Madeline and Kit, 13 x 5.7 inches, woodblock print from 17 blocks

My intern this year, Madeline Cass (who is responsible for scanning and data entry of my collection of Japanese prints – see woodblockprints.org), and her roommate, Kit Landwehr, modeled for me June 8.  Years ago I’d really loved printing the stripes of a seersucker robe and Kit’s striped dress was a natural for another attempt [...]

PVC Heat Shrink Baren Cover

From time to time it’s been difficult to obtain quality takenokawa (bamboo husk) for recovering my barens.  For some time I’ve wondered about alternative materials for baren covers, especially about using heat shrink tubing.  I bought some six inch wide clear layflat PVC heat shrink tubing (12 inch circumference), cut a length about 2 1/2 [...]

Grass4 77 x 22 inches woodblock print from 12 blocks

October 26, 2010 I completed an edition of five of this 12-block woodcut (77 x 22 inches):

Grass 2.2 large woodblock print

I ran a second edition of four sheets from the sixteen blocks used in Grass 2.  I was curious to see the effect of transitioning from pale greens into blues into blacks (rather than the simple blues into blacks of the first edition).  Also, I’d run into registration problems which affected five of the eight [...]

Grass-2 large woodblock print 22.5 x 72 inches from 16 blocks

My lawn seems a near-perfect subject for drawings and woodblock prints.  Grass-1 was a drawing (not yet completed).  Grass-2 is a woodblock print — sixteen blocks cut two blocks to a sheet of 4×8 foot quarter-inch cherry plywood.  Grass-3 is another drawing under construction at the moment.  This format allows me to ink and print [...]

“Sara” 42×77 inch woodcut from 17 blocks

The large (42 x 77 inch) prints of “Sara” reclining on her messy bed have been successfully completed — I selected 8 for the edition plus two proofs. There is some variation among the edition, the greatest differences being in the depth of the deepest tones behind the head and in the top background — [...]

Framed prints and drawings arrived today…

What a wonderful surprise when John O’Brien called from Dolphin Gallery to let me know that the framing of five of my new (large) works were done — Justin and Greg came by a short while later to deliver the things and here they are all wrapped up in their milky protective plastic wrapping and [...]

Aspen Grove 77×42 inch woodcut plus pigment application video

You asked about how I mix and apply pigment… When printing very pale colors, I generally add pigment dispersion or dry pigment to rice paste or methyl cellulose, mix well, and then dab that onto the damp block and brush out. For more saturated colors, I mix a substantial amount of dry pigment into a [...]

Leaves — Pulling the final impression of first 77×42 inch woodcut

This morning I pulled the final impressions of my first 77×42 inch woodblock print using my new press… Not bad for a first attempt, actually, but I believe I can greatly improve with more practice! Registration appears to be pretty close to dead-on, thanks to paper maker Iwano Ichibei’s having rocked the paper mold lengthwise [...]

Computer Carving Machine operational!

The Large Press installation is almost done now! This week I’m cutting the final parts — the vacuum plenum for the press itself… This is a somewhat complicated task it turns out, but I believe I’ve got it figured out. I’ve successfully moved my ShopBot CNC machine from the 3rd to the 1st floor… After [...]

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