Changes

==Process==

==Process==

[[File:Baren.jpg|right|thumb|350px|Woodblock carving tools, and ''baren'' (used for rubbing the image onto the paper). Santa Barbara Museum of Art.]]

[[File:Baren.jpg|right|thumb|350px|Woodblock carving tools, and ''baren'' (used for rubbing the image onto the paper). Santa Barbara Museum of Art.]]

Publishers would often initiate projects, deciding on themes and hiring illustrators or print designers. The illustrators would then submit their designs to the publisher, who would then take over much of the remainder of the process. A highly skilled professional ''hangiya'' (板木屋, block-carver) would lay the design over the block - sometimes using a reproduction of the design created for this purpose by a copyist or ''hanshitagaki'' (版下書) - and use that as a guideline for carving out key blocks, showing just the monochrome outlines. ''Hangiya'' were professional artisans, and highly organized as such in craft guilds, working most often with publishers in a manner akin to independent contractors; some of the largest publishing houses had their own in-house blockcarvers, however. Once these initial blocks were cut, a printer (also a professional skilled artisan) would produce a number of impressions from the key block, and send them to the illustrator, or the publisher, who then indicated which colors should be applied and where. These drafts were sent to the blockcarver once more, who now carved separate blocks for each color, sending those to the printer, to produce the actual final commercial copies to be sold.<ref>Gallery labels, "Making Woodblock Prints," Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, December 2012.</ref>

Publishers would often initiate projects, deciding on themes and hiring illustrators or print designers. The illustrators would then submit their designs to the publisher, who would then take over much of the remainder of the process. A highly skilled professional ''hangiya'' (板木屋, block-carver) would lay the design over the block - sometimes using a reproduction of the design created for this purpose by a copyist or ''hanshitagaki'' (版下書) - and use that as a guideline for carving out key blocks, showing just the monochrome outlines. ''Hangiya'' were professional artisans, and highly organized as such in craft guilds, working most often with publishers in a manner akin to independent contractors; some of the largest publishing houses had their own in-house blockcarvers, however. Once these initial blocks were cut, a printer (also a professional skilled artisan) would produce a number of impressions from the key block, and send them to the illustrator, or the publisher, who then indicated which colors should be applied and where. These drafts were sent to the blockcarver once more, who now carved separate blocks for each color, sending those to the printer, to produce the actual final commercial copies to be sold.<ref>Gallery labels, "Making Woodblock Prints," Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, December 2012.</ref>

Blocks were often lost in fires, but could be remade using a technique called ''kabusebori'' (被せ彫り), so long as copies of the book were extant. The book would be disassembled, and each leaf would be traced or cut through to produce a new block. This technique was also widely used to make illegal "pirated" copies of books, which one could then sell as one's own.

Blocks were often lost in fires, but could be remade using a technique called ''kabusebori'' (被せ彫り), so long as copies of the book were extant. The book would be disassembled, and each leaf would be traced or cut through to produce a new block. This technique was also widely used to make illegal "pirated" copies of books, which one could then sell as one's own.

===Pigments===

===Pigments===