Swimming Carp, based on a design by Hokusai (?)

This is perhaps the easiest print in the set so far, and it posed no particular technical challenges.

To get the marbled background effect, I didn't actually do any marbling. Using this sort of effect was not uncommon in Edo-era prints, and I simply took one of those and traced appropriate sections of it, and then cut the block to match.

When I was doing the test printing I tried leaving the background pattern in karazuri (embossing), with no pigment, but although it looked kind of nice, the carp was just left too bare, so I used the light tone you see.

Blocks: 6 cherrywood
Printing impressions: 7

• Key block
• Yellow base tone on fish
• Grey undertone (no pattern)
• Grey undertone (with pattern)
• Brown tone on fins
• Sepia gradation on body
• Marbled pattern on background