Written on June 27, 1992 [Permalink]

June 25

2nd batch (70 copies) also in the can. I still have the name labels to do, but as Ashida-san hasn't got the folders ready yet, there's no rush on those. There's about two weeks to go before shipping date, and it feels great to be done so early. That business of finishing the printing one evening and shipping the next morning is no way to go.

Had the first meeting with (grandma) Ishikawa-san to see if she thinks she can handle becoming Ashida san's helper. (I had actually asked Kondo-san, one of the women at the pool, if she wanted to get involved, but she demurred, turned to Ishikawa-san and said, "How about you?" Ishikawa-san jumped at the chance, and I couldn't very well refuse her!) They're going to have the first 'lesson' early next month, and if all goes well, Ishikawa-san will be taking on a share of the work. I'm not really sure about this, but she wants to give it a try, so we'll see ...

Also pasted down the next hanshita. It's a very sharp clear one, from the 'new' copy place in Asakusa, and I glued it down with nikawa this time. I've been using an 'arabiki' type glue for a couple of years now, with good results, but since I switched to colour copies it hasn't been working well - the black areas don't stick securely. This means that the black lines start to flake off after I carve one side, making it very difficult to cut the second side. I think the nikawa will be quite a bit stronger. I don't have any idea how thick to make it, but it seemed to work quite well. We'll see when I start carving tomorrow.

Started to get the stuff together for the demonstration at the Tokyo Computer Salon tomorrow. Mikami-san, the guy who invited me down there, had suggested that there should be lots of new subscriptions coming from the event, as the attendees are all bigwigs in various computer companies, but after seeing the newspapers over the past couple of days, I'm not expecting much. The stock market is taking a real pasting day after day, and I don't think anybody is going to be in the mood for extravagant purchases of such nonessentials as my woodblock prints ... Nice timing!

June 26

So how did it go? Interesting, but 'non-productive' (translation: no orders). I sat in the middle of the circle, made a copy of the Sanuki print, and just chatted about the work. It was a good event, as they were interested in what was going on, and asked good questions. They didn't have much interest in Hyakunin Isshu per se, so I guess that didn't help with the orders, but that didn't stop them from enjoying the evening. Their guest last month was somebody talking about cancer, and next month's is a discussion on the life and times of red peppers ... I guess their only rule for topics is - no computers! An enjoyable evening, and the little 'envelope' will help next month's rent.

June 27

Notes from both David Stones and Suezan Aikins today. He's got a two week exhibition coming up next month, and she's postponing her next Japan exhibition until 1994 (won't have enough stuff ready by '93). I called David and tentatively set up for us to stop over there in late July on the way from Hokkaido down to Mie. (Did I mention before that this year we're going up to Sapporo to see Grandma? We weren't sure if we could afford such a long trip, but with Kawawa-san's payment for 34 prints, we should be able to cover it ...)

Also got a call from somebody at TBS TV. They are looking for a bunch of 'foreigners studying Japanese culture ...' for a quiz program, and want to know if I'd be interested. (TBS is the only network I haven't been on yet!) They're going to call back later with details.

Started the carving on Kentoku Ko [4-6], but not without trouble. I changed my blade just near the end of the carving of the last print, and tried out a new blade given to me by one of the carvers in the Kumiai. It's only about half as thick as the blades from Usui-san that I'm used to. It sharpens very easily, and becomes very sharp, but breaks so quickly that this morning I gave up in frustration and changed back to one of Usui-san's. The problem here is that the dozen or so blades he gave me a couple of years ago were quite irregular - thick ones, thin ones, some even cracked part way across. He said at the time that they were just left-overs that were stuck in a drawer somewhere, and he never took any money for them. I've been picking and choosing each time I change to a new one, and now all that's left are the thick irregular ones. I guess it's time to start looking around for some others, and maybe I'll drop by Shimizu, the knife maker in Akihabara, next time I get into town. That's where Ito san said he gets tools, and if they're good enough for him ...

The hanshita glue is still a problem. The nikawa certainly sticks well, but the black areas still chip off as the knife goes by. There's no way I want to go back to the monochrome copies, but it's obvious that the different technology used for the colour copies is going to make them useless because of this chipping. Is there a middle ground somewhere ...?

Got an interesting piece of mail today - a postcard from Adachi-san. He says thanks for the 'Hyakunin Issho', and thanks for doing the 'job we should be doing'. I'm sure he means the craftsmen stories, rather than the printmaking! It's nice to have his support ...

[ can we find this ... ]