I think one of the hardest things for a mokuhanga artist is finding the right paper. Especially Japanese paper. There are so many different weights, sizes, paper makers. And we all like different characteristics in a paper. I personally don't like a white white paper and prefer more natural color. I also like a thicker paper.
The opportunity to test different papers while at MI-Lab was something we all wanted to do. We didn't realize how difficult it would be to get at Kawaguchi-ko. If there were suppliers there, or even any art suppliers there, we never found them. Everything came from either Tokyo or somewhere else. And that all takes time. Given that knowledge before hand I know we would have purchased paper in Tokyo to take with us to Kawaguchi-ko.
As someone used to the western "fast-food-get-it-now" culture it was
hard to wait. Frustrating! But we finally got paper from different
sources and were able to test them.
Below are 4 prints all on different papers - 3 handmade Japanese and one machine made Korean.
You can see how they each reacted differently to the same process. The bottom right is "my" usual paper, Kihada. It took the brown very deeply but not the blue or red. The one above it is a Korean machine made paper that is absolutely dead. There is no texture and the colors all are very flat. The other two are from Kochi. The top one is a natural, almost brown paper and the bottom one is white. Quite a difference!
These were just 4 of the papers. We tested many more and most of us brought several of our favorites home to play with some more.
And then compare with my recent woodblock print from my
Residency at Mt. Fuji this fall.
