Recipes

Paste recipe:
Use bookmaker's rice starch (made by and available from Lineco, Holyoke, MA; Talas, Chicago, IL,). May also use rice flour.
Mix in the pan a proportion of approximately 1:7.5 rice starch to water. I use 3 tbspn starch to 2 cups water.
Stir continuously over a low heat, until mixture begins to thicken and turns translucent. Remove from heat (a bit before it begins to boil). This usually takes about five minutes.  Stir as you cool your pan in cold water. 
Keeps up to a week refrigerated.

Wetting the papers:
Having printing papers evenly moist and at a constant level of moisture during the printing session is key. I like to have on hand the following tools for this task: a board (called in Japan a yoko-ita, mine is a piece of kitchen counter laminate board approx. 21" x 27", mounted on a box holding it approximately 8" off the floor, a wide hake brush or dosa brush, a spray bottle for water, a damp toweI.  Try to begin preparing papers 4 or 5 hours (or overnight) before printing. Sheet by sheet I stack the papers applying the water-loaded hake brush to every other sheet with broad even strokes (i.e. building a stack one wet, one dry). How much water depends on the type of paper, on the weather, on the size of the sheets. On top of this stack I lay the damp towel covered by a sheet of plastic. After letting this sit at least an hour, I re-build the stack, sheet by sheet, in a pile which is 'spread out’, with each sheet covering approximately half the sheet below in a pattern which will cover an area probably three times the size of a single sheet. This new pile I let sit for three hours or longer under the towel and plastic. The idea is to allow the water to move evenly through all the papers. Re-stacking this pile onto a straight stack again sets the paper ready for printing.

Sources of tools and materials

    Barens:  McLain’s Printmaking Supplies, Woodlike Matsumara.

    Brushes: McLain’s Printmaking Supplies, Woodlike Matsumara.

    Paper.  Takach Paper, Graphic Chemical, Hiromi Paper, Dick Blick.

    Blocks and jigs: McLain’s Printmaking Supplies.

    Carving tools:  Woodcraft, Japan Woodworker.

    Pigments:  Guerra Paint and Pigment, Kremer Pigments.