The Japanese woodblock (mokuhanga) is a deceptively difficult process, but also quite simple and straightforward - make an image, carve out the image on the woodblock, put some ink on the block, put the paper on the block, and make a pretty picture.
I made my first mokuhanga print for the above reasons - being relatively simple - and also not needing anything special besides carving tools, blocks of wood, paper, and a baren for printing.
Unlike traditional western printmaking, I don't need a big printing press, so I'm saving money by not having to rent out the space of someone's printing studio. I can carve and print very easily in the comfort of my own apartment at my own convenience. This medium uses water-based pigments, so it's non-toxic and environmentally friendly.
I'd describe woodblock printing as a combination of colour silk-screen and lino printing: the colours are separated and printed on individual blocks, like in screen printing; and the blocks of wood are carved similarly to lino. The areas that aren't being printed are carved away, leaving a raised area where the pigment can be picked up by the paper on the surface of the wood.
Below is an image of a colour separation silkscreen (left) and how the colours are separated and a simple example of lino (right). More information about screen printing can be found here and more information about lino can be found here.
I've got a printmaking background, which I studied at university, and I really enjoyed printing with lino. So I found carving wood relatively similar and quite easy to pick up, however, the printing process is unlike anything I've tried before! There are three main variables to get right:
1) it's a water-based process and everything is wet! The block of wood is wet, the printing paper is wet and the pigments are water-based. The wetness helps the pigment transfer from the wood onto the surface of the paper. If there's too much water, the paper and/ or block start to degrade; if it's too dry the paper won't pick up the pigment from the block properly.
2) When printing, you add a blob (technical term) of rice paste to the block of wood that's being printed. It acts as a binding agent so that the pigment can stick to the paper better. Too much or too little causes problems with the printing quality. From personal experience, if you add too much, the paper will stick to the block and you'll have big chunks of paper tearing off.
3) Lastly, is the amount of ink being applied to the surface of the woodblock. Too much will result in the edges of the image or fine details being lost and flooded with ink or too little ink will get blotchy or uneven colour.
There's no real way of saying exactly how much water, paste or pigment is the right amount, I just gotta learn by doing and experimenting. It's not an exact science. However, this does give me some very flexible choices when it comes to printing techniques and creating different effects.
I started off using a simple drawing of a leaf I had already made previously and transferring the drawing onto my block of wood. Before doing that, I reversed the image because when I print the image, it'll be printed backwards. You can see below how the image reverses compared to the block and the printed image.
I planned to have three layers printed, on two different blocks. One block would be a reduction print - meaning I would print a base layer first, then carve away some of the detail on the same block and then print again over the top of the previous colour with a different (usually darker) colour.
The first layer printed was the base colour for the leaf, which was an orange/ yellow colour.
Some troubleshooting I found here was that I didn't carve deep enough in some areas. So when I applied the watercolour to the block, it would inevitably end up getting onto the carved areas and then when I printed the carved areas would also show up on the paper too. So I ended up re-carving some areas to make them deeper.
The next layer I printed was the background, which was a light blue colour.
Here, I originally wanted to do a bleed print, which is where the paper is printed all the way up to the edge of the paper. However, I quickly found out that it's not gonna work very well because of how the registration system works. The registration marks are cut into the block of wood directly (you can see at the bottom of the block). The registration marks are used to bump the paper up so that the print is in exactly the same position every single time I do a print. So there were some random unprinted areas at the bottom of the printed paper. Because of that, I just cut the whole area out. In hindsight, I should've planned ahead and thought more about making a border.
The last layer I printed was a darker red colour for the details of the leaf. This layer was a reduction - meaning I cut away details from the original leaf layer I printed earlier. So when I printed over the top of the lighter orange with a darker red, the light colour would pop through.
For your viewing pleasure, below is a little clip of the printing process.
I know that my first attempt at mokuhanga isn't the most perfect print I've ever made, but, I'm pretty satisfied with what I've created so far. I've barely scratched the surface of this ancient traditional Japanese art form, but I'm really looking forward to learning more and creating my own style in the process. I'm gonna start learning from master carver Motoharu Asaka in his studio Takumi Hanga very soon, I'll keep you updated.
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