Blocks

CARVING BLOCKS

Though printmaking encompasses many different types of carving surfaces, this book focuses on the use of linoleum and rubber blocks. Soft rubber is often a good choice for younger, less experienced printmakers as it is easy to cut with beginner’s tools. I also prefer soft rubber when printing on fabric. The sturdier linoleum is harder to cut and requires sharp tools but its density holds detailed cuts beautifully, and it is less likely to accidentally squish and bleed during printing.

LINOLEUM BLOCKS

Made of linseed oil, cork dust, wood flour, and pine resin, linoleum is a medium that many artists choose to work in because of its renewable composition. It comes in a variety of small-to-medium standard sizes as well as in large rolls, and due to its flexibility it can be cut into any shape. Many professional printmakers prefer the unmounted “battleship gray” linoleum.

From top to bottom: MOO Carve Professional Carving Block; Speedball Speedy-Carve; Speedball Speedy-Cut; Speedball mounted linoleum block; Blick battleship gray unmounted linoleum.

The loose-weave burlap on the back of unmounted linoleum, also referred to as the hessian backing.

RUBBER BLOCKS

Rubber blocks such as Soft-Kut, MOO Carve, and Speedy-Carve are a good alternative to traditional linoleum: they’re generally much softer and easier for the blade of your carving tools to bite into. It takes only a fraction of the power necessary to push a blade through linoleum. The softest of the blocks, like MOO Carve, require only the lightest flicks of your blades so a steady hand is very helpful. Rubber blocks are great for detailed work and won’t get crumbly as linoleum sometimes does.

Carving Tools and Tool Care

Most starter kits come with a variety of blade widths and shapes, ranging from the narrowest veiners to the widest U-shaped blades. Veiners are for making very thin, fine lines. V gouges are formed at either 45- or 90-degree angles. U gouges are—you guessed it—shaped like Us, and are great for scooping out lino cleanly. You should also consider the size of your hand and the type of handle that will give you the best grip—full-size tools can be harder to wield but provide greater leverage for more power behind your cuts. Mushroom-shaped palm tools can provide a more comfortable, stable grip for carving fine details.

Top to bottom: Pfeil full size no. 11 veiner; Pfeil palm tools set C; Powergrip set; Speedball linoleum cutter with interchangeable blade heads.

Pfeil Swiss-made carving tools, set C

Sharpening Your Tools

Over time, the blades of carving tools lose their edge and become dull. A dull blade is a printmaker's nightmare, because it is more difficult to push through linoleum. This will cause you to tire quickly and also makes the blade more likely to slip or tear the linoleum. A good practice is to sharpen your blades regularly to keep them free from nicks and burrs, which are rough little bits of metal that can form on the edge of the blade. And to any art student who had to endure the struggle of carving with a raggedy tool used by a hundred other students that semester, this one’s for you.

Flatlay of sharpening tools

1 Start with sharpening the outside of the tool. Rub the yellow honing compound (included with the set) onto the flat side of the slipstrop, applying it to the leather surface liberally.

2 Hold the tool at about a 15-degree angle and place it on the leather, pointing away from you. Pulling it back toward you, gently push the outer edge of the blade against the leather. If you’re sharpening a U gouge, start on one side of the gouge, and roll it to the other side as you pull it back toward you. Rolling the tool gradually from side to side ensures that the entire edge makes contact.

4 Flip the slipstrop over to reveal the funky, ridged side. These curved and steepled ridges correspond to the shape of most gouge tools. Select the ridge that matches your blade and rub the yellow honing compound liberally along it. Repeat the same process for the inner portion of the blade as you used on the outer edge.

2 Hold the tool against the blue side of the whetstone at about a 15-degree angle (or so that the cutting edge is flush with the surface of the stone). If you're sharpening a V-parting tool, gently move it up and down against the stone about 5 times or until you see the edge start to sharpen.

3 If you're sharpening a U-gouge, rock the tool by turning your wrist as you move it left to right.

4 Run a slipstone, also called an Arkansas stone, along the inside curve of the tool, pushing the stone out toward the blade edge. Use a rounded stone for U gouges and a pointed one for V-parting tools.

Brayers, Barens, Plates, and Knives

BRAYERS

Brayers are rollers used to evenly spread ink onto the surface of a carved block. They come in a variety of sizes and are made of either hard or soft rubber. The hard rubber brayers are great for coaxing out fine details, and soft rubber brayers apply ink very uniformly across a block. You hardly need to exert any pressure to apply ink to the block with a soft rubber brayer.

BARENS

A baren is the essential tool for hand pulling a successful print: you use it to burnish the back of the paper on your inked block. This tool allows you to apply even pressure across the block without ripping holes in your paper. The most readily available (and not to mention inexpensive!) baren is a simple wooden spoon like mine (see 2 in the photo). A smooth, hard surface is really all you need! Steer clear of metal spoons, as the friction needed for printing causes them to become hot. Hold the spoon near the top, putting the pads of your index finger and middle finger in the bowl; this will give you a stable grip and sufficient leverage to burnish your paper.

INKING PLATES

Every printmaker needs an inking plate or platen, which is a clean, smooth, nonporous surface on which to mix, spread, and roll out ink. Various materials can be used as an inking plate, such as a metal tray, metal bench hook, a piece of safety glass with a beveled edge, or a piece of plexiglass with the edges sanded or taped. I made the inking plate featured in this book simply by screwing a piece of plexiglass to a similarly sized wood board. It helps when the inking plate is heavy or anchored, as inks are tacky and can sometimes cause the plate to stick to the brayer. Always clean your inking plate immediately after finishing a print run, as dried ink on the plate will keep you from getting an even application of ink the next time you use it.

PALETTE KNIVES

An essential tool for preparing ink is the palette knife, or spatula, used to scrape ink from its container and spread and mix it on the inking plate. Palette knives come in a variety of shapes and degrees of flexibility. If you plan to do large print runs, which involves pulling many prints in the same session, a wider knife would be appropriate for mixing and spreading large amounts of ink. I prefer flexible knives with rounded edges, as I’m less likely to scratch my inking surface.

Inks

Choosing the right ink is an important part of the print process, and there are many considerations to be made. It’s important to use ink that is specifically formulated for relief printing, as opposed to just using any old paint or ink. Paint will ruin your brayers and blocks. The right inks will extend the life of your block as well as look gorgeous on paper.

WATER-BASED INKS

Water-based inks are a good choice for beginners and kids, and when you have to print in crampled conditions, because they clean up easily with soap and water. Also, they are fast-drying, which is nice when you’re short on time or if you run a small edition of prints. However, water-based inks tend to have a flaky appearance upon drying and are often difficult to roll evenly over the block.

OIL-BASED INKS

There are two kinds of oil-based inks: those that require solvents for cleanup and those that are water soluble/washable. Both yield equally velvety finishes and hold strong, vivid color. Solvents such as turpentine and kerosene are the most efficient cleaners of oil-based inks, but are quite toxic. A safer cleanser is plain old vegetable oil. Simply saturate a paper towel and wipe. This tends to leave a residue on the block, so I usually follow up with a disinfectant wipe. My favorite ink of this variety is Gamblin Relief Ink.

INK MODIFIERS

There are many different kinds of additives that you can mix into your ink to achieve different results. Adding a drop of cobalt drier to ink will significantly speed up the drying time of your prints. Cobalt drier is quite toxic, however, so handle it with gloves. Adding extenders or transparent base will dilute the color of the ink without changing its viscosity—think of it as turning down an ink’s opacity.

Papers

Although, technically, you can print onto nearly any flat surface, the cheapest, easiest, and most widely available surface is paper. There’s something so tactile and rich and just plain pleasant about rubbing a decadently thick sheet of gorgeous paper between your fingers. Lucky for me (and you too) there are many different kinds of paper on the market today. The most common ingredients in artists’ papers are wood pulp, cotton rag, pulped linen, and mulberry/kozo—all are great choices for printing linoleum blocks by hand. It’s fine to use any old paper when you’re learning in your own home for fun, but you’ll find that the higher quality paper you choose, the better your prints will be.

ACID FREE AND ARCHIVAL

The ideal papers to use are free of lignin, an acidic substance in wood pulp that causes paper to yellow and turn brittle over time. Paper that is acid free is known as archival, which essentially means that it will last a really long time. One hundred percent cotton rag paper is naturally acid free and is a great choice. Professional printmakers are sure to select archival, acid-free papers to ensure their artwork lasts for many years.

WEIGHT

The weight or thickness of a given paper is measured in grams per square meter (gsm). The higher the gsm, the thicker the paper. You can use papers of all thicknesses in relief printmaking, depending on the type of inks and blocks you use and the final look you hope to achieve. Thinner papers are great for printing by hand, but they can sometimes lack the luxurious feel and look of thicker papers. Some handmade papers have lots of texture that can drastically affect the evenness of a print. Try out a wide variety of papers, and you will come to learn which works best for you and your specific project.

HOT PRESSED AND COLD PRESSED

Machine-made papers pass through a series of metal cylinders that are heated and compressed or cooled and more loosely compressed to create different textures. Hot-pressed paper has a smooth surface with a fine grain. Cold-pressed paper has a slightly toothier, or more textured, surface.

Drawing Materials

Sketchbook

Pencils

A Note on Adhesives

You’ll need to join paper to paper for multiple projects in this book, and using the wrong adhesive can be disastrous for the fate of your prints. Some glues can cause papers to warp, wrinkle, turn yellow, and deteriorate. PVA glues, however, are acid free and will not yellow over time. They dry clear and remain flexible. Yes Paste and Nori Paste are both good options, as they are slow-drying (giving you more time to position your work) and won’t cause excessive buckling of your papers.

Potential tabletop layout

1. Clean space

For drafting designs, preparing printing papers, and carving blocks and signing prints. Keep this area completely free of ink in order to preserve the cleanliness of your papers. It would be sad to pull a five-color print only to ruin it with a big stray ink smudge picked up from the table!

2. Dry space

A place to keep your wet prints as you pull them. DIY drying rack plans can be found shown here.

3. Print space

This is the area where you’ll print your inked blocks. I like to cover this area with butcher paper and tape it down to the table for easy cleanup after a project. This is also where you will put any registration device/printing jig (see here) you may be using for your project. Keep a mini-clean zone above the jig so that there’s a safe place to stack your prepared papers.

Blocks that have already been printed, cleaned, and dried are stacked in milk crates, with titles visible for easy access

A second station, ready for printing

Inks, brayers, and other tools organized on a shelf above my worktable

When I’m not pulling by hand I use my Richeson Medium Etching Press. Though expensive and bulky, pulling prints with a press takes a lot of the physical gruntwork for you.

5 Replace the flange. Screw in place with four 3/4" (2 cm) wood screws.

8 Take one of the copper pipe pieces. Measure and make a mark 1/2" (1.3 cm) from the end of the pipe. Holding the pipe steady with one hand, use your electric drill with a 1/8" (3 mm) drill bit to perforate two holes in the end of the copper pipe. Clean off any rough bits with steel wool.

14 Thread the other end of the wire through the opposite pipe, pull gently until taut, and then wrap the excess wire around the pipe, twisting the wire to secure in place.