Hello there.
In a previous article, I mentioned buying a can badge machine and producing badges using my own artwork. Since then, customers have purchased them, and they’ve been well received—things are going very well!

This article is about surviving the Reiwa era through desktop manufacturing, aiming for even greater heights.

As the title suggests, I wanted to incorporate gold into my can badges using special printing techniques.

Initially, my plan was to print the design with an inkjet printer, then print the gold areas with a monochrome laser printer, and finally use a hot stamping paper to transfer the gold foil with an iron. However, the 14,000-yen laser printer I bought last year failed to align the print correctly, whether using the paper tray or manual feed, so I had to abandon that approach.

Then, I came up with the idea of creating a gold-specific printing plate to ensure proper alignment—essentially a Reiwa-era update on traditional Ukiyo-e registration. In traditional multi-color Ukiyo-e woodblock printing, “見当 (kentō)” refers to the carved registration marks that ensure precise alignment of different color layers. By combining this concept with the “R” from Reiwa, I named the system “KENTOR.”

There were no rough sketches or detailed design plans—I had everything mapped out in my head.

For the printing plate, I wrote the characters in Procreate and exported them as a PSD file. Then, I used Illustrator’s image trace function to convert the design into Bézier curves and exported it as an SVG file. Finally, I extruded the design in BambuStudio and 3D-printed it using the A1 mini.

This step went smoothly.


When I looked up how to make stamps with a 3D printer on YouTube, I noticed that many people forget to flip the design horizontally during the first print. Well, as someone who calls myself an Ukiyo-e artist, that’s a mistake I wouldn’t make!
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Hello!
After my longest article, here’s something I impulsively wrote in the morning.

The theory that late-night F1 races make humans more creative

The F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on April 20 was a night race, starting at 2 AM Japan time.
Additionally, the Jeddah street circuit is notorious for being difficult to overtake on and for frequent safety car interventions, making the risk of falling asleep quite high.

I had no choice but to create something!

So, I decided to make custom-character badge designs…
I based my typography on the Kanteiryu style, using motifs of ancient fish and the High-Back Golden Dragon (Asian Arowana).


I do admire Asian Arowanas, but realistically, keeping one is impossible with my tank size…
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When the dragon with a double peace sign from last time was arranged into four psd sticker design templates in a rice-field pattern (田 shape), the remaining space in the center seemed strangely wasteful. Thus, the sudden decision to create this was made.

Since the central space was inevitably rhombus-shaped and small, I chose the style of a large-head illustration. Furthermore, two horns would look awkward, so I leaned towards a unicorn-type… and then I thought of a ridiculous pun, which led to the decision to draw a rhombus lion (In Japanese, “rhombus” is pronounced “hishi” and “lion” is pronounced “shishi.” Additionally, Edo dialect replaces “hi” with “shi,” so this drawing can also be read as “shishi-shishi”).
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“Citrus Dragon Digital UKIYO-E” Japanese Pattern Splash-Resistant and Weather-Resistant Sticker
サイズ：W136xH193(mm)



“Snake and Spiny lobster” Japanese Pattern Splash-Resistant and Weather-Resistant Sticker
サイズ：W135xH193(mm)

“Umbrella ghost x Gecko” Japanese Pattern Splash-Resistant and Weather-Resistant Sticker-mini-size
サイズ：W96xH128(mm)

“YOKAI Sketch One-legged cat” Japanese Pattern Splash-Resistant and Weather-Resistant Sticker mini-size
サイズ：W85xH120(mm)

I combined a gecko and a Karakasa-obake (umbrella ghost).
The umbrella shelters from rain and wind, while the gecko can climb walls.

Kantei-ryu Lettering

“風雨に勝つて( Withstanding the wind and rain )” refers to the Karakasa-obake, and “壁越えて( overcoming the wall )” refers to the gecko. In Japan, overcoming difficulties is expressed as “climbing over a wall”. So, this symbolizes overcoming adversity.