Red Frame (cars again)

Right of Way, working proof, moku hanga

I'm near the end and that's a good thing as with each new block and layer, I like this less and less.

Yesterday, I  got rid of the chop and added the letters---a pthalo-blue/indanthrone mix, diluted with rice paste. Today, after a lot of misgiving, I added the red border (two passes: first a magenta, followed by a more amaranth-red).

As I expected, the bold red changes everything. Now I'm not so sure about the green....but if I darken the green, I'll need to deepen the gray.....and if I deepen the gray, it will cover the letters.
So I stared at it for a long while and then  just put them back in the damp pack, deciding to mull it over until tomorrow.

I need to finish as it's time to move on and these have been sitting in a damp pack for almost a week and I don't want them to go moldy on me. ( I added a little formalin to the damp pack since these are too big for the fridge).

Studio traffic (more cars)

This is moving along, but it's getting a little chaotic.

Right of Way-work in progress

I printed all four cars at once so that meant four brushes and four pots of color. One car (and sometimes, two) had to be printed twice so I'd lift that corner, rebrush pigment and print again without moving the whole sheet.

Since I'm using different papers with different thicknesses and fiber contents, some sized professionally and some by me, some on both sides of the paper and some just on the printing side....there are a lot of variables and printing this is rather complicated with both tube and bottle colors, brushes, multiple barens, a very large damp pack, carry and printing sheets.....

It's also a big sheet: 18" x 20", so I'm using a carry sheet of acetate to carry the damp paper to the inked plate; then replacing that with a thinner sheet of oiled paper to allow me to burnish vigorously without damaging the backs of some of the more delicate papers.
On the really thick papers (85-110g/m2), I'm using the ball-bearing baren to start with the protective sheet. Then taking that off and hitting spots with the heavy Murasaki baren.
But on the thinner papers (39g/m2), I'm using just the medium baren. I'm definitely getting a work-out and I'll need to change the baren covers on a few of these once I finish with this print run.

I've two more blocks and maybe 2-3 more impressions to go. One is a big colored border around the whole image...I've been putting it off as I'm not sure it's going to work.
Tomorrow will tell.
But first, I need to mix up a new batch of paste.