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Introduction
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The descriptions and notes given below refer to
my own, rather rough, large scale, western style of cutting and printing
only, but may, never the less, provide
information eventually of use in other settings.
Extensive information
about woodcut-printmaking - especially in regard of eastern style of printing -
can be found at Barens,
a web site offering information provided by woodcut-artists form all over the world, and on
many of the web-sites of the contributing artists themselves. A large collection of
links is made available at the web-site of Maria Aragno, artist in her own
rights. |
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There are but two rules to follow closely in regard of
woodcutting: First, to use only well sharpened tools, and second,
once the procedures are established, to use but the most qualifying
material. In my settings, I use rather inexpensive wood, ink and paper,
as it fulfills the purpose. But if e.g. very fine cutting would be a request, only
hard, end grain wood would likely do the trick, - and not the poplar wood-plates,
I normally use. |
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Woodcut-work is to me always a unique adventure,
an art-trip involving wood, tools, paper, ink, and myself, all having their
rights and duties, thus contributing to the final result.
In brief : Mostly I use poplar wood. It is
easy available, not too hard to cut, but of very variable quality, rarely suitable for fine
and detailed work. I use
Stonehenge-paper (250 gr/m2) without moistening it before use. It is
easy to print upon, and to reposition as well. I use
Speedball acryl-based screen-printing inks, as these
inks allow to overlap without the newly applied ink
dissolving the ink already applied. For printing, finally, I use a ball-bearing baren, manual pressure,
and, if appropriate, a press. |
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Please note: These notes are written to pass information -
not for the gallery -, some more elaborated and easier to read than others,
addressing readers rather already familiar with the topic. |
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Work place |
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Work-table (w11) : The
cutting-plate is kept in place by wood-sticks and screws
easy to reset. For safety reasons, the plate should not
be hold using but a single hand. |
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Tools |
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Tools and wood contribute both to the appearance of the final
print. A knife evokes a different trace than a v-tool.
The trace produced by a v-tool driven by a hammer differs
from that by the same tool maneuvered solely by hand. Frequently I use for
cutting but a
common carpenter knife and drive the v-tool or the chisel with
a hammer. |
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Sharpening |
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Only sharp tools should be used !!! "to avoid that your finished prints
are not going to look much worse than they need to do," as Dave
Bull - the founder of Barens - wrote in his
charming introduction to wood-cutting. Before use, the blades
of new tools are best examined using a magnifying glass, and their shapes
eventually documented. |
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Sharpening of the tools is best understood by first
having a close look at the blade using a magnifying glass and studying the
literature (see urls below). To estimate the optimal angel of sharpening, the tool is hold in a rather steep position, and then the angel in-between
blade and surface gradually reduced, just until the
blade starts to be lifted out of the plain (w04 ). The sharpening angel may
vary with the angel of the rotation of the handle of the tool.
(First attempts of sharpening are best performed using old
blades, e.g. from carpenter knives. A magnifying glass is helpful
to check on the effect. Some knives request special care
such as the use of specified sharpening stones. |
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Ink, Paper and Wood |
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Mostly I use acryl-based screen-printing inks
(Speedball, two pounds of ink costing about $15) and
Stonehenge paper (250 gr/m2) without moistening it before use.
Acryl-based inks allow to overlap without the newly
applied ink dissolving the ink already applied. These
inks can still be washed off the plate safely the day after printing.
Large scale printing requests considerable more ink than printing in
small formats, and as the printing process involves more time, the ink
is more exposed to
ambient conditions eventually affecting its
consistency. |
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Mostly I use poplar wood. It is easily available, but
very variable in regard of quality, which may vary considerably even within a single plate.
Occasionally, but rarely, a particular piece of wood is suitable for
rather fine and detailed work. If the v-tool produces blistering, the
plate should not be used, as such plates may cause
problems during printing, or easily get damaged during the process of
cleaning or drying.
(Plates containing additives such as glue may severely damage the blade
of the knife !!!)
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Design-and-printing-board
(w601) |
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The design-and-printing-board I use, is mainly built for
plates up to 16x24" and paper-size up to 20x30". An upper, lower and smaller
side bar serve for registration and/or copy purposes. The depth of the board
allows to handle single as well as double-plates (two plates mounted on each other). If only a single plate is used
for printing, an additional
board needs to be installed first to attain half level. |
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Paper
installation |
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The center of the board is brought to the heights of
the large bars, installing e.g. one or two clean
printing-plates. A wood-stick bearing an alignment-line
for the paper is placed on the side bar and the paper
installed adjecting to this alignment- line along the
metal piece of the upper bar. (Instead of the alignment-line also a calibration stick can be used as shown in w610.) The paper is then
attached to this stick using three small clamps, and to the bar
using two large clamps (w615,
w620). Pencil marks are used
to document the position of the paper in relation to the
stick, allowing to verify or correct its position. |
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The
two large clamps allow to fold the paper back during
printing sessions (w625). While
removing the paper the small clamps and the stick remain
attached. This facilitates fast and safe re-installation, helpful for
e.g. multicolor printing or installing
the prints for drying. |
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Plate
installation using a positioning-stick |
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A positioning-stick - consisting of a wood-stick with
a screw inserted at one end, two screws inserted at the
side and a small piece of wood attached at the opposite
side near the end - is placed in the left upper corner of
the board, and the plate installed as shown in w630. The position of the left
upper corner of the plate is calculated related to the
upper and side bars as P (x,y) = [paper length (x.y)-
plate length (x,y)]/2. Every plate-paper-combination has
its specific positioning-stick. |
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Plates
or "element" installation using magnets
["element" equal "part-plate"] (w640) |
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A thin metal plate (20x30") is first placed onto
the board, covered with a piece of paper containing the outlay of the
design*, a transparent paper placed on top to establish clean conditions, the plate or "element" positioned according to the marks and kept in place using magnets.
*The position of the plates or "element" is
estimated in pre-trails, and marked as outlay. |
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The use of "elements" allows not only to "save" wood,
but may lead to a rather specific "free"
expressions. |
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Design-transfer
( addressing readers rather familiar with the topic) |
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The designing or drafting of wood-cuts requests
eventually the use of a mirror-image and/or a copy
technique. |
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Using
transparent paper |
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In brief : The future printing-plate is put in the future
printing-position, a transparent paper - not smaller than
the printing-paper - placed upon and fixed onto/in-between two
alignment-wood-sticks - installed along the metal
piece of the upper bar, and the circumference of the plate
drawn upon (w640).
Thereafter the paper is removed. |
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The drafting-paper is
installed along the metal piece of the upper bar, adjecting to the side bar. The transparent paper is
switched - the alignment stick first showing up now facing down - and re-installed upon the drafting paper
- again along the metal piece of the upper bar -, and the
circumference of the plate drawn upon, transferred onto
the drafting paper. |
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Respecting this frame, the design can now be drawn on
the drafting paper, transferred onto the transparent
paper, and - by switching and re-installing of the
transparent paper - transferred onto the printing-plate. |
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Following these steps allows to keep line-up errors
rather minimal. It also allows to use prints as drafts for further
developments or corrections such as repositioning "elements". |
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Copying
using a printing procedure: |
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Principle : If a piece of speedycut
(SC, a Speedball-product) - or eventually India-rubber -
is pressed onto a freshly inked linoleum-cut-plate and
thereafter onto printing-paper, a nice "direct"
image (w60) results. Using a
wood-cut instead of a linoleum-cut does not lead to much
of an imprint, as the ink sticks rather to the wood than
to the SC. But if the ink is applied onto SC, the SC then
pressed onto the woodcut-plate carrying the design
(leaving a dark mark, w62) -
and thereafter onto another wood-plate, a
"reverse" image ) is created (w64). |
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Proceeding : |
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1 ) A metal stick containing an attached triangle
element is fixed at both large bars, the plate containing
the design installed and the freshly inked transfer-plate
(speedy-cut Speedball) put into position (w650) and the printing-plate
together with the transfer-plate shifted through a
press.. |
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2 ) The original-plate is then replaced by the
receiver-plate, the transfer-plate installed again and
both shifted through the press again. |
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W660 shows good
connection/overlap in-between two areas of two
consecutive transfers, But also that optimal inking of
the plate requests some elaboration. To avoid changes of
shape of the transfer-plate by the press, a soft but not
deformable piece of plastic is glued onto the
transfer-plate. Two thin metal wires are attached along
the mid-line about half-length apart serving as holds. |
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Roller |
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Rollers are used to transfer the ink from the
inking-plate onto the printing-plate. The inking of the plate has to
be completed within a certain time, to avoid that the printing-paper gets
eventually stacked to the plate. |
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Picking up ink or displace
it onto the printing plate is done by gently moving the
roller back and fours, every-time lifting it slightly out
of the plate while still executing the move and resetting
it carefully and slightly displaced. This prevents uneven distribution
of ink on the plate as onto the roller as well. Critical
is to avoid overloading of the roller. Small areas of
ink- overload on the plate can be cleaned using e.g. a
tooth-brush, large areas of overload may eventually
request cleaning of the entire plate. |
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For the first and basic application of ink onto the
printing-plate, the roller is loaded rather sparsely.
This allows to apply rather high pressure onto the
printing plate without fear of filling the spaces in
between the relief-parts of the plate. The goal is to
achieve a thin, uniform, and complete covering of all the
relief-parts of the plate. Correctly done all relief-parts should appear in a soft slightly shiny glance.
Relief-parts eventually not covered by ink, will appear
as not-shiny dry spots and have to be re-worked. |
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This basic inking completed, the load of ink onto the
roller is gradually increased until to its optimal load,
and the pressure applied on the printing plate is
gradually reduced, as the ink on the printing-plate
gradually builds up. A good estimate for optimal loading of
the printing-plate is a characteristic wet, but not to wet,
sound created by the roller when moved. Important in the estimation of
adequate inking is to to be aware, how much ink was actually removed from
the inking-plate. |
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As a press, I use a home-built model. It allows to
create a basic imprint, which then can be completed using
manual techniques. It handles plates up to
22x46". The mechanism to drive the plate and to apply
pressure are separated processes. Acryl-sheets are
used for pressure modulation. The serial arrangement of
the upper roller causes no mayor problems. The
carrier-plate is easy replaceable, the top part of the
press can be removed, thus allowing the body of the press
to be used as a working-table. (Operating at
rather low pressure, this press is not suitable for
etching purposes. Also it is not suitable if high-output
is a request, or to be handled by un-experienced user, e.g.
in a setting such as a school.) |
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Plates |
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Care
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After printing, the plates are cleaned with water
using e.g. a tooth-brush, wrapped
in-between papers for a short time, and then further dried with hot air.
Double-plates are eventually taken apart. The plates are
then clamped onto a leveled reference-plate for a few
days. For protection and uniform exposure, wood-sticks are
placed on both sides (w31). |
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Storage |
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Plates are stored in up-right position, thus exposing both
sites to similar conditions, and periodically
checked on deformation and stable dimensions. |
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Flattening |
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As a measure to protect from breaking, a deformed plate is best exposed to
water (about half an hour for poplar wood). before any attempts of
flattening are performed. |
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For flattening the plate is placed face-down on a
perfectly leveled reference plate and a second plate put
on top, observing a "along" and
"across" orientation of the grain structure.
Clamps are applied and the pressure gradually
increased until the plates are completely flat. Then the two plates are fixed together using screws. Flatness is checked
using a level. A normal writing paper is allowed just to
pass in-between measure and plate. To allow perfect leveling, eventually
small pieces of paper need to be placed in-between the plates. |
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Building plates |
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Self-built plates should only be used, if the
appearance of a connection line in-between the two plates
in the final print can be taken into account or
eventually corrected. |
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Two candidate-plates are placed onto two wooden bars
and then clamped together in position 1 and 2, perfectly
leveled in-between w32 .
These two clamps are then further tightened, and the
plates adjusted at equal level in position 3 and 4. If no
"steps" occur along the common border, the
plates are suitable to be fixed together. The clamps are
then removed,
glued applied onto the parts supposed to fit together, and the procedure repeated
again.
Minor unevenness can be corrected by sanding, sub-optimal
fitting plates are best re-separated, and the whole
procedure eventually repeated. |
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Plate-building, installation-procedure |
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w32 |
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Repair-work |
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Repair work is time consuming and does not always
lead to satisfaying results. Crucial is to select the
most suitable wood right from the start. |
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Faulty parts should be cut out generously, but cutting through
relief parts of the plate kept minimal. If possible, the pieces to be cut out
should be"convex" shaped,
as such a form - corresponding to the form of the future replacement piece
- is easier to shape, facilitates e.g. the use of a sander. |
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Drilling a few holes and cutting out the faulty part,
using a jig-saw equipped with a suitable blade, is usually
effective. To create incisions may require the use of bits such shown in xxx. The new
piece can mostly be created using a jig-saw. Eventually a
scroll saw is needed, to achieve a proper vertical cut. The form
of the replacement piece can be estimated using e.g.
transparent paper. For small and delicate repair work
best end-grain wood is used, as it is easy to shape and
does not break too easily after insertion. End-grain wood
can be created using a powered miter-saw. For severe
repair-work, the still suitable old parts and the new
pieces need eventually be mounted on a new, underlaying
plate. |
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Multicolor prints
(in preparation) |
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Working with a key-block |
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Free-cut *: composition
while doing, using "elements" |
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(* Similar proceedings are described by Walter
Philips, presented by Matthew
Brown in the Barens-Archive} |
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w101 |
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with key block |
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w102 |
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variation of |
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w103 |
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Variation of |
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no overlapping |
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final appearance |
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plate position |
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w111 |
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with key-block |
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w112 |
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detail |
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over-lapping |
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print based multicolor prints ( in prep.) |
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Framing
of large prints using foam-board and floor-molding
material (w85) |
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1) Suitable frame-elements are prepared using a
powered miter-saw. (A powered miter-saw (w82) allows to produce clean cuts, to cut angels of exactly 45 degrees
etc. A touch of water eventually needs to
be applied onto the parts to be cut, to prevent
pre-administrated paint from over-heating,) |
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2) Paper strips are glued along the outer border of
the foam-board considered for backing, restricting the
application of glue to the outer (order-adjectant) area.
A few incisions are made at the inner side, allowing to
install the print and to keep it in place (w83). |
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This method allows to create "chic" looking,
but rather in-expensive frames (approx. $ 15/ per paper
size of 22x30 inches), suitable whenever professional
framing is not a request. Low in weight, they are easy to
transport, but may need a 4-point-fixation at the wall.
Bowing easily, the backing needs eventually
enforcement. Also, the frames are best stored in upright and
firm position. |
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Minor inconsistencies in the shape of the
floor-molding material may hamper their use for middle- or
rather small-sized prints. W81
shows a 45-degree cut. Note the eventually resulting shape- inconsistency. |
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