Here's the 22nd. state of a woodcut I've been working on off and on for the last year or so. It's on 1/4 inch birch plywood, 13 by 22 inches, oil-based ink printed on an etching press. The plywood developed waves after cutting and is no longer flat so it's difficult to get a consistently inked print; I'll know to use a thicker wood next time! This is the largest woodblock I've done. http://www270.pair.com/madis/a/clouds1.jpg http://www270.pair.com/madis/a/clouds2.jpg Not sure if I'm through with this print or not, probably title it "Walking In the Clouds".
Baren-suji is the online newsletter of [Baren]; The International Forum for Woodblock Printmaking. The official internet site of [Baren] is http://barenforum.org Baren-suji are the marks left by the baren when printing. Similarly, this newsletter assumes the role of recording the marks left by the woodblock printmakers that constitute [Baren].
Darrell, you can 'easily' hold 1/4" plywood flat for carving and printing any number of ways (of course, I use vacuum), but the simplest and easiest is just to glue it to a similar sized piece of 1/2 or 3/4 inch plywood -- use Titebond or other wood glue and spread it evenly and thinly over the surface of the thicker piece (normally you spread glue over both surfaces to be joined, but this way is safer for your year-long carving and will still work) -- you can use one of those toothed plastic glue spreaders used for tile setting to make thick and thin stripes which will make it easier to adhere stongly. Then position your carved block on the glued-up backing block and put another heavier plywood sheet on top and clamp or weight heavily for an hour or more.
ReplyDelete-- Mike