rope knot dragon print

I have a love of Japanese knots, particularly the ones made using rice straw, a craft known as warazaiku. The craft came about as a by-product of the rice harvest and as such is connected to the Shinto religion through the rituals undertaken by farmers to ensure good harvests. The straw ropes are coiled by hand and prayers for good fortune are interwoven into the pieces, so that they serve as lucky talismans.

Made as they are from a natural product, they are quite fragile and not meant to last for a very long time (and very hard to keep dust free), so I have made my own longer lasting versions of them for our home from ceramic, wood and on paper, and now share some of these in the store from time to time.

As 2024 is the Year of the Dragon, some of these knots have morphed into dragons in my imagination - like this rope knot printed version.

Individually hand printed from a carved rubber printing block in an indigo blue Japanese pigment ink. Each print will have natural small variations, due to the methods used - the one you receive may not be exactly the same as the one shown in the photographs. Comes unframed. If you are framing and using the supplied grey backing board, insert a sheet of white A4 paper between the print and board to improve the brightness of the paper.

Printed on off-white mingeishi 48g washi paper.
Paper size: A4 (210 × 297 mm or 8.27 × 11.69 inches).
Dated in pencil and stamped in red ink.