print making – Sally Wakelin – Studies in Creativity

Japanese woodblock printing

Coming soon – notes on the technique and some of the experiments I made whilst learning how to make prints using the Japanese technique.

Figures of Eight Sides – woodcut block

Art, Design, print making, Woodcut

Here’s the plywood block cut with the design, after printing and after washing. I like the way the wood grain shows faintly, as well as a couple of mistakes!

I cut the design in plywood and printed several versions of this yesterday. I am going to make a much paler print, then make another cut block with straight cuts which I can then over print in a dark colour.

The woodcut block after printing, it now needs to be washed to clear the build up of ink in the incised lines.

Four Walled Polygons

Art, print making, Woodcut

I made this print recently, using two blocks, the first soft blue print from this block.

and later using an inky dark blue ink on this block.

Tumbling Blocks Woodcut

Art, print making, Woodcut

I made this block back in my studio after the course run by Jonathan Ashworth, at The London Print Studio.

I really enjoyed the cutting part, but I have to say I find the print process more challenging. I seem to get ink in all the wrong places. I have not yet made a two colour version of this block. I may cut some more wood away and do some more prints.

I have used the block with various colours and right now I love the block itself, I have inked in the places where the wood has been cut away, the other colours are the remains of past imprints.

I have still not properly mastered the skill required to make a good print, there are lots of ways of pressing the paper onto the block, probably the best is by using a professional press but they are expensive. There are lots of smaller cheaper presses on the market or available for ad hoc use at various print studios.

The options for independent studios is to use a hard rubber roller, a barren, or the back of a spoon. These all require a certain amount of time, the spoon method takes the longest. I have discovered by watching helpful videos on You Tube, that it is possible to lift the paper, One end at a time, to scrutinise the progress of the print, so you can go back over any inadequately pressed areas.

These prints below are not in any particular order apart from the first, which I made before cutting lines across some faces of the block.