Japanese Woodblock Prints use water based ink. The biggest difference is that Japanese Woodblock Prints are, well, Japanese. There arenвЂ™t really many differences between Moku Hanga and Western Woodblock Printmaking.

вЂ¦and no matter where in the world you do it. Mashing ink against paper is mashing ink against paper no matter how you spice it up. Basically, however, it is the same principle regardless of how much detail you include. Sure, it gets complicated as you add detail to the image, and as you carve multiple blocks to include more colors in the print.

By carving the block of wood, you can control where ink is applied to the wood, and as a result, where it is mashed onto the paper. Woodblock Printmaking is the art of using wood to mash ink onto paper. Moku Hanga translates to something like вЂњwood picturesвЂќ or вЂњwood graphicsвЂќ, and is the Japanese name for printmaking. As a result, I might be a little irreverent.ДЄlso, I am going to use the terms вЂњJapanese Woodblock PrintmakingвЂќ and вЂњMoku HangaвЂќ interchangeably. Everything I know about it is from research, reading, and viewing Japanese Woodblock Prints. Disclaimer:Д«efore I go on, I should make a little disclaimer: IвЂ™ve never made a Japanese Style woodblock print. Western Woodblock Printmaking uses oil based inks applied to the block with a brayer (roller), and the blocks are sometimes printed with a press, and Japanese Woodblock Prints (aka Moku Hanga) are made with water-based inks applied with a brush, and are printed by rubbing a pad (baren) across the back of the paper.

Arcanine moku hanga