--- Go to the Opening Page of the [Baren] web site ---

Something a bit different this afternoon. I received an update message in the mail this morning, and this prompted me to visit a couple of print-related websites created and maintained by two of my collectors - both of whom live in Europe.

The websites - aside from the fact that one is in English and the other in French - are very similar. The two gentlemen both came to their interest in Japanese prints via the same route: a childhood interest in comic books. If you don't quite get the connection, then please visit these sites, where my friends are showing off their wonderful woodblock print collections, along with commentary on their background and culture.

Coming up for a bit of air here ... the past few days have been pretty frantic. The Kickstarter project doesn't need any particular attention from me at this stage; Jed-san is handling all the management and updates, etc. My part simply consists of getting the production moved forward as best I can.

We're 'ramping up' fairly slowly. Printers Fujii-san and Ayumi-san are currently working on test batches of the Rickshaw Cart print, to get familiar with the block set and the various quirks of the colouring. Once they've done this, they'll each be starting a main run for 'real'.

Tsushima-san and Ayumi-san will be doing runs of the little Chibi prints that were announced at the time of the Kickstarter opening. These are little items similar to the senshafuda prints I made last year, but much simpler in image and execution:

Jed wanted something that collectors of his gicle prints could have to show them how attractive actual woodblock can be, and there have been a ton of orders for them, so these ladies are going to be busy indeed for the next few weeks.