Ukiyoe Heroes (2) : cutting a colour block

This video shows Tokyo woodblock printmaker David Bull, outlining the basic process of cutting one of the colour blocks for making an ukiyo-e style print. The block shown here will print two of the colours on Jed's 'Rickshaw Cart' design.

• Category

  Gaming

[James M]

Fascinating video. I love ukiyo-e prints and the process has previously mystified me. I'm curious about the use of oil, as I noticed you use it here and in another video to slick the barren. Will this linger and effect the quality of the images?

[David Bull]

The oil is camellia, and we use it very lightly on the face of the baren; it has two purposes: the first is of course to make it a bit slicker and to avoid tearing the paper. The second is to make it more resistant to absorbing the moisture from the wet printing paper, which would soon make it soft and useless.

It has been used in this fashion for hundreds of years, and as long as we use it lightly and with discretion, it doesn't seem to linger in the paper ...

[osirisx5]

How long does it take to complete one block?

[David Bull]

That's completely dependent on the amount of detail of course. The one shown in this video too perhaps around two hours ... not exactly sure.

[RoflSpecd]

Have you ever ruined a block when chiseling out the waste wood?

[David Bull]

I don't think so ... this is a pretty easy part of the process. Back in the early days, I certainly chipped a lot of _lines_ while carving them, although these days that's pretty rare ...

[David Bull]

Thank you for the kind comments everybody! I'm really looking forward to doing the printing on these blocks. The first test will be this coming weekend, and I'll post another video then of course!

[kawasakizzr1100d3]

日本人なのにこの発想は無かったｗｗ

すばらしい！

amazing!

incredible imagination!

[Alex Allon]

Dave, have you ever done a video on sharpening chisels and gouges? I know you've had a sharpening video for the hangi-toh, but do your chisels dull quickly with all the clearing in a piece?

[jakitoh]

WOW!!! i found the "FOX MOON" videos, i enjoyed every one of them, it's an amazing work. Great job!!!!

Greetings from Argentina!

[kanntera1]

すごい！！！かっちょいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい！！

[tec5088]

素晴らしい。Amazing works.