First of all give the water a good drink. I liked that introduction when we were about to begin printing from our woodblocks. This was a one week course that I attended tutored by Laura Boswell. Incidentally Laura's Big News is that she has been awarded a second internship in Japan for Westerners to study advanced Woodblock Printing. She did the initial study a few years ago. This is a very high accolade indeed! Printing is done by dropping blobs of rice paste onto … [Read more...]
Japanese Woodblock Printing 3 – carving the blocks
I recently attended a woodblock printing course with Laura Boswell. Here is one of my two woodblocks, nearly complete. I decided to try using my thistle design to see how it would translate in an different medium. In Japanese woodblock printing you don't need any presses as the watercolour is added to the surface of the wood and then gently modulated / shaded / toned. Damp paper is placed on top of the woodblock and gently rubbed. Its quite delicate but the reason why so many of the typical … [Read more...]
Japanese Woodblock Printing 2 – Damping the paper
My newly found muscles in my right arm are aching from all the cutting but by the end of the second day the design is cut and is ready for its first inking. See yesterday's post for details But now I must digress - back to my fascination with exploring the properties of paper. In the West, in printmaking we soak paper in a bath of water, then put it between layers of blotting paper and roll over it with a massive roller to remove the excess moisture. This takes a lot of space, a lot of blotting … [Read more...]
Japanese woodblock printing 1- an introduction
I treated myself to a week of exploring Japanese Woodblock printing with Laura Boswell. Here is her September Fields which so inspired me. Ultimately my own final print was a tad disappointing, but I have wisdom with hindsight and a better understanding of the kind of design I would do. I used my thistle design and had 2 plates one of Japanese ply and one of solid wood 10mm thick, so that I could try both. We chiselled registration marks so that the prints would line up. And they were so … [Read more...]
Japanese Woodblock Printing
It is no surprise that Japanese woodblock printing is so fabulous - the West 'discovered' this art through the Impressionists and the famous Hokusai 'Wave' is instantly recognisable. But what is it that attract us to this ancient art form? Laura Boswell was chosen as the British Artist of 2009 to be elected to be given a residency in traditional water based woodblock printing in Japan. I don't know all the ins and outs of this technique - although I am about to learn since I am going to go on … [Read more...]