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.

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 ...

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?

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?

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 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 ...