Printmaking is an art-form with a long history that includes a variety of ways a print can be made. One popular technique is relief print making using a wood block. Wood block prints have a unique character impossible to recreate with other techniques.
As you probably guessed, the block print process uses a block of wood. The block is carved and then covered with ink using a brayer in order to create an impression. Wood Block is so unique because the wood itself has the uncanny ability to take on a life of its own. The type of wood that is chosen to make a block can really affect the type of print it creates. A hard block will offer sharp lines and an overall cleaner look but requires a fair amount of strength to cut. A softer block is quite easy to cut, but because of that, fine details can be easily lost. Regardless of what type of wood you decide to use as your block, it is crucial to have a flat block free of any warps or bends and sharpened chisels. Though sharpening can be boring and tedious, dull tools will ruin your block due to their unpredictability while cutting. Just like it is important in drawing to keep your lines all moving in the same direction along the object, in wood block the same rule applies to your chisel marks. If you move slow and keep a steady hand, it is easier to create a block to be proud of.
The technique of wood block printing requires a great deal of work and preparation. Due to its hands on style, wood block has a character unmatched by any other relief printing technique. In the tech-heavy world we live in, it is sometimes nice to get your hands dirty.
Congratulations to TSA instructor Max-Karl Winkler who recently had one of his wood block prints selected for inclusion in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress. Events transpired at the Drawn to Washington 2 show in Rockville, Maryland, sponsored by the Washington Print Club. From the 50 print show, the only awarded was a purchase prize selected by Katherine Blood, Director of the Prints and Photographs Division at the Library of Congress for the permanent collection. Winkler’s portrait, Karisa (featured above) was the one she chose.
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