I first discovered mokulito – which means “wood lithography” in Japanese – at a workshop run by the Polish printmaker Ewa Budka at East London Printmakers. The technique was originated in Japan in the 1970s by Ozaku Schisi, and was then developed more recently by Ewa and her father Josef Budka. Like all lithographic techniques, mokulito relies on the fact  that water and oil do not mix. As in traditional lithography, the image is drawn using greasy (or grease-attacting) inks and crayons on the printing matrix or plate. Traditionally the “plate” would have been a polished slab of limestone, but nowadays litho plates are usually made of aluminium or polyester. The stability of these materials permits hundreds, or even thousands, of almost identical prints to be pulled from the same plate. In mokulito, however, the plate is made of an organic substance: wood. As a result the image changes slightly each time the plate is printed and degrades relatively quickly, meaning that editions tend to be small and variable, with results depending on factors such as the species and age of the particular piece of wood and the weather. Each plate must be printed in a single session, as often the image cannot be preserved to print at a later date. As the printing session progresses, the grain of the wood gradually becomes more dominant, often producing the evocative veils of colour that are so characteristic of this technique. A particular advantage of using wood as the printing matrix is the possibility of combining mokulito with woodcut, which can be used to produce contrasting sharp lines and textures that would otherwise be impossible to achieve.

If you would like to learn more about mokulito, please click here for information about upcoming courses.