The plus side is that here is the first 'proof' that this Mokuhankan thing can actually be something real, rather than just a vague 'maybe one day' idea ... These prints are here, I'll be sending payment for them as soon as his bill arrives, and presumably, they'll start to 'fly' out of here one-by-one shortly after that.

But I sure hope that this whole thing isn't a mistake, in terms of what it might to do my own printmaking work. I sent out my first print - from the Hyakunin Isshu series - in 1989, and from that day to this, more than 17 years later, I have never had any help whatsoever from any other craftsmen. I have carved every stroke of every line of every block, and have printed every colour of every sheet of every print that has left this workshop. My signature on those prints has really been a personal guarantee that 'I made this!'.

But now I will be selling prints that weren't made by myself. I can easily imagine this conversation somewhere/sometime in the future:

"Hey look at this; it's one of those prints by that Canadian guy who lived in Japan. Look at the beautiful carving ..."

"I heard about his stuff. You know he didn't do it himself; he just hired people to do it all for him ...."

"Oh ... nothing special then ..."

Maybe I'm worried about nothing; I don't really know. But partly because of this concern, and partly just because it's common business sense, I will never mix the 'Mokuhankan' and 'Seseragi Studio' marks. My personal circular baren mark will continue to go on all the prints I make myself (along with my signature), and the Mokuhankan emboss seal will go on all these prints.

Here's the tool I use to do the embossing:

And here's the result:

So there we have it, the first seal going onto the first sheet of the first batch of prints - Mokuhankan catalogue item #0001 ... How many more will follow?