Japanese Woodblock Printing

This weekend I spent all day Saturday and Sunday taking a Mokuhanga Japanese Woodblock Printing workshop hosted by Wingtip Press.  The workshop was taught by Shannon Milar from Berkeley, CA.

I have never done any woodblock printing and have always loved Japanese woodblock prints.  So I was very excited for this workshop.  We worked on a four color print.

This picture is an example of the four blocks and corresponding print.

First you draw your image and transfer it to a woodblock.  The first block is called the key block.  It is like the "outline" and guide to creating the other blocks.  Below is my carved key block and a proof print.

Ritta carving her block.

After you have your key block, you carve a block for each of the other colors you plan to use.  Here, the instructor, Shannon, is showing us how to print the second color. 

Below is an example of one of Shannon's finished prints.

 In this picture, I have started to print my second color.  The first color was the yellow ochre on the plexi to the right.  The second color is the green you see on the brayer.  My blocks are laid out in order on the edge of the table.

My friend, Mary, printing her block.

This is what my print looked like with three colors before doing the final key block.

Here is my final print.  I only got this one completed.  I have to finish printing the black on the rest of them.

Below are most of the students' prints.  The one in the upper right corner is not completed, but it is going to look really cool when it is.  The coffee pot one is Shannon's example she worked on to show us what to do.