Written on November 5, 1989 [Permalink]

November 2

Got in a couple of hours in the afternoon gap between classes, and finished the sumi-ban. Four weeks! I haven't taken this long on a block since the first one, Tenji Tenno, which took a year (fooling around). In the afternoon Mitsuyama-san's wife came round and picked up the display prints. Tonight, everybody is hanging their prints, pictures, etc. etc. in the community center. I can't make it because of the classes, so they are hanging for me.

Mailed 30 flyers to various magazines, including weeklies, monthlies, women's magazines, 'president's' magazines ... A shotgun approach ...

November 3

No classes till 5:30, but spent the day with the kids, going to the bunkasai, and the sangyosai (a kind of agricultural fair). Fingers itching to get carving, and then printing!

November 4

All day carving, and finished all the colour blocks (4 sides). Prepared 10 sheets for printing tomorrow. Looking back in this log, I see that the last time I did any printing was on September 24th - 6 full weeks ago. Hell of a way to keep your skills in shape!

November 5

Printed the sumi on the 10 sample sheets. No problems, and they look fine - so far. In the evening, picked up the prints from the bunkasai, which wrapped up tonight. I wasn't able to have any kind of descriptive sheet hanging up with the prints, so I guess there won't be any phone calls coming ...

It's been a couple of weeks since Kheeseng was supposed to call about his printmaking work, so I gave him a ring. He's been too busy attending to his father's death back in Thailand to call ... (Oops!) I hope he gets things together and gets back in touch, as his project sounds interesting.

Prepared 40 more sheets for Monday and Tuesday printing.

November 6

Colour on the 10 samples. This guy looks great! Maybe it's just because I've been waiting for so long to see these, but I'm really pleased with this one. The carving of the poem, the hair, and those little short hairs on the back of the neck... There were no registration problems, even with the sumi on two blocks. As for the smooth tsubushi printing, well ... we won't talk about that, will we?

Sent off samples to Ita Kane (I need more blocks! Why doesn't he ever send them until I prove that I'm desperate? I've asked repeatedly for 4 per month, and he nods and says OK, but they never show up.), and my two printing 'advisors', Matsuzaki and Seki. As usual, they'll be pleased with the carving ...

Ran the sumi on the 40. So far, so good. A letter also came in from the Poetry Society, saying 'no problem' to come and display prints at their meeting next Saturday. Maybe I can get a nice birthday present!