Learning something new!

Tools of the trade

I just finished my fourth Japanese woodblock printing class and after weeks of tracing and cutting I was finally ready to make my first prints, very exciting! Woodblock printing was already on my list of techniques I wanted to learn when I came to Japan last year but I became really excited about it when I visited and exhibition of the works of Judy Ongg earlier this year. I was absolutely blown away by the size, detail and graphic quality of the pieces as well as the transparency of the paints and the vibrancy of the colors.

Exhibition of huge woodblock prints by Judy Ongg

Our first piece was going to be done on a tiny 4"x6" panel and when I had to choose I obviously went for the intricate street scene over the simple animal shape, I like a good challenge! The carving took me 2 whole classes plus some extra time spent carving at home but, it did give me plenty of practice! I'm sure my second piece will be at least a little easier, lol.

Our class is super fun, we're with quite a large group, over half of which are men, which was sort of surprising to me, and all but me and my friend Louise Corry are Japanese. Doing this class together with my friend is the best! First of all it's much more fun learning together but given that everyone else in the class, including sensei, speaks very little English it's definitely easier as well. Together our Japanese is sort of half decent lol!

Our classmates are super sweet, they're always ready to jump in with a helpful 'Abunai, abunai!' (Dangerous, dangerous) followed by a detailed explanation on how to hold and work the tools of the trade.

Japanese woodblock printing is quite challenging and it requires a lot of patience and practice to master. I was able to make my first prints today and, although they didn't come out perfect I'm learning and I'm already looking forward to creating my next piece, using one of my own images this time! I'm glad we've only had 4 classes so far because this means we have plenty of time left to learn and experiment, I'm sure we won't be perfect at the end but I'll have made a decent start at adding a new technique to our toolkit!

My first print! 

Results of today's class (picture by Louise Corry)