Ukiyoe Heroes 'Portraits'
Special Advance Signup Bonus Offer!
['Bonus' Update]: This bonus offer was active during the past couple of months of 2013. Early in January, Dave used the services of random.org to select three winners from among the list of Portraits and Chibi Heroes subscribers. One was in North Carolina USA, one in Valencia Spain, and one in Sinaloa Mexico. The three winners were notified, and their gift of the 'rare' prints were enclosed with their January subscription shipment. And _everybody_ - winner or loser - received one of the New Year prints as well ...
(We'll leave this page up as an archive reference ...)
Jed and Dave want to make this series as successful as last year's Chibi Heroes, and in order to encourage 'advance' subscriptions and have a little fun, are making a little special offer - everybody gets a free 'bonus print', plus the chance to win a 'rare' one (offer open 'till the end of December, 2013):
Sign-up Bonus - $1,000,000 ... Guaranteed [*]
So what's this all about? Let us explain ... As we explained on the Mokuhankan Conversations blog a while back, the blocks for the Wolf Goddess print have been carved for us by Ms. Noriko Kawasaki, a young carver doing her first job for us. The blocks turned out very well indeed, and she will be doing many more of these Portraits prints for us over the course of the coming year.
But.
While we were preparing the tracing to guide her carving, we included a vermillion 'rakkan' - the red seal commonly applied to oriental artworks. Jed and I had the idea that it would be kind of 'clever' if the four characters of the design were laid out to be read in 'clockwise' fashion, rather than the more common 'top to bottom / left to right' system that is commonly used nowadays. We prepared the tracing that way, and Kawasaki-san dutifully carved it to our instructions. Here's what it would look like in the print - reading clockwise from top right ... ei yu sho zo ('hero' 'portrait'):
As I said, Jed and I thought this was kind of clever. Without exception though, every single Japanese person who has seen it has said, "Huh?" It makes no sense to them at all, because they are trying to read it the normal common sense way. So ... what to do? Well, woodblock prints are made of wood, and wood is extremely malleable; it's not uncommon to make errors when carving, and carvers have a deep bag of tricks available to correct them. Dave simply got out a chisel, hacked off the two misplaced characters, inlaid a chunk of wood, and re-carved them in the correct orientation (you can enlarge these, and click from one to the next).
We haven't taken a new proof yet, but this is what the new rakkan will look like:
So anyway ... this story is getting kind of long - let's get to the main point! When proofing the blocks after receiving them from Kawasaki-san, but before making this change in the calligraphy, Dave took six proof impressions:
These differ in places; a bit deeper green here, and bit stronger gradation there, etc. etc. That's what proofing is for. Sheet #2 turned out to be the most pleasing, and that's what the edition will (probably) look like. As you can see, the seal is the old version. There are six sheets with this original seal, and only six sheets, and - because the repair is now finished - there will never be any more. Even before our series gets under way, we have created a wonderful rarity!
Now do you see where the $1,000,000 comes in? If you were to happen to own one of these very rare prints, and then wait ... just a little while ... surely it will at some point become quite valuable, no? And most of our collectors these days are so young! They have the time to wait! :-)
So how do you get one of these rarities? Easy! Here's how we are going to distribute the six copies: #1 is going to Kawasaki-san the carver. #2 is staying here in Tokyo with Dave (it will be the master guide for the printers). #3 will go to Jed for his files. #4-5-6 will be given to three of the subscribers of this Ukiyoe Heroes Portraits series - chosen at random from the group on the morning of January 1st, the day the series 'comes to life'.
Now we don't have all that many subscribers for our prints - so you have a 'pretty good' chance of winning one of these! If you are not already a subscriber to the series, please visit the subscription page, read the details, and join us!
But what is guaranteed is the following:
- you will receive a wonderful and interesting set of 12 prints through the course of the year
- everybody who joins before the end of the year will receive an extra bonus print. Every year Dave prepares a nenga-jo (New Year greeting print) for his collectors and friends in Japan, and we'll send one of these (either the current one, or the one from last year) to all Portraits and Chibi Heroes subscribers. (Our packing ladies will randomly stuff them into the envelopes ...)
- you'll have the pleasure of knowing you are supporting the traditional printmaking craft in Japan, for at least another year!
Thank you all!