Written on July 14, 1990 [Permalink]

July 1

One more day of no carving! Back to Tokyo yet again, this time to take our tour of Simon's boat, 'Crystal Harmony'. I shouldn't complain about missing the work, as seeing this was well worth the time spent. He'll be living a life of luxury for the next while, playing for a few hours each evening, and spending his days watching the waves roll by.

Tomorrow for sure, it's back to work!

July 2

Yes, back to work - at least for half a day. The printmaking isn't the only thing that's getting behind schedule - Michiyo has a stack of re-writing and typing waiting for me, and each time her clients call to see where it is - I get the evil eye!

July 5

Surprise - a package from Shimano-san at last! Four blocks, one for sumi and three for colour. Just in time, as the carving has gone well the last few days, and I'm now on the face [2-5]. Two of these blocks will go for this print, and the sumi block will do for the next one, which has so few colours that it will all go one one piece of wood.

July 8

Finished the sumi block, with strong lines and poem on one side, and the kimono pattern and face on the other. In the morning I'll print the name labels so that Ashida-san can get going on the folders, and then I'll start in on the colour blocks..

July 9

Printed 120 of the name labels for Ashida-san, who came and picked them up right away. She always wants to have the folders ready before I've finished the prints, so she's eager to get these.

Carved the colour blocks, or 'block' actually, as I managed to get them all to fit on one piece of wood (not without considerable juggling!).

July 10

Nothing to do! Carving's done, but there's not enough time for a print run before English classes start tomorrow. Prepared the hanshita for Gonchunagon Atsutada [2-6], stuck it down, and started carving. This is the first time (I think) that I've ever started a print without having the previous one completely finished, but it might become more common in the future. Instead of doing nothing but carve for a couple of weeks, and thus lose the 'feel' for printing, I'd like to get in a situation where I do some of each at least every few days.

July 11

After the final class, prepared 60 sheets. I used much more water than before, as per Matsuzaki's instructions last week. We'll see what happens.

July 12

Sumi on the 60, in the afternoon gap between classes. It went on very smoothly and without too much 'tamari', even though I used quite a bit of paste (Yamato nori).

July 13

I knew it! this happens every time I get steered onto a new way of doing things. At Matsuzaki-san's house - no problem. At home the next day - no problem. Two weeks later - problems! The sumi went onto the paper with so much water and paste, that the colour refuses to go on top without smearing it everywhere. If I press gently, the impression is poor. If I press firmly, the sumi smears. Packed it up, to wait another 24 hours. Maybe by then, the sumi will have 'settled down' somewhat, and will take the colours.

A package arrived from Yamaguchi-san in the afternoon. Two hundred more sheets, packed flat, and looking very smooth and clean. That's another 90,000+ yen, but at least my stock of the stuff is starting to build up a bit.

July 14

The extra day's wait did it. I had to be very careful with the baren pressure, but they came out OK. About 10 of them are no good, because of the smearing yesterday, but the others look fine. I had a bit of trouble trying to find a suitable colour for the 'cuffs' of the kimono. I wanted to have some kind of soft purple, but it just looked weird on the sample, so I went with a neutral gray/brown. I want to try and break away a bit from the colour range that I've been using. Every time I try a brighter, or more interesting colour, it always seems to look funny, and I end up going with something boring. When the 100 are finished, it'll put everyone to sleep! In the evening, prepared another 60 sheets, for the second run.