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 ...)
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 ...
The first in a series of 'safe for work' blog posts showing the process of printing Hokusai's Octopus and Diver image ...
Suga-san adds snow to the "Winter Ferry" design from the Mystique of the Japanese Print series.
This week, our newest in-house printer Rei learned a new technique – how to add gold flakes to our Red Dragonfly print!
Showing the initial stages of work on the 2018 Patreon Chibi prints ...
We just received the latest batch of the newest Ukiyo-e Heroes print yesterday.
Many of our Kickstarter backers have been waiting to hear about print shipments, and we had some good news for them today ...
We finally found something we've been looking for!
But before I tell you about it, I want to introduce myself a little bit. My name is Cameron and I'e been here with Mokuhankan since ...
Teaser! I've just finished doing the trial printing of the Gift Print for this year. The print that we will be featuring this time is a design by Hiroshige, and ...
The key block that you saw me carving in the video we released a couple of days ago - for the 'Patreon Chibi' design - is now finished
It has been a very busy season for visitors at Mokuhankan, and among the recent guests was long-time collector of my work Jacques Commandeur, from The Netherlands
An attempt to help solve our paper problems ... we try to make a sizing machine!
Lots of people offering assistance here ... there's not much our overseas friends can do about paper, but a few people have suggestions about the wood supply ...
The colour blocks for the Trouble Afoot design are now under way ...
A slideshow illustrating the build up of colours on this print
Colour block carving on the Fox Moon design ...
Real printing work on the Rickshaw Cart design gets under way ...
I think we're ready to go!
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
Here it is on his proofing stand together with Mike's original ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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?
Asakusa shop
Our Asakusa shop is open, and here are some blog posts showing how it began, and has grown …
Now that our Asakusa shop is open again, we are seeing a steady stream of visitors who have long been waiting to drop by!
It has been a few weeks since I made the long post here about the decisions facing me on our Asakusa building. But here on the six-month 'anniversary' of closing our shop, it's long past time for an update!
I just received my copies of the latest guidebooks from Lonely Planet, and was very pleased to find that they are still featuring us prominently!
As frequent viewers of our Twitch channel well know, we have been having rodent trouble here at Mokuhankan recently.
It has taken way too long to get this organised, but we finally got our new shutter graphic image 'uploaded' today ...
We now have Genre Dividers in the shop, to help people see what kind of prints we have ...
The prints are now installed in the shop ... ready for tomorrow's Opening!
June is almost over, and our new shop is moving along very nicely!
Asakusa Station on the Ginza Line near us has installed an enormous touch screen monitor with a map and detailed information and photos from 30 different shops in the area, and we are one of the 30!
Construction continues moving forward, and we now have a new attention-grabbing poster outside the front of our shop.
We have made some major progress with preparation for the move into the first floor. Over the last two days we renovated the sign!
We've been very lax in bringing updates on the 1st floor construction to our fans! But it can't be helped - the work itself is going very slowly.
For only a few weeks a year, Denpoin Gardens are open to the public... come take a look!
OK, here we go ... this will be the biggest announcement we've made since the one nearly four years ago when I told you that we would be opening a shop in Asakusa ...
With the first half of the year now past (the calendar year is also our financial year), I am getting a measure on how we are doing.
Full House! All four of the printing stations in the Asakusa workroom (up on the 3rd floor of the shop) were busy yesterday
Party time! It's _crazy_ here this month! Over the past couple of years, our Print Parties have been gradually gaining in popularity ...
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 ...
We have just completed the printing of another edition taken from the old Doi Hanga blocks that we are holding here.
This year's Gift Print page is now open ... I showed you the image - the Hiroshige 'Owl in Moonlight' - a couple of weeks back, and we've been busily printing since then ...
Ayumi-san's work on the Hasui 'Arakawa' design has been coming along very well, and she has now finished the basic printing on a batch of 40 sheets
New item in our catalogue today! Some of you may remember a test video I made a few months back, making a trial printing run of one of the old Doi Hanga Company block sets
Ayumi-san's latest print - Aki no Miyajima - has now been checked, and given the all-clear for packaging and shipping!
We are adding a new Hasui reproduction to our catalogue today ...
Two brand new editions of a traditional Yoshida design are now in our catalogue ...
... with only 200 copies pulled so far, it would be a crime to let them sleep indefinetely.
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.
Visitors ...
We get plenty of visitors here at Mokuhankan ...
Heads up! Dave will be joined on the live stream on Monday morning (Tokyo time) by a couple of guests from France who are currently here in Japan working on design projects.
Our printer Ayumi Ohashi came for a visit to Mokuhankan, despite being on maternity leave. It was great to see her!
It's a busy spring afternoon here in Asakusa ... no chance to get any work done - too many fun visitors! ...
Up and Coming
These are items featuring designs being considered for inclusion in the catalogue ...
Tools
A new venture to make tools for woodblock printmaking has begun. Here are all the posts related to it ...
I mentioned in passing that I had been in contact with a Canadian living down in Nagasaki, and who owned a laser engraving setup ...
It's time to bring a bit of an update on the progress of the tool project ...
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 ...
Working out the layout for the inner booklet and label ...
Mark II of the storage boxes for the new tool set is ready for inspection ...
Work on the paulownia boxes for the knife set gets under way ...
The final segment of the photo set showing the handles being made ...
Continuing the production run from yesterday's post ...
The first production run of tool handles ...
The next stages in getting these knives designed ...
I have made some sample storage boxes for the new tool set ... what do you think?
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.
A close look at the baren that Tsushima-san tied the other day.
Updates
What's new ... what's going on ...
Subscriptions
Posts about our subscriptions prints ... Now many series available!
Our new subscription series for 2018 - Legendary Loot! - kicks off tomorrow morning, January 1st.
Final Yokai pair! Over the past few weeks, the final pair of prints in the 2017 subscription series were shipped
Video alert! This is _soooooo_ late - it's the announcement video for next year's subscription series!
End of the month, and time for another couple of subscription prints to go online
End of another month - so it's time to post two more Yokai Faceoff prints
This is late! At the end of June I was supposed to upload the next pair of Yokai Faceoff prints from that month! Well, here they are
Another month has gone by, so it's time to put up the next pair of Yokai Face-off prints - the ones that were sent to subscribers in May!
It's the end of another month, so time to put up the pair of Yokai Face-off prints that were sent to subscribers in April!
It's April (here in Japan), and with the March subscription prints safely in the hands of the subscribers, I can show them online.
We finally have some cases available for our Portraits print series ...
Ukiyo-e Heroes
Our Ukiyo-e Heroes print series is growing steadily, with nearly two dozen prints now in the set!
Over the weekend, Suga-san made progress on a batch of test prints, so we snapped some pictures of a rare combination of people: the publisher, carver, and printer all together!
Video alert! Part 1 in what will (probably) be a quick two-part series showing the production of the bound Ukiyo-e Heroes books
Delta's in-flight entertainment features a documentary on Mokuhankan ...
There are still three days left in the 2017 Ukiyo-e Heroes Kickstarter campaign ...
The movie about our work - The Art of the Game - is currently playing in the seat-back entertainment system on Delta flights.
Jed-san and I have opened the Kickstarter campaign, and have put the intro video also onto YouTube.
OK, time to pull the trigger! Jed and I have been very busy for the past few months working over a hot stove cooking something up for our fans and collectors
Anybody headed for the Comic-con in San Diego next weekend?
Ukiyoe Heroes news today! Or actually ... as I should be phrasing that from now on ... Ukiyoe Heroes - Classics news today!
Back from Toronto - and the preview of the film! It was really bizarre, sitting in the audience and seeing and hearing myself up there on that gigantic screen
I'm here in Toronto for the showing of the Ukiyoe Heroes documentary, to find that I've got a pretty full schedule of interviews and meetings lined up for me
Our documentary will have its World Premiere tomorrow at the HotDocs Film Festival!
"Ukiyo-e Heroes is a beautiful film about art, mastery, and dedication ..."
Heads up for Ontario and Upper NY State fans! It has been confirmed that Dave will be in Toronto in early May for the premiere of the Ukiyoe Heroes Documentary film!
Have you heard about the new documentary film featuring Ukiyoe Heroes??
A video bringing an update on the upcoming Ukiyoe Heroes Portraits series ...
We have a nice new set of pages for the Heroes prints - from smartphone to giant desktop monitor ...
Videos
Updates to our YouTube channel ...
Next YouTube video has just been uploaded - it's the second episode in what will be an extended series discussing the Hokusai Reborn series ...
Our annual update video is ready, also containing the announcement ...
Episode 17 of the endless series is ready ... how are the blocks holding up?
The next video in our 'tutorial' series is ready! Meet Suga-san, sitting in her 'cockpit'!
Over the next few days after uploading a new video, I usually watch the background stats that YouTube provides ...
A very special YouTube presentation this time! We bring you a POV (Point of View) video - you can watch along, and see exactly what Dave sees as a new print comes to life ...
Kicking off a brand new YouTube series, this video was prepared in its entirety by the Mokuhankan staff members ...
It has only been a week or so since the previous video upload, but this one is something completely different, so there is no overlap. There is totally no printmaking content ... the video title says it all ...
Our newest YouTube video has just been uploaded. This one is an in-depth look at the Mokuhankan Collection ... our treasure trove of beautiful Japanese prints!
Video alert! I’ve cut it pretty close this time, but I did get this announcement of the 2020 subscription series published before the end of 2019 … just! :-)
Video alert! Update time … I’ve finally got the first update on the Eight Views of Cats project ready for you, including a selection of interesting designs received so far!
Video alert! You didn’t expect this one so soon, I’m sure ... We have something ‘a little bit different’ for you today - a short little video that will show you how to discover some hidden Easter Eggs in our Ukiyo-e Heroes Portraits prints!
The next in our David’s Choice video series has just ...
The next in our David’s Choice video series has just been uploaded to YouTube.
The next in the David’s Choice series has just been uploaded to YouTube!
The next video showing how our prints are made has just been uploaded to YouTube.
Just a couple of weeks after Part One, the next part of the 'Beginnings' video is ready!
The next YouTube video is almost ready ... here's a background view of the production process!
A special new video has just gone up to our YouTube channel … and it’s a good one … Print Party + Festival!
William Francis joins our printers in the printing room, getting some advice from David Bull and other staff as he gets to work printing ...
The Twitch stream for this upcoming Monday morning will be a bit of an experiment ...
New video! And it's a bit of a Blast from the Past - episode 16 in the Great Wave series!
Video alert! The next video in the David's Choice series is (finally!) ready ...
Milestone! For the first time, one of our videos has passed a half-million views!
Part Two of the series showing the production stages of the Patreon Chibies ...
Video alert! Part Three of the series showing the production of the Patreon Chibi prints is now done, and up on YouTube.
It became clear last night that I should have included more images of the book that I featured in the new video I posted to YouTube yesterday - the "Favourite Flowers of Japan"
We reached an astonishing milestone a few days ago (astonishing for me, anyway). A video that I uploaded last summer
Hoping this video can be seen by the people at Ghibli who have say on licenses ...
Next video showing the printing progress on Matsushima is ready!
A travel guide company here in Tokyo recently came over and made a short little video showing one of our Print Parties
General update video - including scenes of Ayumi-san working ...
The video of making a pair of the Chibi Heroes prints is now ready.
A short video walkround of our workshop yesterday afternoon ...
The fourth episode in the set documenting the progress of the Fox Moon production.
The next video of Fox Moon production is ready ...
A new (HD) video is up on my YouTube channel ...
The final (?) update message in the Kickstarter campaign ...
Dave's update message at the 1/3 point of the Kickstarter campaign ...
Message from Dave on the close of the first day of the Kickstarter project ...
A new video of the colour buildup on the Rickshaw Cart print ...
A YouTube video of the first impressions of the Rickshaw Cart print
General Interest
Posts that don't fit the other categories ...
John nervously shifted his weight as he stood in SHINJI's workshop, trying to work up the nerve to ask for help. He had been SHINJI's apprentice for months now, and despite his best efforts, he still felt like he was struggling to keep up.
John stared in frustration at the woodblock print he had been working on. Despite SHINJI's repeated advice, he still had not been able to get the hang of using the tools. He felt overwhelmed by the task and his anxiety was growing.
Daughter: Father, why have you taken on John as your apprentice? You know I don't like him.
The room was quiet, the only sound coming from the faint rustle of paper and the occasional creak of the wooden floor boards. John stood in the middle of the room, the dust motes floating in the air around him illuminated by the warm, natural light streaming in from the window.
We have some fun testing the printmaking knowledge of a chatbot!
An update message being cross-posted between this blog, and the Patreon page ...
I feel like I'm standing in a little clearing in the middle of a vast forest, with a bunch of different paths leading off in different directions, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out which way to go.
Time ... well past time! ... for an update on our situation here at Mokuhankan!
The 2019 version of our Share in the Fun Certificates have now been sent out to waiting Patreons!
Suga-san has printed one of the most difficult prints in the Mystique of the Japanese Print subscription series.
A couple of nice milestones came by recently. The first was when our YouTube video count rolled over to another million views.
One of our collectors recently acquired a set of woodblocks for a Hasui design that has not been printed in many years and asked us to put together a new edition.
I was asked a few weeks back to give a short interview for a podcast episode, and learned this morning that it is now 'on air'.
A quick note about a technical matter - we have just changed our hosting set-up, incorporating a 'secure server', and this means that our base URL now changes from http:// to https://
Hello! Cameron here. Last year in April, David Bull was in a program on NHK here in Japan called, "I love TOKYO - A Woodblock Artist in Asakusa".
Because it was so popular, it's getting run again ...
"Art of the Game", the documentary about David Bull, Jed Henry and Ukiyo-e Heroes, is out TODAY (January 30) on iTunes!
Hello everyone! Cameron here. I just wanted to let you know that we have a new Japanese Facebook page ...
Today's results! Two of our young star printers - and the work they have turned in this afternoon ...
This morning, Dave had a fun time Skyping with William Francis and Jed Henry ...
The documentary "ART OF THE GAME: Ukiyo-e Heroes" is now available for pre-order on iTunes in the US, Canada, and Australia ...
"If you're bored ..." That's the classification of our documentary feature in the latest update on new content that is coming to Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc
Onsen in the sky! I've just learned that some of the NHK travel programs I have done are going to be included in the in-flight video programming
We here at Mokuhankan have a kind of 'Mission Impossible' facing us at present: how to shift me away from my office and management chores, and get me back to the carving bench and YouTube work.
Suggestions, please! We have an interesting anniversary coming up - in the first week of July this year, my website will have been online for 20 years
I got a surprise package in the post the other day - a print from Jocelyn Gallon, a young man in France who has been working on his first woodblock prints.
OK, here we go with the next instalment of our update, and as I mentioned in the previous post, we are encountering some major problems with our materials.
Today's post is more difficult than yesterday's. We've got some problems here at Mokuhankan, and one of them in particular is pretty serious ...
It's time for me to try and bring our fans/community up-to-date with some very important things happening here.
Yes, that's what I'm seeing in my email Inbox any number of times each day now "¦ We've been shipping Great Wave prints bit by bit over the past couple of weeks, and they are now arriving at homes around the world.
I've kind of learned to stop 'counting chickens', but my resolve is being strongly tested by that communication from her ...
Some background information on our plans for the new building ...
An update on some additions to our catalogue, as well as the workroom construction.
We had a real traffic jam here the other day, with six of us all trying to work in the same small space together ...
Young trainee printer Ayumi-san was here this morning for her first 'solo' session. We caught some of it on video!
A new 'item was added to the Mokuhankan catalogue today, and here is the text from the explanation page:
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.
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.
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.
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 ...
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:
The pile of Gift Prints waiting for their turn to head to the post office!
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 ...
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 ...
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!
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!
Work on the summer set of three senshafuda is finally under way. Here is a selection of the 'roughs' under consideration ...
Problems with finding decent printers to do the Mokuhankan work ...
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.
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.
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.
The proofing got underway at Tetsui-san's place yesterday ...
Some important progress to report today - Sato-san has completed the block set, and we're ready to begin proofing.
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!
We made major progress yesterday on the senshafuda project ...
So my 'normal' work got put aside today, as young printer Tetsui-san came over to discuss his part in this project ...
A quick progress update: carver Sato-san dropped over here a few days ago ...
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.
a simple graph showing the main 'money in/money out' flow at the end of the first year's efforts
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!
I gave up and gave Numabe-san a call to see how the printing work on Hilo Bay is coming along.
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 ...
The vacuum cleaner is plenty powerful enough to pull the print down even through the shirt.
... the 20 prints would appear in outline form only, ready for people to tear out and colour.
Well ... finally ... the first package of saleable prints arrived today.
I'm getting the impression these crafts people aren't in it because of a passion for art
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 ...
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:
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.
