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How to Get Started with Block Printing
Five tips for beginners
Have you ever thought about making your own block prints?
Like the ones I have in my shop and at art fairs.
You can make them too!
Here are a few things you should know first:
1) The Right Tools Make a Difference
The Speedball starter kit is FINE. I recommend it for your first few blocks if you’re trying to do this on a budget. It comes with a block, a roller, a cutting tool and ink. All you need to grab is paper and a barren.
THAT SAID, you should take a look at the Flexcut starter set. It’s twice the price, but the quality is far better.
I also recommend Essdee rollers and Schminke ink.
They say it’s a poor craftsman who blames his tools but that’s only half true.
Better tools can give you better results and crappy tools force you to make decisions and compromises that better tools wouldn’t.
2) Linoleum is better than soft-cut
Yes I know the Speedball starter kit comes with the block of soft-cut.
Yes I know that’s the hot thing right now in bock printing.
Yes I know they’re probably being marketed to you as the perfect solution to get started in block printing.
Nah.
Wanna know a secret?
Professionals don’t use that crap. You lose a LOT of definition in the corners and the more delicate parts of the print start to crumble.
Get the battleship gray artists linoleum. You’re welcome.
You can heat it up with a blow drier, heat gun or heating pad if it’s too hard to carve.
3) Paper matters!
I use two main types of paper: cheap watercolor paper and mulberry Japanese sketch paper.
Note that neither of those were printer paper or the “printmaking paper” that you can get at the art supply or craft store. The paper needs to have a little give, a little stretch. So my main paper is the mulberry sketch paper because it has a very nice flat surface that takes ink well and it’s very thin. I use the cheap watercolor paper (Canson XL usually, but sometimes Artists Loft is all I have around) for oil-based ink prints that I want to color in with watercolor later. The mulberry paper simply can’t handle the watercolor. Ask me how I know…
4) Use Less Ink
Nine times out of ten, at least when you’re starting out, the problem isn’t too little ink. It’s usually too much.
If your block is slipping when you print, or the print itself is coming out with a LOT of texture, you may be using too much ink. The idea is to get a THIN layer of ink on the block, the majority of which will transfer to the block for the print. Too little pressure is usually the issue, and that can be fixed with a press or being very careful and meticulous with the hand-printing process.
5) You Don’t ACTUALLY need a press
I spent the first five years of my time in printmaking without a press. I printed hundreds of impressions by hand before I coughed up the money for a Woodzilla press.
I was stubborn.
But you can be stubborn too, and the results should be just fine. The press is a tool for professionals to produce a line of products. Before the press, I was able to pull about 40 prints in a three or four hour session. Now I regularly hit 100+ in that same time. The press paid for itself quickly.
The project that pushed me off the edge was the CYCLES series. It was a set of three 3-layer reduction linocut prints and it was a BEAST of a project. I hand printed every impression (well over 100 pulls) and my shoulder was NOT having it. I realized that if I was going to do this professionally, I needed to make things more efficient and invest in the right tools for the job.
But you’re just a beginner. Get a barren. It’ll be fine for now and it’ll allow you to get really familiar with the paper.
Alright, those are my five tips for beginners in block printing. I hope you found it helpful.
If you’re interested in taking a class in block printing with me, I have one coming up in Ferndale, MI on March 8th!
It starts at $30 for a quick drop-in session to print a couple pre-carved blocks, or $50 for a full three-hour class (complete with gentle encouragement and hand-holding) to make a run of prints of your own design. ALL SUPPLIES ARE INCLUDED!
Check it out below and I hope to see you there!
Art March Linocut Class in Ferndale
$30.00 – $50.00
ART MARCH IS HERE! March 8th, 12-4pm Community Center at Ferndalehaus, Ferndale, MI Learn the art of linocut printmaking with […]
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