Thread: Woodblock printing

I once had a John Bull printing set if that helps

You still got it??:eek:
Pity.
I hear they are worth $250,000 these days.:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
















Yeah right.

Al

I believe this bloke was pretty good at it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokusai

Try this forum Al
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrintAustralia/

I am after basic stuff.
When I am a master you can say " see, I pointed Al in the right direction"

Al

Originally Posted by ozwinner

I am after basic stuff.
When I am a master you can say " see, I pointed Al in the right direction"

Al

Well, apparently the basic technique is:

* The artist produced a master drawing in ink
* Craftsmen glued this drawing, face-down to a block of wood, cutting away the areas where the paper was white, thus leaving the drawing, in reverse, as a relief print on the block, but destroying the drawing.
* This block was inked and printed, making near-exact copies of the original drawing.
* These prints were in turn glued, face-down, to blocks and those areas of the design which were to be printed in a particular color were left in relief. Each of these blocks prints at least one color in the final design.
* The resulting set of woodblocks were inked in different colors and sequentially impressed onto paper. The final print bore the impressions of each of the blocks, some printed more than once to obtain just the right depth of color.

I remember doing something like that at high school art classes, were carving it out from leather like stuff(cant remember the name)was like several layers of leather and vyinal which was glued to wood after carving the pattern/picture. We were doing 3 and 4 coloured prints, one guy did about 10 colours on a old time sailing boat.
There is a name for this type of printing cant think of it tho...

G'day Ozzwinner,

In my past youth when doing a BA in Fine Arts I majored in printmaking. The easiest way is to go down to a decent art supplies shop and buy some lino/woodblock cutting tools and some slabs of leather, a roller and some ink.

Pretty cheap or used to be for the stuff. Ahh those were the days.

(now I also did life drawing classes in grade 12 right through and including my Uni days - you lot might think it was a good perv, but it becomes just an object you draw, much like drawing a pot of flowers)

Studying art and then clients pay you to design stuff - what could be better.

It's called lino block printing Harry72. The stuff is a beige coloured hard leather/clay stuff that carves away pretty easily.

Cheers
Dan

Like Waldo, I majored in printmaking at art school, but haven't done a print for years. Looking after the print studios is still part of my job though, and I'm a bit fond of an old cast iron press used for lino and woodblocks...its an Albion-style thing with 1871 embossed on it, and still gets a daily workout! (try http://www.letterspace.com/handpress/museums.htm)

I guess access to a press is the thing that could slow you up Ozwinner, as I can't imagine the carving will challenge you much . There are a couple of options: locate one in a friendly studio or school; make one ; drive your car over the sandwiched block and paper; or go for the Japanese approach, using thin rice paper and vigorously rubbing the paper onto the inked block using a "burren". This is simply a disc with a handle on top,covered with bamboo leaf to allow it to slide. A nice technique.
As for suitable woods, you don't need to get fussy because ply or masonite will do (although tempered Masonite can be tough on your palm:mad: !!) Of course you can go for better timbers, especially if you get into engraving, which uses much finer lines, and apparently utilizes laminated end grain blocks! Haven't tried that myself, but have seen some original Lionel Lindsay blocks, and amazingly intricate stuff.

Cheers,

A little press is real easy to make up.
I'll post a pic of one tomorrow

Originally Posted by ozwinner

You still got it??:eek:
Pity.
I hear they are worth $250,000 these days.:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
















Yeah right.

Al

Streuth Mate - had me going there for a mo - used to use it to make up my own "school exemptions" so I could go sailing in the summer - my folks even believed me. I think.

Cheers!

Originally Posted by echnidna

A little press is real easy to make up.
I'll post a pic of one tomorrow

I wonder whether this is too old to reply to. Did you post the pics of your press? I searched a bit but couldn't see them. (thinking of making one and doing a little research)
Thanks, Peter

I had the owner of these forums set up a printing forum which you may find as a subset of the Woodcarving forum. I'm just a beginner hoping for some instruction but so far, very little participation. Oh well. I can't be stopped.