Direct Method

In the earliest nature prints inks or pigments were applied directly to the surface relief of leaves and other relatively flat natural subjects in order to capture images of their sizes, shapes, surface textures, and delicate vein or scale patterns. Typically both sides of a leaf were coated with ink and the leaf was then placed inside a folded sheet or between two sheets of paper. When rubbed by hand or run through a printing press a mirror image was produced of the topside and underside of the same leaf. Often the prints were done in black ink and the flowers later painted or drawn in by the artist. In other cases a flattened, dried leaf or plant was coated once with black ink and then repeatedly printed in a printing press. The initial dark print was used as a work copy or proof print. The subsequent prints, with fainter traces of ink, were hand colored to more closely resemble the appearance of the real subjects.

The direct method currently is used throughout the world to record images of a wide diversity of subjects. For example, most western fish printers utilizing this method but apply colored inks to more closely duplicate the natural colors of their subjects. Unlike prints from plates or blocks in which identical, duplicate images can be created the direct method produces unique, one-of-a-kind prints, termed monotypes.

Also available for download (1.2 megs, Acrobat 4) is Christopher Dewees' University of California Cooperative Extension Sea Grant Program publication Gyotaku - Japanese Fish Printing. This "how-to" document (with text and pictures) is freely available for printing and distribution in educational environments.