Posted on May 4, 2007 [Permalink]

Continued from [River in Summer] : how it was made

Here are the first images of the carving process. The hanshita (the sheet containing all the outlines of the design) is printed on a tissue-thin gampi paper, as outlined in a set of process photos that I prepared for a simple print many years ago. I use spray adhesive to 'tack' a sheet of the extremely thin gampi to a sheet of normal copy paper, and then print the image onto this laminate.

The laminate is then pasted face down onto the cherry wood, and the copy paper peeled away, leaving the gampi securely in place. After the glue is dry, the paper can be gently rubbed with a moistened finger, to peel away some of the fibers, leaving the image clearly visible.

Here's a closeup of one part of the image; you can see where I have rubbed ...:

It's possible to get the image even clearer, by dabbing a tiny touch of camellia oil onto the surface, making everything transparent ...:

And ... an hour or so later, here's what she looks like ...

The thread continues in [River in Summer - 2] - Carving continues ...

Added by: Annie B on May 4, 2007

Go Dave! It's very exciting to see you working with your own designs. Thanks for showing your process.

Added by: Diane Cutter on May 5, 2007

I love watching your process. You do such fine work!