Table of Contents
This Contents page organizes the posts made to the 'Conversations' into their respective 'categories'. Within each category, newest posts are at the top, then descending in reverse chronological order. (The number - [1] - at the end of each item title is the number of comments left to date on that item ...)
Tools
A new venture to make tools for woodblock printmaking has begun. Here are all the posts related to it ... (this is in chronological order, so start at the top and work your way down through the development of our tool project ...)
The young craftsman Sato-san, who did the work for the Senshafuda prints I published last year, has been spending quite a lot of his free time doing research on the content of the steel used to make the blades in our carving knives.
Excellent progress on the new knives/chisels ...
I have made some sample storage boxes for the new tool set ... what do you think?
Work on making some prototype tool handles gets under way ...
Working out a solution to how to tie our chisel handles ...
The next stages in getting these knives designed ...
Solving our wood supply issues for the next hundred years!
The first production run of tool handles ...
Continuing the production run from yesterday's post ...
The final segment of the photo set showing the handles being made ...
The first 'plump' prototype of the hangi-toh handle.
Work on the paulownia boxes for the knife set gets under way ...
Mark II of the storage boxes for the new tool set is ready for inspection ...
Working out the layout for the inner booklet and label ...
Adventures in searching for a suitable source of paulownia wood ...
It's time to bring a bit of an update on the progress of the tool project ...
I mentioned in passing that I had been in contact with a Canadian living down in Nagasaki, and who owned a laser engraving setup ...
But I ran into a small glitch in that work yesterday - my heavy-duty table saw developed a strange noise, and then a strange wobble in the blade.
Ayumi-san's first baren!
An exciting internet auction!
The boxes of auction goods arrive ...
Prints
A new entry is made here each time a new print is officially added to the Mokuhankan catalogue; you are invited to leave your feedback on any matters related to the print ...
Entire books can - and have - been written about this paper ...
This is a slightly 'clipped' reproduction of one of the pages from the book Favourite Flowers of Japan ...
There isn't enough left of the 'original' to warrant describing it as a 'Hokusai' ...
This is an exact reproduction of one of the prints known as 'Akashi-ban' surimono.
Up and Coming
These are items featuring designs being considered for inclusion in the catalogue ...
The Trouble Afoot design ...
I like the 'graphic' aspects of this one very much, and I think I'm not alone.
I've been looking at this one for years! All that I know about it can be fitted into one sentence: designed by Englishman A. Rigden Read in the early part of the 20th century; presumably self-cut and self-printed ...
Questions for Dave
From collectors ... from the designers ...
I'm getting the impression these crafts people aren't in it because of a passion for art
What are your plans for the carver/printer information going on the prints?
Process
Posts in this category deal with how the prints are made. A special feature of 'Conversations' is that designers of the prints are also taking part in these discussions ...
A slideshow of the 'Soul Eater' print
The next Ukiyoe Heroes video is ready ...
Final work on the Infestation print ...
The next YouTube video is ready!
The blocks for the next Ukiyoe Heroes print are ready!
A new process video ...
Infestation key block carving continues ...
Carving on Jed Henry's 'Infestation' print gets under way ...
The next two Chibies are ready ...
A short rest for some of the Ukiyoe Heroes blocks ...
Video of making the Hero Rests print ...
Discussing how long the woodblocks will last ...
A slideshow illustrating the build up of colours on this print
Block set for 'The Hero Rests' is ready ...
The video of making a pair of the Chibi Heroes prints is now ready.
Fox Moon production is ramping up ...
The fourth episode in the set documenting the progress of the Fox Moon production.
The next video of Fox Moon production is ready ...
Colour block carving on the Fox Moon design ...
Colour block carving on Fox Moon begins ...
'Second' key block for Fox Moon is now finished
A new (HD) video is up on my YouTube channel ...
Fox Moon keyblock done!
Progress on the Fox Moon design ...
First day of carving on the Fox Moon design ...
Work on the Fox Moon print is under way
Work on the next pair of Chibi Heroes gets under way!
Real printing work on the Rickshaw Cart design gets under way ...
A new video of the colour buildup on the Rickshaw Cart print ...
A slideshow of the printing process is ready ...
Closeups of the first proofs are now ready ...
A YouTube video of the first impressions of the Rickshaw Cart print
YouTube video is going (semi) viral!
Colour separation plan for the plumber print ...
Miyashita-san get her first 'edition' under way ...
Fujii-san's first print is ready for our catalogue!
Next stage in Tsushima-san's proofing...
Fujii-san's next training project ...
More proofing on the Yoshida sailing ship
Tsushima-san begins work on the Yoshida print ...
Tsushima-san begins her next print ...
It's been quite some time coming, but the edition of the Hokusai surimono reproduction that Tsushima-san has been working on for a few weeks is finally finished.
Believe it or not ... the summer senshafuda set has finally arrived ...
We're having quite a lot of trouble getting the Senshafuda series moving forward ...
We are encountering many problems in getting the summer senshafuda set done properly ...
The first batch of 'public' proofs of this set are now ready for inspection ...
Carving work has finally begun on the next set of three Senshafuda - the summer set. Was your favourite among the sketches included?
Tsushima-san is making very good progress!
Some details of the new printing bench for Tsushima-san
Explaining the genesis and concept behind the new 'Kakegami' project ...
And you thought it would never happen!
I just got back from the post office, having dropped off the first bag full of outgoing Senshafuda print packages. Looking back at earlier entries in this Conversations blog, I see that it was on February 11th that I first proposed the idea. It took nearly four months from conception to shipping ...
I think I keep making posts about 'almost there', but this time, it's true! Tetsui-san called this morning, and he is just now running the final impression on the first batch of our Spring Senshafuda set. Spring spring ... yes, I know, but remember that one or two things kind of got in the way ...
So I'll have them in hand this weekend, it seems. Meanwhile, we haven't been sitting still waiting for him ...
Ladieeeeeeeees and Gentlemen! After ten weeks of planning and preparation (has it really been that long?), we have now successfully launched our little print series. Proofing with Tetsui-san yesterday was very successful, and we came up with what I think is a very nice set of prints.
You can see them on their order page ...
Now that we're on the cusp of getting some actual prints made, I can no longer put off the job of getting the package design nailed down. I spent the morning with my desk covered with various permutations of the 'roll-up' design, made the decisions on layout and dimensions ...
The proofing got underway at Tetsui-san's place yesterday, Sato-san bringing the 'finished' block set with him. As I wrote the other day, I held back a bit, showing up in time for lunch. They certainly weren't finished when I got there ...
Some important progress to report today - Sato-san has completed the block set, and we're ready to begin proofing.
There are a number of interesting 'twists' involved here ...
As mentioned in the previous post, it's going to be my job to size the paper for this first set of senshafuda, and today was the day!
This photo is a bit of déja vu ...
We made major progress yesterday on the senshafuda project: Sato-san has finished the keyblock, and we had a meeting (together with printer Tetsui-san) to work out the colour separations.
We met at Tetsui-san's place ...
So my 'normal' work got put aside today, as young printer Tetsui-san came over to discuss his part in this project, and for the two of us to have a session of (practice) paper sizing.
He has never done any sizing before ...
A quick progress update: carver Sato-san dropped over here a few days ago (riding his scooter all the way out from town!), and we got him all set up. He and I went over the image, deciding how to approach the carving, and he went back home with some blank blocks in his carry-bags, along with the hanshita printout.
I talked to him on the phone last night ...
So, after all the delays due to one of the largest natural disasters in history - which kind of keeps things in perspective - the 'final' versions of the images arrived from designer Kaori Seki last night (at around 2 in the morning!), and I'm now able to put everything together.
Here's how the layout is going to work ...
Slow progress after the quake
Update on the senshafuda project.
Progress on the senshafuda designs ...
The project outline ...
The basic budget for this project
Discussing the projected senshafuda project ...
I think we're ready to go!
the carving of the poem on this print is now complete!
Numabe-san returned the stack of prints to me the late last week ...
Here's a shot of his most recent proof, on the table beside Mike's original print:
The package with the new set of blocks arrived from Mike today!
The carving has been coming along, very slowly bit by bit, sandwiched between work on the scroll and the colouring books ...
After the previous set of blocks turned out to be unprintable, we decided to put them aside and cut another set
... get a few of these ready to ship!
Here it is on his proofing stand together with Mike's original ...
Mokuhankan's first 'real' print ... as good as it gets!
Numabe-san gets to work on the proofing ...
Time to sit down and feel a bit blue ...
How many blocks do you think it will take?
This is one cool set of blocks!
The poem on this print is going to be very difficult to reproduce ...
This series of posts will track the 'construction' of this print, start to finish ...
... here are photos of blocks and prints ...
Not sure if I should wait until daylight before taking a photo of this one ...
I have a decent piece of hard maple 12 inches wide 3/4 inch thick ...
... we've got it this far now ...
This is actually a lot closer than I expected to get on the first try.
In early March, Mike send a .jpg of the image he had in mind, and our discussions continued ...
... in the interests of having the entire process documented ...
The block set for the Hilo Bay print is now done
So anyway, the puzzle is basically solved, and here they are, laid out on my carving bench, ready to go ...
I got it worked out to where I think I can get it all on six pieces of wood
With the basic colour separations done, the next step is to determine the actual layout of the blocks.
For such a simple image, there are going to be a lot of blocks ...
Gary, while talking with Numabe-san this afternoon in the coffee shop at Ueno Station ... a couple of things came up I need to ask you about:
I've been pondering the block breakdown for Hilo Bay in off minutes ... I think I can basically see through how it could be done.
Anyway, thinking about the idea of using your images in this Mokuhankan thing ... if I can get the thing rolling, would you be interested in doing it that way?
General Interest
Posts that don't fit the other categories ...
An update on some additions to our catalogue, as well as the workroom construction.
Update on the recent video ...
A catch up of recent news...
We begin to move in ...
Update on the workroom progress, including new printing benches.
Insulating the ceiling of the new workroom ...
The 1st anniversary of our Heroes project is here!
The boxes of auction goods arrive ...
An exciting internet auction!
Our baren sign (Mark I) goes up into place ...
General update video - including scenes of Ayumi-san working ...
Walking through the book district ...
Another group of new prints heads into the catalogue ...
A whole new group of prints in the Mokuhankan catalogue!
Next step in the workroom construction ...
Update of updates!
Construction on the workroom expansion begins ...
The new trailer for the Chibi Heroes print series is ready.
The two men printing most of our Ukiyoe Heroes prints
Chibi Heroes is shipping!
A short video walkround of our workshop yesterday afternoon ...
Video of Ukiyoe Heroes shipping procedure ...
Shipping of the Rickshaw Cart woodblocks gets under way!
Ayumi-san's first baren!
The next Print Party ....
The new Chibi Heroes series is ready to go!
The first of our Print Parties happened this afternoon ...
Work on the next pair of Chibi Heroes gets under way!
Aymui-san's first two prints make it into the catalogue ...
A teaser for a post that will appear next week!
Dave's 'Thank You' message to the backers ...
The Kickstarter campaign has wrapped up ...
The first batch of Rickshaw Cart prints is ready!
We reach a major milestone in the funding for the project ...
The final (?) update message in the Kickstarter campaign ...
Production of the Ukiyoe Heroes prints has finally begun!
The latest chart of Kickstarter progress ...
Dave's update message at the 1/3 point of the Kickstarter campaign ...
Update on the Kickstarter campaign progress.
Message from Dave on the close of the first day of the Kickstarter project ...
The Ukiyoe Heroes Kickstarter page is now open ...
The Ukiyoe Heroes Kickstarter will open soon ...
Another webcast with Jed Henry ...
Next webcast is scheduled ...
Performance? Or a heckler?
The key block for Jed's first design is done ...
The first webcast with Jed Henry
A busy day at Mokuhankan ...
Introducing Jed Henry and his work ...
Crunch time is here!
Our first experience of thievery here at the workshop ...
Just a couple of 'quick pix' today ... some of the busy printers!
We had a real traffic jam here the other day, with six of us all trying to work in the same small space together ...
A selection of wildlife photos from this afternoon at the Seseragi Studio ...
Young trainee printer Ayumi-san was here this morning for her first 'solo' session. We caught some of it on video!
Two new printers started today ...
Attending the Design Festa ...
The wall came tumbling down!
Expanding into the next door space ...
Introducing our newest trainee ...
How to solve our growing space problem?
A new 'item was added to the Mokuhankan catalogue today, and here is the text from the explanation page:
Tsushima-san's next print project ...
It's been a very busy week here at Mokuhankan, but unfortunately there aren't a great many photos that I am able to show you ...
Beginning this spring, the Trainee Premium program is no long just a vague idea, but has become reality.
I think that when I look back on it from sometime far in the future, today will be one of those days that sticks out as a 'big one'. Yasuhiro Lee started with us today ...
Mixed results from the four interviews over the past couple of days, but one report to make straight away, as the 'deal' was struck right there during our conversation; next Monday we'll be welcoming our newest member ...
While working on the image tracing these past couple of days, my mind has of course been busy with thoughts of the upcoming interviews the next few days.
Results of the ad 'campaign' in the local newspaper ... and a possible way forward.
I wrote a couple of weeks back about a Help Wanted ad for the local newspaper, and it's finally ready to go:
Bringing you up to date on the Mokuhankan Partners ...
Thinking about some new ideas for packaging the Mokuhankan prints ...
Mokuhankan is looking for people ...
Excellent progress on the new knives/chisels ...
The young craftsman Sato-san, who did the work for the Senshafuda prints I published last year, has been spending quite a lot of his free time doing research on the content of the steel used to make the blades in our carving knives.
Back at the 'grind' after the winter break!
Our year-end wrapup ...
Two enjoyable (mostly) visitors today!
A very busy day at the workshop ...
Today's post is a quote from a blog run by the Wall Street Journal
The pile of Gift Prints waiting for their turn to head to the post office!
The two trainee ladies are making excellent progress!
Ishigami-san is also making good progress ...
Tsushima-san built us a brush drying rack!
Ishigami-san, the second printer-trainer, has begun work ...
A close look at the baren that Tsushima-san tied the other day.
Another update on Tsushima-san's progress ...
Tsushima-san's latest result ...
Tsushima-san is making good progress!
Tsushima-san has turned out to be pretty good at this. Her work is now on sale over at the confectionery shop, and a number of them are also already on the way to overseas purchasers. And, she's having fun with the challenges ...
The kakegami are now in the shops!
Explaining the genesis and concept behind the new 'Kakegami' project ...
Not a lot to talk about today (much!) ... just a couple of little snapshots should do for now!
Here is a report (slightly edited) from the news today:
"Tokyo — Four people were taken to hospital and a glass door smashed as a near-riot broke out at Tokyo's Mokuhankan store among crowds rushing to snap up the popular Senshafuda prints ...
A vision of the future of Mokuhankan
Explaining the two blogs on this website
This month's re-printing work is finally done!
Update to the Mokuhankan catalogue, and status report ...
Update on new prints ...
a simple graph showing the main 'money in/money out' flow at the end of the first year's efforts
Samples of printed-out eBooks ...
... with only 200 copies pulled so far, it would be a crime to let them sleep indefinetely.
Resources (and customers!) are both scarce at present, so the prints are being printed in quite small batches.
The first two eBooks in the Mokuhankan catalogue seem to be turning out to be successful, so here's another one ... with a difference!
the new colouring book is now nearly here!
... a zillion dragon scales!
Morley-Fletcher's 1916 volume - Wood-block Printing.
Mokuhankan's first eBook published.
A shopping cart is now in place on the Mokuhankan site ...
A visit to printer Numabe-san, as he works on a Toshi Yoshida reprint ...
Starting today, the Mokuhankan order form contains two new options ...
Mokuhankan is finally 'open for business'!
One of the 'core' questions about this whole enterprise?
An update on all the various 'threads' being sewn at the moment ...
The vacuum cleaner is plenty powerful enough to pull the print down even through the shirt.
How open should I be with some of the Mokuhankan data?
... there is a real interest in what is going on here ...
The first batch of prints has been received from Numabe-san the printer.
Well ... finally ... the first package of saleable prints arrived today.
What needs to be done before I can go live?
Good - and I think very productive - discussion. No hostility or hassle ...
Anyhow, long story short, I have a kind of decision to make here ... about whether or not I should actually go ahead with this Mokuhankan thing.
The idea behind this section of the Mokuhankan website is to provide a place for easy communication between - and among - the people making the prints, and the people interested in the prints.
The Back Room
This is the 'left-over' category for the collectors/designers to use for general communication/discussion with each other, without worrying about whether or not their topic is strictly relevant to Mokuhankan affairs ...
... the 20 prints would appear in outline form only, ready for people to tear out and colour.
... the last stage of the tracing for the Kaigetsudo scroll ...
