Same. I learned about David's videos on twitch and managed to watch one of his streams. Since then streams happen only after midnight though (where I live). So I'm happy I can watch youtube videos from time to time.
A big reason why I enjoy your videos so much is because of how rich with history they are. I guess that's to be expected, since printmaking is a craft hundreds of years old, but still I can't help but be amazed when you pull out a piece of wood from the 80s to make prints in 2015
Now well into 2019 and I'm clearly very late to the party here, but Dave I would like you to know that rarely, if ever, have I enjoyed a series of youtube videos as much as this journey. Thank you, and congratulations on such a sterling job, not only with the Great Wave, but with this video series. Now just have to decide which of your videos to watch next...
I’m so thankful for this channel and these videos. Learning about woodblock print making (something I knew nothing about before this past summer when I stumbled on these videos) has been so enjoyable thanks to your wonderful teaching style. I wish more people taught with such passion, skill, and thoughtfulness. So many RU-vid videos are full of jump cuts and they are so loud and fast moving. Sometimes that’s fun but this style of teaching is so wonderfully engaging. Thank you and I hope I can visit Tokyo some day and come to your shop.
Up until about 2 months ago, I never even heard of wood block printing and now after watching Dave's videos and others, I now have the upmost respect and interest in the work and effort that goes into these and it amazing really.
Just binge watched the entire Great Wave series again once this video came out. I love coming back to your videos. They are so relaxing and wonderfully fascinating. I am so surprised and happy about an update! Keep up the fabulous work.
The care and attention you put in to your craft is outstanding. On a side note, I happened across Jed Henry at Tokyo Comic Con last weekend. Great guy. I hope the exposure at the event leads to more success for you and the team at Mokuhankan.
I have thoroughly enjoyed this series and added to your waiting list for prints. This was enlightening and entertaining...the best combination. Thank you!
I think some of the reason why the wood blocks last a long time compared to old European metal printing. The printing sheets used before movable types was ether cooper or lead both fairly soft metal's so they would be expected to wear out. Movable types was made from lead that is even more soft then a copper sheet would be, thought they could easily be changed for new one they might not be of then enough. That also led to the interesting effect that printworkers was not allowed to have a mustache as that would collect lead dust.
I don't think I can do that ... I have very little knowledge of the Western techniques, I'm sorry! Maybe it would be an interesting project to undertake in partnership with somebody who does!
for having studied printmaking in university, the only western technique woodblock print might be compared to (yet poorly) is linocut. it is a carving process, it's printing by hand, yet it is usually done with oil ink (yet water soluble inks have been made). It can be compared to offset prints but yet the comparison is poor as offset doesn't produce images but usually texts.
I'm one of those terrible people that was too rough on the blocks! Sorry Dave! Hope to drop by soon and pick up some Christmas gifts! For those coming to Tokyo, definitely book a print party! My family visited me here this year and it was one of their favorite and most memorable experiences!
Whew, what a relief. I had planned on buying a copy as a present to myself for Christmas. Circumstances have dictated that I must wait longer for now. I would have been really disappointed to miss the opportunity to own and share such a wonderful image. Thanks for the update. My bet and hope is that you outlast the block. Another block could be created in a much shorter time than another master carver.
I was wondering when the next video was coming! I tried watching Twitch, but timing and connection problems made it v difficult. Good to hear your dulcet tones again!
Just finished watching all 16 episodes of your journey to remake The Great Wave. It's like watching a documentary and I think it would be a great idea if this were to be made into one. I think Japanese Wood-block printing has a very long and fascinating history going back hundreds of years. I remembered Vincent Van Gogh would spend his very little money to buy Japanese print goes to show how much it was appreciated in the old days. It would be very sad to see this art form die with age.
David, excuse my possibly ignorant question, but are there any considerations of using other (non-metal) materials for the print blocks? I'd expect it being possible to create some sort of synthetic plastic compounds which has near identical carving and printing characteristics to the best of woods. Of course, then a lot of people would probably tell you, that it's no longer "traditional". Similar (but not really) to the whole "natural vs. synthetic cork" disagreement for wine.
I know that they're using the cheery wood because it's a very good wood to carve, solid but also for its absorption of the colors. So maybe you'll not find the same absorption with metal or synthetic blocks. It'd maybe be very difficult to do color gradient on a material that doesn't "keep" the colors, diluant on/in itself. It's pretty much the same with brushes, why do we keep using fur or hairs from animals while we could use Nylon or other modern materials ? For using myslef calligraphy brushes, and brushes with nylon I can say the sensation and quality is totally different. Also, i'm pretty sure that the modern company print Ukiyo-e with our new technologies, but it doesn't looks like the ancient one. The wood potentially makes the things smoother ?
Modern workers are of course using modern materials, and I guess people are even experimenting with 3-D printing, and other techniques. For us, in our small corner of the world, we're going to try to stick with this particular material, because it produces the result that we want ... A good cherry block has just the right balance between hardness, moisture absorbability, wearability, etc. etc.
That's totally fair. Some/you perfect the traditional craft, others try to evolve it into new directions. I was wondering if ever there comes the time - and some of your statements in the video make me think sooner than later - where you deem the wood quality not satisfactory enough anymore and an alternative material becomes preferable to an inferior wood.
if they forego traditional materials then they would forego methods as well... transferring an image crisp and clear by lasering it into a block would be taking some of the workmanship out of the piece
As the next batch goes up for order, I wonder the status of these blocks almost exactly two years after this video was published. Either way, I’m happy to see the blocks still haven’t outlived you, Dave.
I must say I have seen some of your videos in the search of something relaxing but informative and after seeing a video posted a month ago? a video before this one...i saw you mouth off several modern Japanese culture icons (some anime and such) and i wasn't wondering if that is just what Ukiyo-e Heroes are doing or are print makers in general going with more modern art styles to keep printmaking more popular...i don't know something like doing Anime in print making form seems like taking a rifle into an archery place particularly how Asian manly Japanese arts are very...traditional and moving away from certain techniques could be offensive or disrespectful but if this isn't true and they are doing more modern designs i did enjoy the Ukiyo-e Heroes stuff...
Another great video Dave! Its good to see you on here again with an update on this. I notice from your Mokuhankan site that this print is currently being reprinted. Do you guys have any idea when prints will be available again? I know its probably too late for Christmas but hoping to purchase one in the new year. Thank you, as as always
Not the slightest chance for Xmas, I'm sorry. Our most capable printers are at the moment all tied up with getting the new Ukiyo-e Heroes prints done (from the Kickstarter campaign) ... It's going to be January, I'm afraid. If I had two or three fully professional printers suddenly show up at my front door looking for work, that still wouldn't be enough to fill our needs ... :-(
Another great video David, I really admire your craft. I don't know if you'd be interested, but I'd really love to feature your work in a future video!
Watching your videos has inspired me to try printmaking (albeit in linoleum to learn the ropes)! How do you clean the blocks between printing sessions? I would imagine that scrubbing them can cause some wear as well.
For the most part, we don't do anything. If a particular impression has left too much material behind, we gently wash the surface in warm water, before letting it all dry.
This might be a really daft question David...but are these blocks still usable in 2021? Is the key block still holding firm? Have you had to cut additional colour blocks since? I'm curious!
@@aresgood1 I knew nothing about the wood block printing process 2 years ago :) so definitely appreciate Dave taking the time to explain to the uninitiated like myself! The more I find out, the more interested I am :)
He is the cutest little man, when I go to see tatsuro yamashita the next time he does a tour, I will most definitely see your shop. I’ve always loved the history of japan, and your videos fulfill my love for the history even more. Thank you!
Dear Dave, the two great wave prints look a bit different colourwise. The "younger" has darker richer colours more contrast. Did you change the pigments you use? Regards Steffen
There is actually quite a long story in that question. I touched on some of this in earlier videos ... The early impressions were done for me by printer Shinkichi Numabe, and the recent ones by Kenichi Kubota. Kubota-san is carefully following my instructions in the type of pigment, and colour tones (I want a very 'cold' and freezing taste to the print). Numabe-san was so 'set' in his ways he wanted to use the more modern 'warmer' coloration we normally see on that print when done by modern printers, and which to me is completely incorrect for the mood of this design. For this job for me, he actually disobeyed my instructions and used the 'wrong' pigments, which is one of the reasons why he is no longer doing this work for me ...
Doing a powerpoint on the impact of these prints on European impressionism, your videos are helpful is there an email that we can discuss this further?
We're making them ourselves. We're not very good at it yet, and are having a great deal of trouble finding good raw materials, but we'll hopefully get better at it as the years go by ...
I stream six days a week (we're off Tuesdays), from 8:00 for about 90 minutes. (These dates/times are all Tokyo time ...) If you can't make it to the live stream, the past two weeks episodes are all available on the Twitch channel (look for the link to 'Videos' on our channel page.)
It's scheduled now ... but the printer who will be working on it is just finishing up one of the Ukiyoe Heroes prints. That job should be finished today, and the Great Wave printing will get under way Monday. But it'll be around 10 days, so there is no way that we can promise this one for Xmas, I'm sorry ...
We're currently at 1640 copies sold, and the block is holding up _very_ well (this is mostly because we never pull more than around 50~60 copies at a time - stopping before the wood gets too soft); we'll make a thorough report on the block condition when we get to 2000 ...
Back when I lived in Ome, I was visited every day by a neighbour's cat ... this was Boots-chan. She passed away many years ago though, I am sorry to report ... You can read about her in many of the old episodes on astoryaweek.com
If you mean up at the top left of the screen at that point - that is a place where one of the lines chipped out while I was doing the original carving. What you see there is a 'plug' that I inserted into the wood. The plug is visible, but the line itself prints cleanly and invisibly ...
@@seseragistudio Wow, I did not expect you to see this comment at all, given that the the video is almost a year old. Now I can see the outlines of the plug, thank you very much for clearing that up. I just added my name to the waiting list for this print a couple of days ago, cant wait to get my copy.
It would seem that, of all your working materials, the wood blocks and the washi paper are the most important. As you briefly touched on here, the quality of the wood blocks is now far inferior to its glory days. I recall from previous videos that you mentioned your washi paper was created by an old master who is a living national treasure. When the day comes that he passes, will the washi paper also fall to a similarly inferior quality level as the wood blocks?
That family is coming to the end of the line. The LNT's son is now in his 50's and is the mainstay of the workshop (his father can't do much these days). But the next generation is not there (they have chosen work 'in the city' ...) We've known this for a long time, and are working with another printmaker to develop a new type of paper for our needs. We'll be talking about this more early in the new year when the first prints made on this new paper are ready for shipping ...
Actually though, now that the topic has been brought up, I am feeling quite frustrated recently with the 'noise'; I just haven't been able to get rid of it while editing. I haven't really known at what part of the 'chain' the noise is getting introduced, but it seems that perhaps it's time for me to try a different mic ...
Mr. Bull , the print blocks will last for hundreds of years if stored propperly, if it were me who had spent so much time and effort on those blocks, id leave behind clear instructions that, after i had passed away, i would like a set number of prints to be made from all of my different blocks, once a year on the aniversary of my birthday, by who ever you leave the blocks to, so even after you have passed on your work still circulates around the world, it still makes me smile that you and other crafts men and women do things the old way, i like your work but i still prefer the modern artwork from the Warhammer 40,000 artists, the stuff from recent years is verry good, if you like artwork straight from the imagination you will like this stuff, i want to do this kind of artwork myself but using oil on canvas, anyway if you'd like to see it i just type "warhammer 40k" into google and press on the images section, its better to do it on a pc with a decent size hd monitor rather than a tablet or phone, just to get a good look at the images, theres a lot of the artwork there that make me think "how did they draw that ?" anyway your channel is awesome thanks for sharing your craftwork 😀
Good evening mister David Bull, i have a couple questions maybe you could have already answered them in the video but my english is poor so i could not listen to them. How many Great Wave Blocks were built? All them were built by Hokusai? You are the only man on the earth with the kanagawa wave blocks? *You were talking about the blocks retirement so i guess there not "original" blocks anymore, are they replica blocks? You are a genius, i wish i could have one of those great prints in my hands. 8888
