I plan ahead. I like my papers for woodcut printing (and also intaglio printing) to dampen slowly for three to six hours. Any longer and they might mold. Too short a time they might be unevenly dampened.

For woodcut, the paper is not as damp as for intaglio. How damp is that? A good question, and answerable only if all the variables are taken into account. So, you use trial and error and teach yourself the right way for your location (climate), your paper (what kind you use) and your printing (your style, your tools, your inks).

Those are many variables! But, that's one reason I like the medium, hanga, it allows many opportunities for discovery and invention (the sisters of creativity).

Here is a way to start. Use a spray bottle with water. With your dry printing paper before you, spray a mist of water over them and let the water fall on the paper. I count the passes with the spray bottle. Eventually my counting is not necessary, as you come to know from experience how much "mist" to let settle on the paper.

Then immediately stack the damp paper and put it inside a plastic folded sheet, thin polyethylene film, or, if you don't have anything else, layers of waxed paper, oil cloth or drycleaner bags, or whatever you have. Put the stack under a sheet of metal, glass or flat plywood so it can "rest" there and the moisture will permeate the paper evenly.

Yes. The Asian method is called "Kento" and involves two "keys" -- one in a corner and one along a side. These "keys" are described as "stops". The corner one is a square corner cut into the block's surface only deep enough to catch the corner of the paper.

The one along the edge of the paper, located a workable distance from the corner is also cut into the wood, but of course it is not a square, it is only an edge. The corner of the paper is caught in the corner cut, and the edge stops at the other cut.

Thus, whether it is a reduction cut or not, the registration works well. As with any process involving dampening paper, however, there is the variable dampness to consider from one printing session to the next, and also different kinds of paper.

Precision registration is difficult at first, but historic prints and contemporary hanga show that it can be done!

Not me. I don't keep it damp over several weeks. It would mold. I work within an hour or ninety minutes' time and with small numbers of prints. I have read about putting preservatives in the dampening water to stifle the growth of mold. Some are poisonous to humans, too.

Actually, I don't follow the normal practice editions. My personal opinion or reasoning is that it is a printer's craft to print editions. You might find a printer who can teach you to do this. I use Hanga (or some might call it a variation of Hanga) as an art medium and I get as much freedom from the process as possible.

If a publisher came to me and wanted an edition, he or she would probably locate a printer who could do the edition and get multiples that way. I don't know any hanga printers myself who are for hire. I am sorry.

Water-based mixtures of colored pigments are watery and sometimes they produce effects you don't want, such as speckled color when you want evenly distributed color. It's a good effect; the Japanese call it goma zuri (sesame seed) because it looks like those seeds.

So, when you want the even effect, you add a little paste. This makes the water and pigment spread evenly and stay that way while you apply paper and printing pressure. Too much paste, however, causes other effects -- including gluing the paper to the block!

Yes, and that's part of the variables that are available to you as you print.

I don't use it. A. Vollmer, artist at the Lower East Side Printshop, uses it, and states it's stable, cheap and mold won't grow in it.

By making the amount of pigment very small compared to water and paste.

Hmm. I think a pigment in a tempera or casein base might be more opaque compared to hand-ground pigment and water or transparent watercolor off the shelf. On the other hand, when I want solid, bright color, I plan on printing it several times. In other words, layer upon layer of that color.

Many people are accustomed to one inking, one printing. Hanga doesn't work that way all the time. Oil based printers expect that result, but water based printing doesn't work that way. You get the effect by repeated printing, and colors, textures, blends are the result of repeated printing.

Well, usually. That's a hard question to answer. I think when I print, the first printing tells me, "Bill, do it again." Then I print again. "A little more, Bill, especially along this edge or that spot . . ." and so forth. I hope that answer tells you something. I am aware there is a crafts person's approach, where the desired result is pinned to the wall and he or she must match that result or die. I don't want to be a printer, although it is good and beautiful work.

It is the most difficult. My master is Akira Kurosaki, who learned it from his master. He trains his printers to achieve this. His paper is custom made, also his pigments. Everything, down to the angle of the printing table, is considered, and of course the printing tool and the muscle-strength of the printer.

The tendency in the US is to use a machine, such as a vertical hydraulic press or even an intaglio press. Or, switch to screen printing for those areas where large flat solids are required.

I don't know about alum. Some books on paper making may tell you, but my only paper making book is about making Japanese paper, and the word "alum" isn't in the index. In the latest e-mail I got, the answer is: You CAN use rabbit skin glue to size paper, but it's stronger than nikawa. It is hard to judge how much to use. It's much easier to buy paper already sized from McClain's in Portland, Oregon.

Hmm. Well, it makes the paper "harder" in character. If there is a lot of sizing, it will repel the color, too.

Are you using printing ink made by Hunt, Speedball, or Daniel Smith? And a brayer?

I never have used those myself because when I do woodcuts, I use the Asian method, "inks" that are basically watercolor, water, and a little bit of water base paste (such as Yes paste or something I make myself from Arrowroot starch or wheat paste). They are brushed on, not rolled with a brayer.

As you can imagine, such a watery ink film practically jumps into the paper--which, by the way, is ever so slightly damp itself. Very little rubbing is needed, and it's done before the little paste has a chance to stick the paper to the wood.

This probably doesn't work very well on linoleum, but it would give you special effects (my name for what most people call mistakes and errors). I have transcripts on Japanese woodcut printing from my videotapes on relief printing.

Q: I've been doing woodcuts for the last 12 years and try every tool I can find. Got some good ones from Lee Valley Tools, and sharpen them on a leather strop as I use them, but still wish I could find the ultimate tool. You mentioned some that cost $30 per tool. What is the source for those tools--do they have a catalog? There are a couple of small gouges I use almost exclusively, so for me it's worth the investment to get really good tools.

My favorite tools--judging by which ones I automatically reach for--are made in Japan. The secret of their quality seems to be that they are bi-metal blades. Mike Lyon, in Kansas City, describes them best: "The very hard and brittle high-carbon laminate is the cutting side of the tool -- it is generally about 25% - 30% of the tool thickness and is supported by the MUCH softer iron/steel which flexes more and supports the hard tool steel (which has the long-lasting sharp edge) and helps prevent it from snapping -- also allows the tool to be much more quickly sharpened than western tools (hardened throughout) since only the thin laminate is hardened and more resistive to sharpening abrasives."

One US importer of these tools is McClain's Printmaking Supplies in Portland OR. If this doesn't help, please let me know. There are European and US knives made, but as I said I love those Japanese knives.

Also, if you learn about other countries' knives that are well-crafted and wonderful for wood cutting and carving, let me know. Some people in Washington state are interested in starting a summer woodcraft workshop that includes carving, woodcut printmaking and (of all things) cyber arts! Another question, anyone?

Q: What other types of wood can be used for woodblock printing?

Actually ANY wood can be used. One thing to consider is whether you plan to print with oil base or water base colors. Yesterday, for example, I finished printing a hundred color backgrounds for a family project. I used white pine. It's soft, cheap, easy to work with; I print with water colors.

Teak would be a bad choice for water colors because teak because has natural oils in it. See what I mean? It would be okay for oil color inks. The textbooks always recommend cherry, poplar, boxwood and soft birch. There's really no limit!

When I was a student I pulled the bottoms out of a chest of drawers by removing two nails and sliding them out of the grooves. I did my woodcuts--with my socks and underwear piled on top my dresser--and when I was finished, put the bottoms of the drawers back. Those were quarter-inch mahogany veneer drawer bottoms and I was printing with oil based inks. Another question, anyone?

Q: I wish I could find a decent set of cutting tools. Any suggestions?

Daniel Smith Inc has one for mail order at $35.90, a set of seven knives. These are not the professional knives you will see in the video, but each one in the video starts at about $30 for a single knife! Naturally, they ARE better, but you might as well have a beginner's set around. I used them for five years before I started buying the real thing--one at a time when I knew what I really wanted most. Smith's is "Mikasa Wood Carving Set," Catalog No. RH9227002. Their phone number is (800) 426-6740. You have to have sharpening stones, too. Another question, anyone? Anyone?

Q: What is the address for mail order stones?

The Woodworker's Store (800) 279-4441 has them. There are the waterstones, in 1200 grit and, for polishing, the Polishing stone. There is a combination stone, too, with both grits bonded together. For the gouges I saw Deluxe multiform and waterslip in 4000 and 1000 grit, respectively. The ideal set is probably the combination ($25.99) and the Deluxe Waterslip 1000 ($9.95). For very rough work there is a carborundum stone, two-sided. They also stock carving knives, and their 1/2 inch sweep looks like a good one for large areas to supplement your small carving knives. Another question, anyone?

Q: I am interested in ordering the video entitled, "Japanese Woodcut Workshop". What is your address so that I can send a check, please include shipping charges. Thanks

The mailing address is:
Ritchie's Video
PO Box 19243
Seattle WA 98109
E-mail, with ATTENTION TO:  Ritchie's Video at (ritchie@seanet.com)

Shipping and handling are included in the price of $135. The tape includes a printed text of the sound track for clarity and convenience AND online help from me if you need it. It takes no longer than two weeks to deliver via US Post. Another question, anyone?

Q: Where can I get cherry for a woodcut?

If there is a hardwood store in your area, give them a call. I bought mine at a Seattle retailer called The Woodworkers' Store. They can be reached at (800) 279-4441; they have a $2 catalog. The cherry board I bought had a number (#11601) which you could use if you wanted to order your wood by mail. My piece is 1/2" by 5 3/4". The cost was 48 cents a lineal inch.

Q: Couldn't you use cherry veneer instead of the board?

Yes. And if a person wants to leap ahead and forego carving, one can use a jigsaw, band-saw, or even tin snips and cut 1/16 inch or 1/8 veneer and contact-cement one's block! Think of the jig-saw puzzle blocks Edvard Munch made (because he was too "lazy" to cut numerous blocks for each color : )). Need is the mother of invention, vision is the mother of craft, IMHO. Another question, anyone?

C: What kind of paper do you use for tracing?

Honestly, I lost the name of this one. My paper collection has Japanese, Nepalese, Philippine, Indian and other "exotics" besides US and Europeans. I like Asian papers because of their long tough fibers that makes rubbing-off easier (a later step). For a letterhead I used ordinary laser printing paper which rubbed-off, but I had to be extremely patient and careful. I did not want to trace the letterhead design since it was originally a computer-aided drawing. Another question, anyone?