And two versions from the recent batch (on proper washi) - the first one off the blocks (when her brushes hadn't yet reached proper saturation):

... and the final one, by which time she was putting on a bit too much pigment in places:

Those last two demonstrate what is perhaps our biggest hurdle at the moment - consistency. Although any particular impression can be done very nicely, she does not yet have enough experience to be able to tell 'what is coming up' - what the next impression might look like - before it comes off the blocks. She is still getting surprised sheet by sheet. "Oh, that's so dark!"

She needs to develop a sense of how much pigment is already contained in the brush, and how much more needs to go onto the block (because you really can't see it on the wood ...)

Anyway, we've talked about what to do next, and we've decided that she's close enough on this one that we're going to go for gold: when she comes back on Monday morning she'll be trying an actual 'edition' of that print, with perhaps a dozen sheets of paper in the batch. The goal will be to get as many as possible done well enough that they will go into the catalogue. At her pace, she won't be able to get them all done in one day, so I guess we probably won't know until next Friday (she can only come on Monday, Tuesday and Friday, for 3~4 hours at a time) whether or not she has succeeded.

And that brings up an interesting question - assuming (some of) those prints pass my own personal 'quality' test, and I put them into the Mokuhankan catalogue, how should they be described/priced?

• 'sample' prints by an apprentice (at a low price)
• prints by 'a Mokuhankan printer' (at the normal price)
• 'printed by Tsushima' (at the normal price)
• ??

So far with Mokuhankan, it is only the 'original' editions (Hilo Bay, Aspen Grove) that have been embossed with the name of the printer. Simple reproduction reprints have had no mention of the printer, nor have the small postcard-size prints. (Most of them have actually been printed by me, but I haven't been - and won't be - signing Mokuhankan prints. I only sign my 'personal' subscription type prints.)

In my mind, the 'brand' is Mokuhankan, not the individual printer. The idea being that if it's good enough to go out under our label, that's all you need to know. But I'm thinking that it might not be a bad idea to perhaps stamp (in faint ink) the printer's name on the reverse side of each one ...

Any thoughts on this?

I mentioned two things to report, and here's the second:

(Sorry this is blurred - I didn't notice at the time I snapped the pic. I'll get her to pose for another shot when she's back on Monday ...)

Yes, today was the first baren tying lesson! That's not the first one she did; we both thought it was better not to shoot that one, but this was the second ...

In one sense she's been very fortunate up 'till now, because every baren she has used has been professionally tied. That's about to change, as from Monday she will be using this one. And I can't wait to see her face, when she sees how difficult it will be to use! But there's no way through except to start tying, then do it again, then do it again ...

I visited a workshop one day, a place where a father/son combination was working. The son had been there for many years, and yet the father was still tying all their barens. This was 'nice' for the son, as he always had a wonderful baren to use, but common sense tells us that this is not the best way forward ...

Of course Tsushima-san will still be using barens that I have tied, but from now on, ones that she herself has tied will be part of her daily arsenal. And I bet you anything you will care to name, that she gets very good at this very quickly ...