Anyway, he has taken back the 60 sheets of paper, I gave him 60 more, and we went over my proof and his prints inch by inch, covering everything I could think of. It turns out that he had indeed, tried to make the batch without making even a single sheet as a proof first, and had found after finishing a bunch of the colours that he just couldn't get that sky block to line up properly. Rather than pull the plug at that point, he figured 'what the hell', and went ahead, even though it was misregistered.

It's a mistake he won't make again I'm sure. In a way, it's kind of good that we've had this experience now, rather than later on with a much more complicated and expensive production. We've cleared a lot of air, and established a bit more solidly just what I want to try and do with this stuff.

Marc wrote:

your reaction to Numabe-san's failure is ALL-IMPORTANT in setting the tone of your relationship to him and your future carvers and printers.

I can imagine that in the old days it must have been a fairly autocratic relationship. That's no longer possible (nor can I wear that kind of hat myself); the only way to move forward is if I can convince guys like this there is some meaning in better work. I got a bit dramatic at one point, pulled my wallet out of my pocket and waved it around in the air, "There are people all over the world just waiting to throw money at you ... if you can produce prints that get them excited!"

Would it work to have him print at your place so you can directly supervise?

That would be ideal ... but it's just not possible. If I lived downtown, no problem; many of the printers 'go to work' at workshops: Yoshida's place, Adachi, etc. etc. But there is no way that anybody can spend a two-hour (each way!) commute out to my place.

if you are now forced to pay him for the printing of sixty inferior prints that you do not intend to sell anyway.

We've called it a 'draw'; I'm going to eat the paper, he's going to eat his lost time ... We're starting afresh with this next batch ...

Whatever happened to your plans of involving (really young!) printer Ueda-san in your project, who previously worked as a printer for Gary?

Ueda-san currently has the other block set that I prepared - the two postcard size prints (Plum Blossoms and Turtles). I'm waiting for his proof copy, which should be here in around a week or so. Both of these guys - who told me any number of times that they had 'no work', have turned out to be quite busy this spring ...

Speaking of busy, I've 'booked' some time with Numabe-san for proofing/printing on Hilo Bay. He's tied up through April, so if I can get the block set ready by the end of that month, we should be able to start work on that one at that time. We spent a half hour or so this afternoon going over Gary's ink-jet sample, discussing details of how we think the block colour separations should go.

So anyway ... obviously I'm still going to stick with this thing; I can't see giving up just because of a single bad experience. But whether or not I'm letting myself in for endless headaches and aggravation, I really can't say. Time will tell!