block printing — Play

For my second attempt at block printing I went with a ginkgo leaf because I thought the irregular veins would be fun to carve and look nice with the slightly angular / irregular lines from carving a block. The process felt loose and fun and I’m really happy with the finished stamp.

New skills: n/a

Lessons: Take time and carve outlines carefully. Re-carving a previously carved line can be challenging due to the softness of the rubber.

There’s a real art/science to properly loading a brayer with ink. I don’t think I’ve gotten the knack yet. Checking to see if the entire stamp has a sheen from wet ink is an effective way to see if the block/stamp has been evenly loaded.

Be careful when pressing/rubbing the back of the block to transfer the ink to the paper, because it’s really easy to shift the stamp and create fuzzy lines.

What I’d do differently: Experiment with placing the paper on the stamp vs. stamp on the paper, to see how that impacts how clean the lines are / how much the stamp shifts on the paper.

Try adjusting the carving depth in the negative space around the stamp in order to experiment with having more artifacts (i.e. random marks of ink around the main shape)

Last Thursday I took @thecreativeimperative's awesome class at @needlesstudio and learned how to block print fabric! I spent weeks leading up to the class carefully pondering (read: overthinking) what motif to use for my pattern. Feeling uninspired with a half hour left before the class, I took a last-ditch glance around my apartment and snapped a picture of my heater grate. Bingo. With a couple modifications and a happy little accident (more on that below) I ended up with a pretty rad piece of fabric.

New skills: Cutting a lino block, ink preparation, printing on fabric

Lessons: Shot cotton is awesome!

Design doesn't need to be overly complex, the quotidian is ripe with inspiration.

You might notice the top drawing had long outlined rectangles; while carving my block my lines went squirrelly so one of them went byebye. Normally my MO would be to start over, but embracing the mistake led to a new and interesting outcome. In the words of Bob Ross, "There are no mistakes, only happy little accidents." On that same note, artifacts from ink getting on carved portions of the block can create compelling design elements.

Carving in long, sweeping strokes creates smoother lines. Cutting tool strokes start thin then get wider, so carve outward from sharp corners (using the smallest tool size).

This final lesson is cribbed from @thecreativeimperative but bears repeating: the execution of even a simple geometric design will change as you move from sketch --> transferring to the block --> carving; it's that evolution that makes block printing so compelling.

What I'd do differently: Be more planful about the initial placement of my block on the fabric so the print is symmetrical at the edges. I ended up printing over seams on two edges and being flush with the seam on the other edges.