I began with rejected proofs, torn to the image size. Some papers had printing across the whole sheet; other were only partially printed. All the proofs had been printed from woodblocks with oil based relief ink on mulberry, a thin but strong Japanese paper.
I printed from old woodblocks sometimes masking them with scraps of newsprint or thin cardboard cut to shape. I also used an assortment of plant material that had been dried between the pages of an old telephone directory laying them across the freshly inked surfaces. Both the plants and cardboard then picked up ink and could be used in subsequent printing. I overlapped the printing papers on the blocks and printed on both sides of the paper. I used my Griffin tabletop press for all the printing.
At the end of each printing session, I would review all the papers deciding which was the best side, the best orientation. I would then try to decide which were nearest to being finished. I would leave the papers stacked in order from most finished to least. At the beginning of the next printing session, I would review them again. If I still felt some were finished, I would put them aside.
When I had a batch of finished images, I chine colléd then to pieces of Arches Buff and dried them between blotters under weights, changing the blotters twice a day until they were dry. I then named and signed them.