Technique

Making a Damp Pack

Short video on preparing washi for wood block printing.  Properly damp paper will help manage the shrinking and keep the paper pliable but not wet.

Preparing MDF for Carving

Finding a cost effective material for wood block printing can be difficult depending on your needs, location and size requirements. I have tried shina, basswood and birch plywoods.  Shina is from Japan and is wonderful to carve however is very expensive to obtain where I live.  Cherry is traditional for mokuhanga but larger sizes would have to be joined.  Also blocks of wood can move a lot depending on the moisture. 

After some testing I modified Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) with filler and epoxy resin to overcome it's limitations.  Seems to carve well, holds fine detail and is water resistant.  It is fairly easy to do and the epoxy resin has little odour. The short video shows how to proceed.