Written on June 13, 1990 [Permalink]

June 6

A large package of paper arrived today, the first time that they have sent it in a flat package, rather than in a roll. Yamaguchi-san had phoned and talked to Michiyo a couple of days ago, asking if we had been happy with the recent paper shipments. It seems that another of their large customers, the Yoshida studio, had just rejected a batch of their stuff because of fingermarks and streaks (in the dosa, I think). We told them that we were basically happy with it, although I am constantly upset that the stuff is not 'square', leaving all our finished prints with uneven margins. (Actually, when I told them all this, I hadn't used any of that batch yet, and of course when I came to use it the other day, I found it full of streaks and fingerprints!)

They must have really taken Yoshida's criticism to heart, because this new batch is the finest stuff I have ever seen. It is pristine, smooth, with no marks at all, and perfectly 'square'. We called them up, and Misawa-san too, to thank them for it. I hope that it all looks like this from now on.

June 8

English out of the way, and 80 sheets wet. It would normally be 60, but I have to make extras because of the large number from the other day with poor kimono colour. They're not really bad, but there's no sense sending stuff out to customers that doesn't feel right.

June 9

Sumi on the 80, sitting down of course! 80 sure feels like a lot more than 60 (have I heard that complaint somewhere before ....?). No problems.

I had done the sumi early in the morning, and by evening as I thought it would have settled down enough to allow some colours to go on top, I tried printing the kimono. It wasn't really settled well enough, the brush started to pick up some of the sumi transferring from the block, and the kimono colour gradually became a bit greyer that I wanted. Michiyo yelled at me for my impatience.

June 10

Finished the rest of the colours. These are the first prints that I have made entirely sitting down - first carving, and then printing both sumi and colours. They look just fine! They're also a little bit ahead of schedule, although not as far ahead as they should have been, with such a simple kimono pattern! The next one is going to take a long time because of the patterns and beards, and I had hoped to get quite a bit ahead of the game this month

June 11~12

Encouraged by the success of the sit-down printing last week, and thinking about the upcoming trip to Los Angeles, I went over to Doit and bought some supplies for making the new 'workstation' that I've been planning for a while. The idea is to have a trunk-like box which separates into two halves, one which becomes the printing desk, and one to become the carving bench. Legs are folded inside, and there is a pull-out tray which carries all the supplies: brushes, pigments, barens, etc. etc. I want to be pretty much self-contained for any kind of demonstration, and just be able to roll up to the place, unfold everything and start working, without having a dozen miscellaneous little boxes of junk to be hauled around (or forgotten).

Michiyo didn't really appreciate the mess I made with the table saw, and we had to sleep in the office for a night rather than try and clean up the workshop half-way through, but I got the basic box done. Next week, I'll start in on the shelves and stuff inside.

June 13

Christened the new carving bench, and found that it feels great. It's wider and shallower than my old one (a plank balanced on top of a cardboard box), but much more stable, and the space underneath for my knees makes the work much more comfortable. Now that I've got it, I can't believe that I waited so long to build one.

[ Dave, find photos of this ... ]