Co-operative Printing
A print is shown at the end of this book (page 95) as an example of a
first experiment in co-operative printing. An actual print was needed to
illustrate the method of block printing, and the number required was too
great for a single printer to undertake. So the work was divided between
four printers (of whom the writer was one), working together. Each of us
had been accustomed to print our own prints in small batches of a dozen
or two at a time, giving individual care to each print. The printing of
2000 prints to a fixed type was a very different matter, and proved an
instructive and valuable experience. It was found that the printing of a
large number of successive impressions gave one an increasingly
delicate control of a block, and a high percentage of perfect
impressions. After the initial experiments and practice, the failures in
the later batches of the print were reduced to only 4 or 5 per cent. of
the completed prints. The work was done in batches of 250 prints, each
print receiving eight impressions, as shown on pages 98 to 109. Each of
the four printers took charge of a particular series of the blocks,
which were printed in a regular order. It was found most convenient to
print the key-block last of all, as the heavy blacks in it were inclined
to offset under the pressure of the baren and slightly soil the
colour-blocks, if the key-block was printed first, as is usually the
practice.
The colour-blocks were printed in the order in which they are placed in
the Appendix.
The best quality of work was done on nearly dry paper. The damping
sheets were placed among the new paper at the end of the day's work and
removed after ten or fifteen minutes, the printing paper then was left
standing over night between boards, ready for work in the morning, and
was not damped again until after receiving several impressions. Then it
was very slightly damped again by means of a damping sheet to every ten
or twelve prints placed there for a very few minutes.
As one printer finished the impressions from one of his blocks, the
batch of papers was passed on to the others, each in turn. In this way
three batches of 250 were printed without haste in one week, working
eight hours a day for five and a half days.
The chief difficulty experienced was in keeping to the exact colour and
quality of the type print, each printer being inclined to vary according
to individual preferences. To counteract this tendency, it is necessary
for one individual to watch and control the others in these respects.
Otherwise the work proceeded easily and made very clear the
possibilities of the craft for the printing of large numbers of prints
for special purposes where the qualities required are not obtainable by
machine printing. Obviously the best results will always be obtained by
the individual printing of his own work by an artist. This can only be
done, however, in comparatively small numbers, yet the blocks are
capable of printing very large quantities without deterioration. The set
of blocks used for the example given here showed very little
deterioration after 4000 impressions had been taken. The key-block was
less worn than any, the pressure being very slight for this block, and
the ink perfectly smooth. The impression of which a reproduction is
given on page 109 was taken after 4000 had been printed from the
key-block. Block No. 2 was much more worn by the gritty nature of the
burnt sienna used in its printing. It would be an easy matter, however,
to replace any particular colour-block that might show signs of wear in
a long course of printing.
Other examples given in the Appendix show qualities and methods of
treatment that are instructive or suggestive.
No. 6 is the key impression of a Japanese print in which an admirable
variety of resource is shown by its design; the character of each kind
of form being rendered by such simple yet so expressive indications. It
is instructive to study the means by which this is done, and to notice
how interior form is sometimes suggested by groups of spots or black
marks of varied shape while the indication of the external form is left
entirely to the shape of the colour-block subsequently to be printed.
Plate XVI is a reproduction of a print by Hiroshigé and shows the
suggestive use of the key-block in rendering tree forms. Plates XVII and
XVIII show in greater detail this kind of treatment.
Plates XXIII-XXIV are key-blocks of modern print designs.
APPENDIX
An original print in colour, designed and cut by the author and printed
by hand on Japanese paper, followed by collotype reproductions showing
the separate impressions of the colour blocks used for this print, and
other collotype reproductions of various examples of printing and
design.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|The particulars given in Chapter VIII on co-operative printing refer |
|specially to the original print included in the first edition. In this |
|edition an entirely new print is shown, and only 1,000 copies of it are|
|being published. |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
[Illustration: Plate VIII.--An original Print designed and cut by the
Author, printed by hand on Japanese paper.]
Plates originally printed in collotype are now produced in half-tone
[Illustration: Plate IX.--First printing. Key block. Black.]
[Illustration: Plate X.--Second printing. Dull Red. Printed lightly at
the top.]
[Illustration: Plate XI.--Third printing. Deep Blue. Strong at the
bottom, paler at the top.]
[Illustration: Plate XII.--Fifth printing. Bright Orange.
(The fourth printing, not shown, is a similar small block, printing a
faint tone over the road in the foreground.)]
[Illustration: Plate XIII.--Sixth printing. Indian Red. Gradation.]
[Illustration: Plate XIV.--Seventh printing. Green. Printed flat.]
[Illustration: Plate XV.--Eighth printing. Bluish green. Gradation.]
[Illustration: Plate XVI.--Reproduction of a colour print by
Hiroshigé.]
[Illustration: Plate XVII.--Reproduction of a portion of the print shown
on the preceding page, actual size, showing the treatment of the foliage
and the expressive drawing of the tree trunk and stems.]
[Illustration: Plate XVIII.--Reproduction of another portion of the
print shown on page 111 (actual size), showing the expressive use of
line in the drawing of the distant forms.]
[Illustration: Plate XIX.--Reproduction of a colour print by
Hiroshigé.]
[Illustration: Plate XX.--Reproduction of a portion (actual size) of the
print on the preceding page, showing treatment of tree forms and
distance.]
[Illustration: Plate XXI.--Reproduction of a colour print by
Hiroshigé.]
[Illustration: Plate XXII.--Reproduction of a portion (actual size) of
the print on the preceding page, showing treatment of tree and
blossom.]
[Illustration: Plate XXIII.--The Tiger. Reproduction of a colour print
by J. D. Batten.]
[Illustration: Plate XXIV.--Lapwings. Reproduction of a colour print by
A. W. Seaby.]
BOOKS OF REFERENCE
"Tools and Materials illustrating the Japanese Method of Colour
Printing." A descriptive catalogue of a collection exhibited in the
Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Price Twopence. Victoria and Albert
Museum Catalogues. 1913.
"The Colour Prints of Japan." By Edward F. Strange. The Langham Series
of Art Monographs. London.
"Japanese Colour Prints." By Edward F. Strange. (3rd Edition.) Victoria
and Albert Museum Handbooks. London.
"Japanese Wood Engravings." By William Anderson, F. R. C. S. London,
Seeley & Co., Ltd. New York, Macmillan & Co. 1895.
"Japanese Wood-cutting and Wood-cut Printing." By T. Tokuno. Edited and
annotated by S. R. Kochler. Report of the Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, for the year ending June 30, 1892. Issued in pamphlet form
by the U.S.A. National Museum, Washington. 1893.
Other works containing descriptions and references to the craft of
wood-block printing in the Art Library at the Victoria and Albert
Museum, London, are the following:--
"The Industries of Japan." By J. J. Rein. (Paper, pp. 389.) London.
1889.
"Bungei Ruisan," By Yoshino Sakakibara. Essays on Japanese literature,
with additional chapters describing the manufacture of paper and the
processes of printing and engraving. (The Museum copy has MS.
translations of the portion relating to engraving.) Tokyo. 1878.
INDEX
Alum, 50
Andreani, Andrea, xi
Baldung, Hans, x
Bamboo-sheath, 62
Baren, 11, 61, 62
Baren, manner of using, 72
Baren, to re-cover, 63, 64
Baren, to re-cover (diagram), 64
Batches, size of, 89
Batten, J. D., 2
Block cutting, materials, 17
Blocks, cutting of, 17, 23
Blocks, mounting of, 18
Blocks, planning of, 23
Books of reference, 129
Bowie, Henry P., 86
British Museum Print Room, 43
Brushes, 65
Brushes, drawing of, 66
Carborundum stone, 21
Cherry wood, 17
Chiaroscuro, x
Chinese ink, 55
Chisel, grip of, 34, 35
Chisels, 20
Clearing of spaces, 33
Clearing of wood between knife cuts, 35
Colour, 56
Colour block, diagram of section, 42
Colour blocks, plan of, 39
Colour blocks, planning, 40, 41
Colour blocks, printing from, 73
Colour design, 87
Commercial development, 5
Conventions of design, 82
Co-operative printing, 89
Craft in Japan, 61
Craftsmen, training of, 24
Cranach, Lucas, x
Crane, Walter, ix
Creasote, 56
Cutting, 25
Da Carpo, Ugo, x
Damping, 14
Damping sheets, 51
Design, 27
Design, conventions in, 82
Designing, 81
Designing wood-block prints, principles of, 81
Design of key-block, 26
Diagram of knife cuts, 33
Drying of colour, 77
Drying of prints, 79
Errors of register, 43
Eve and the Serpent, print of, 2
Flat treatment, 26, 27
Foliage, 85
Gelatine, 48
Giles, William, 65
Glue solution with colour, 58, 75
Gouge, method of holding, 35
Gradations, printing of, 75
Grip of chisel, 34, 35
Hands, position of, in cutting, 30, 31
Herkomer, ix
Hiroshigé, 84
Impressions, possible number of, 92
Ink, 54
Inking of block, 69
Ink, preservative for, 56
Italian woodcuts, ix
Jackson, T. B., xii
Japan, craft in, 4, 23
Japanese blocks, 43
Japanese craftsmen, 61
Japanese drawing, 27
Japanese key-block, 33
"Japanese Painting, The Laws of," 86
Japanese paper, 54
Japanese printers, 52, 80
Japanese prints, 83
Key-block, 25, 27, 84, 85
Key-block impressions, 5, 26, 33
Knife, 19
Knife, drawing of, 19
Knife, use of, 24
Knife cuts, diagram of, 33
"Laws of Japanese Painting," 86
Light and shade, 85
Line block, cutting of, 32
Line, development of, 32
Line of key-block, 26
Mallet, 21
Mallet, drawing of, 21
Mantegna, xi
Millboards for drying, 79
Modern prints, 83
Mordant, alum as, 50
Mould, 79
Mulberry fibre, 47
Museums, sets of blocks at, 43
Number of impressions, 92
Offsetting, 71, 77
Oilstones, 21
Orlik, Prof. Emil, 7
Outamaro, 24
Pad, 61
Paper, 47
Paper, damping of, 51
Paper, manner of holding, 70
Paper, mould in, 79
Paper, need of white, 54
Paper, sizing of, 48
Paper, sizing of (drawing), 49
Paste, 58
Paste, amount used in printing, 74
Paste, preparation of, 59
Plank, preparation of, 18
Planning of blocks, 24
Position of hands, 30, 31
Posters, 86, 87
Printing, 67
Printing, co-operative, 89
Printing, detailed method of, 61
Printing from colour blocks, 73
Printing, general description of, 9
Printing of gradations, 75, 76, 77
Printing pad, 62
Prints, designing, 81
Prints, drying of, 79
Register, 71, 78
Register, errors of, 41, 43
Register marks, 36, 37, 42
Register marks, position of, 37
Register marks, section of, 38
Rice flour, 59
Rice paste, 58
Rubber, glass, 65
Rubber, printing, 61
Shadows, treatment of, 85
Shallow cuts, 34
Shrinking of paper, 41
Siberian bear hair brushes, 66
Size, amount of, in paper, 75
Size, excess of, 75
Sizing of paper, 48, 49
Smithsonian Institution pamphlet, 2
South Kensington Museum, 43
Spots in paper, 79
Table, plan of, 11
Tokuno, T., 2
Tools for block-cutting, 19
Training of designers, 86
Treatment of form, 93
Tree-forms, 85, 93
Variety of line, 82, 83
Washita oilstone, 22
Wood, 17
Woodcuts, Italian, ix.
Work-table, plan of, 11
* * * * *
ARTISTS INTERESTED IN THE
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NOW USE THE CAMBRIDGE COLOURS ONLY, BECAUSE
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their acting injuriously on each other
(3) All the Pigments are PURE and free from injurious impurities
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Printed by Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., Bath, England