SAFE PRINTING WITHOUT A PRESS
Due to popular demand, Elspeth Lamb is running another two-day Mohukanga (Japanese Woodblock printing) workshop at Off the Rails.
Please note that social distancing protocols and hygiene arrangements will be in place throughout the day and class numbers will be limited to eight. You will be allocated a set of tools for your sole use during the weekend.
Japanese woodblock prints are those images one associates with artists such as Hiroshige, Kuniyoshi, Utamaro and Hokusai, who produced beautiful prints of luminous colour around 150-200 years ago during the Japanese Edo (present- day Tokyo) period. This form of printmaking was known as ‘Ukiyo-e’, or ‘prints from the floating world’.
The method we will use to carve the block will not differ that much from the original way of working. The class will cover the use and maintenance of Japanese tools, the kento registration system, asian papers, printing with a baren and the use of waterbased pigments.
Course content:
On this course we are going to work within an image size of 12.5 x 20cms. You can work with as many images as you like within this format. For this course we will produce prints using two separate printing blocks. You will start by printing a very light colour from the block, having removed any areas of the image you want to keep as pure white (those areas will not receive ink). Your next block will be carved to overprint the first and registration marks carefully made so the two images align when printed to create a third colour. Unlike the original way of carving (whereby a hard end-grain wood, usually cherry or similar fruit wood would be used in order to achieve the finest detail using tools which resemble wood engraving tools), we will be cutting sheets of plywood faced with basswood using basic wood cutting tools. The basswood cuts very easily and is a good ‘starter’ wood for learning this process.
Cost £115 (which includes all materials and Japanese papers)
To book a place please contact tutor here.
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