First class of the advanced course - it turned out to be the last class "till further notice". But the sun was shining and we few were working hard, carving and printing a simple design for hanshita.
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| The agenda |
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| No time to soak boards - we wet them with the water brush (mizubaki) |
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The design was traced onto the block with carbon paper, carved, and
tried out as a rubbing. The area in the body is an island, not for printing |
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| A pink flamingo? |
Now for the
hanshita - using a print, glued onto the wood, as the basis for carving the next block.
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| Nori, straight from the tube, used as glue |
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| Flat of hand roughs up the surface |
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| Print goes face down and is quickly and firmly rubbed on |
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| When it's dried a bit, start at a corner and peel off the top layers of the paper |
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| A pencil rubber helps start the peeling |
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| It can get a bit messy - and careful not to remove the printed layer |
Usually the key block is much more complex and the subsequent blocks will have different parts of the image to be carved. But in this case, how can the block be developed? By adding something - Ripples of water? A landscape background? The printed bird will show where
not to carve.
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| More calligraphic birds by Hokusai |
While the books were out, I took a few photos for future reference.
"South Riding" by Winifred Holtby. I'm a 68 year old Australian but still read this, probably every two years or so, but especially in times of stress (which probably covers Covid-19 quite well). It is simple, unexciting, awkwardly romantic and simply one of my favourite stories. It also reinforces my belief not only in the benign socialism of the old Labour party but of the social conscience which drove those who stood for elections, both sadly gone nowadays.
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