Something new from something old

I made some head-way with the cracked-block reduction print; printed a couple more colors on friday:

mmmmmmm - the pukegreen/yellow and gray really look good togeather....

hopefully, the next few colors will pull it together (!)

I was looking through my stacks of old used-up reduction blocks, and noticed a few of them that had images (in black, of course) that were more or less intact. I started wondering about pulling some Moku Hanga style prints off them, since the keyblock was already carved. I went ahead and pulled a bunch of prints off them, and I liked what I saw, so I took one (from a reduction print I ddid seeral years ago called Brook Trout Yin Yang) and took it through the process.

I found some nice clear maple (no cracks!), cut them to size (I decided to forgo any keneto this time) and got them ready.

I started out printing just black and white proofs. I then took a proof, cut it down to exact size, and transferred my image to the blocks. I then carved out the separate colors, starting with the Olive block:

A good sharp chisel makes carving short work:

I used one of the proofs as an AP to check the alignement of the color blocks as I carved them. I had a little excess on the red block that needed to be trimmed:

I carved and printed Yellow, Olive, and Red - black was already carved. Everything came along "swimmingly"

Because of the absence of kento marks, I knew registration was going to be an issue, but I think I worked out a great solution. I built a registration frame.

I glued a deep "L" of black foam core (blue arrows) to a piece of scrap, to serve as a paper rest. The piece of scrap is glued, along with another piece of scrap (red arrows), to a 1" sheet of plywood (green arrow) Each block will be fitted into the "L" these create, with the sheet of paper laid over them, fitted into the "L" of the foam core paper rest.

This is the one print I pulled today from the blocks, in order, without using the frame:

I've got the let the frame dry overnight, and I've got a couple more colors to carve and proof (gotta go see my cabinet maker friend for some more wood - I hear he's got some cherry for me...!!!), but otherwise, This is going to be a succesful experiment!