks, and printed the sumi on 10 sample sheets. Tomorrow, Sakazaki-san is bringing Terakado-san (the customer she 'rounded up') for a little demonstration of how the prints are made, and I can start the colour printing then.

Went down to Sekaido and picked up a frame to replace the one I gave to the bakery.

Pasted down the hanshita for Semi Maru [1-4], and ordered the next two enlargements from the photo shop. They are Kiyohara no Motosuke [1-5] and Oeno Chisato [1-6]. I'm not learning much of the poetry as we go through this thing, but at least I'll be able to remember all the names!