Written on September 17, 1989 [Permalink]

September 12

Karen was supposed to be here at 10:30 today, and she showed up just after twelve. She stayed till about three, asking questions and taking pictures, and I think she got a pretty good idea of our project. I sure hope she lets me see a proof before running the article, to correct the inevitable misunderstandings! It was interesting talking to her today, as she is quite unlike our usual visitors. She's American, and she behaved like one - making herself 'at home', wandering from room to room, etc. It made me feel quite uncomfortable at first, as I guess I've become used to more reserved, un-pushy people coming into our house. (What kind of culture shock am I going to have when we leave this place?!).

Two minutes (literally) after she left, a call came in from a Mr. Oba, in Kawasaki City. He had seen the Foto article and wanted information. I got stuck on the first sentence, and turned him over to Michiyo. He's not sure about subscribing, but we'll see. I sent a sample pak. I'm amazed that these calls are still coming, nearly two months after the magazine came out. It's a bi-weekly, and gets replaced on reading racks after only two weeks.

September 13

Our first cancellation today. Mr. Watanabe, from the sushi shop, called Michiyo and asked us to stop sending prints. He was due for the 5th one next week. He didn't give any specific reason for stopping. I've been wondering all along just how many people would see it through to complete their set of ten, and here's the first answer! In this case I have a horrible suspicion that we had a communications problem back in the beginning, and that he misunderstood the price of the prints. He was recommended to us by the bakery owner, and there was a fair amount of confusion as to whether he was going to join or not. Of course, I should also face the possibility that he finds the stuff boring, or poorly made, or ...

September 15

Finished the sumi-ban today, and after washing the block to get the remnants of the hanshita off the surface, I got a nice surprise. The new sharpening method has made a huge difference, not only in the process of doing the carving, but in the resulting edges on the block. All the lines, both thick and thin ones, have a very clean, crisp top edge. My older work, in comparison, has all rounded, soft edges. Unlike the previous carved blocks, when I washed this one, none of the thin lines became swollen with the moisture, but all stayed exactly as I had carved them. This is a major improvement. I'm not sure who to thank for it - Matsuda-san, the carver in Kyoto, or the knife maker in Niigata-ken who sent the new blades. Of course the new sharpening method is helping immensely, but it could also be that the blade (just one!) that I was using for the past seven or eight years was actually a turkey! I'll have to sharpen some more of the new blades (they are shipped 'raw') and see if they are the same. It's also interesting to note that on this one print I have already used up about half of this new blade with the repeated, frequent sharpening, whereas the previous blade served to carve more than 20 designs!

Started the colour blocks, finishing two.

September 16

A phone call this morning from Mr. Oba, the man from Kawasaki who called last Tuesday. He liked the sample, wanted to join up, and wanted to be brought up to date, with everything that is finished. He already has the Ono no Komachi, so I bundled up the next four and sent them off, along with those for a couple of other people who are due this week.

Finished two more colour blocks, and prepared 10 sheets for a sample printing tomorrow.

Typed out and ran off some copies of a new label for the cases. It's to go inside the case cover, and lists the 10 prints in the set, in the order that I am making them. When I visited the Sakasaki's place a while ago to take them one of their prints, I noticed that their set was all 'out of order', and it occured to me that the nicely balanced one-year set that I have chosen is really just in my own head - nobody else either knows or cares about the order. This label will help them keep it straight, and in a future one of the little memos that I pack with each print, I'll explain to them what I have tried to do.

September 17

Finished the last colour block, and started printing the sumi (two blocks - the main sumi-ban, and the separate 'outline' block). I got a shock when it came time to print the outline around the border. This print, Oeno Chisato, is not 'isolated' within the border, but intersects it at one side. I had expected the joint to be off by a millimeter or so, and was ready to adjust the kento, but it was off by almost a centimeter! There was no way that it could be shifted that far. Post mortem turned up the fact that in the original book, this print is about 8 or 9mm narrower than most of the others, and this left me with a wide gap between the kimono and the border line, which is made to the larger size. When I carved it, I had simply assumed that all the designs were printed at about the same size. There was only one thing to do - gouge out the block in the area of missing kimono, glue in a chunk of new wood, and then sketch and carve an extension to the kimono (on both the sumi and kimono colour blocks). Done! If you look at the lower left corner of Oeno Chisato's kimono, you can see the joint where the new piece buts up against the old. Don't tell anyone!

September 18

Printed the colours, without too many problems. There are a couple of places on the colour blocks where a knot has left a very hard area, and these places dont seem to hold the pigment properly. There is a resulting lighter area on the prints. I remembered reading about this somewhere, and rubbed these spots with the nagura stone. It worked! They became indetectable. Wrapped up the best copy ready to take to Shimano-san tomorrow. I've got to get him going - I haven't got a single block left. If he doesn't come through - the customers will be left hanging ...

I checked back through this log to find the dates of the first sample run of each print, to see just how the 'production schedule' is holding out.

• [1-1] Tenji Tenno  First week in January
• [1-2] Ono no Komachi  May 7
• [1-3] Dainagon Tsunenobu  July 2
• [1-4] Semi Maru  July 22
• [1-5] Kiyohara no Motosuke  August 20
• [1-6] Oeno Chisato  September 18

Of course this ignores effects from English classes, delays waiting for blocks, translation demands, etc., but it seems like one per month will be OK, provided there is no hang-up in the 'ingredients' (paper or blocks). It's interesting to note that Semi Maru has no kimono patterns, and he came out in less than three weeks, start to finish.