Some of these prints are made with water-based pigments on carved wood, using the customary Japanese mokuhanga process. The papers are types similarly of that tradition. Other prints are made with oil-based inks on both wood or linoleum blocks. I tried using a mechanical Vandercook proofing press for the oil inks, but the look I’m perusing can only emerge by hand printing with a simple tool called a baren. This is the same physical method for both oil and mokuhanga. The size shown for each item is image area, not paper size.
Wood that I use is from the least impactful sources I can find. Some of the blocks are made from poplar board that I’ve laminated together to make stable and sturdy. Other blocks are made from tough hardwoods with the species undefined. They are typically scrap pieces from the burn piles at lumber yards and sawmills. Too small for furniture and extremely difficult grain, the end results can be interesting and rare. I flatten all the woodblocks by hand with a No. 62 low angle plane, using various blades I’ve modified over time.
