Ukiyo–e – Pictures of the floating world
The japanese woodblock print in the traditional Japanese style comes with its own materials and tools and the outcome as well as the process has its own aesthetics. The artist would first draw an image onto washi, a thin yet durable paper. Registration marks for multi-colour printing are applied to the printing block and are called kentos. Japanese woodcut knives, such as the hangito contour knife, are used differently than in European printmaking. Water-based ink allows for delicate colour gradients and overlays of several layers of colour on the printing block. The Japanese brushes – mizubake, hakobi, hanga-bake and marubake – are adapted to the process. The baren ( manual brush) consists of a knotted cord attached in a spiral to a hard disc and covered with a bamboo leaf. Similarly, prints can also be taken from the printing block using printing presses, such as the knuckle-joint press. The color impression is then less transparent and more opaque. Colour mixing, an aesthetic characteristic of Japanese woodblock printing, then does not occur.
