How were ukiyo-e woodblock prints made?
It was a multi-staged process that involved a lot of different people. The artist would prepare the designs, which would then be given to a block carver. The block carver would paste the design onto the woodblock and carve it into the wood. When he did that, the original design would actually be destroyed. After the main block had been carved, one block would be carved for each color that was used in the prints. In some cases, depending on the number of colors used, as many as 20 or 30 blocks would be carved for a given print. At that point, the blocks would be turned over to another group of people who specialized in printing. They would be responsible for applying the colors onto the wood and putting the paper down on the blocks to make the print. The final step was that the person who paid for all of this (who typically was not the artist, but was rather a publisher) would distribute them for sale to the public.
