Written on June 5, 1990 [Permalink]

June 1

Finished the poem, and all the borders, etc. All in record time I believe, and full of distractions English, translation, photo sessions, woodyard visits, Simon.

A call came in today from Mr. Sato in Hachioji. He got his Dainagon Kinto [1-10] this month, and called to say that he would like to stop there. He was quite friendly, rather than being abjectly apologetic, and said that he would try and find other customers for us by showing the work around. What's our ratio now? About 7 to 2 in favour of continuing?

June 2

Simon off to Nagasaki this morning. That'll give me more free evenings for work, but it's been fun having him around for a week. He should be back in July for a couple of days, and then he's off on the world cruise ...

A letter arrived from LA today with the contract for the show. It spell out the deal: I pay transportation and 30% of takings; they supply show space, etc., and five nights accomodation. It's the same deal for all the craftsmen in the group. I think they'll be getting together to arrange a flight package deal, but I don't know if I can get in on it, as we will be flying on to other places after the show is over (Vancouver for sure, and maybe England, if we can scrape together the fare).

Matsuuchi-san called in the afternoon, and asked if he could bring a friend over to see the prints. They arrived a few minutes later, and after seeing the stuff, Mr. Inako asked to become a subscriber. It's a little bit funny - he wants to start with the next one, and says he intends to continue to 100. Missing the first 13? He was a friendly garrulous guy, apparently retired from some large company, with which he now holds a directorship. Thank you Matsuuchi-san!

Also got our slides back today, and there are a couple that will be suitable for the LA people. Wrapped them up together with those from Seki-san, and got it ready for mailing tomorrow.

June 3

Back to work, with the first order of business to prepare 60 sheets for Egyo Hoshi [2-4], and then to get going on the colour block carving (there's only one piece of wood, with four small areas).

Arai-san came round in the afternoon to pick up the prints and frames she ordered last week (did I forget to mention it?). Six copies of Ono no Komachi [1-2], and five frames. I guess that she is going to use them for gifts. It's nice to have the business, but I sure wish that these women from the Karuta group would choose a different design now and then. I'm going to have to run off yet another bunch of these soon, and I'm beginning to get worried about wear on the block ..

June 4

Sumi on the 60 copies, with no problems. Finished carving the colour block. Nothing much to do in the afternoon, so started work on the carving of Kakinomoto no Hitomaro [2-5]. This is the first time ever that I have started a new print without finishing the previous one! This one is going to take time, and the sumi will need two blocks, one for the outlines, and one for the kimono patterns and face, etc.

June 5

A good news, bad news, good news day. The colour printing went very well at first, especially considering that for the first time in nine years, I did it sitting down! I used the little printing bench that I made last week for the photo session at Seki san's place, and I was very surprised to find that it wasn't difficult at all. My face is much closer to the block, it is quite a bit easier to see the reflected light off the surface, and it is far easier to apply the necessary pressure to the baren, exactly the opposite of what I had expected. My left knee started to give me some trouble after a couple of hours, but I think it'll settle down if I keep this up. The only problem came up on the last colour, the kimono. I just couldn't find the light brown that I wanted, and everything came out too purplish or reddish. I printed about 25 of them in varying shades, none satisfactorily, and then packed it in for Yukiko's lesson.

During her lesson, my mind must have been drifting away from English grammar, because when I sat down to continue after she left, I thought that I knew just what to mix to produce the colour, and it worked. The last half of the batch turned out fine. That's fourteen down, eighty-six to go!