Week 1 _ Carving the Block

 CARVING THE BLOCK

Materials:

- linoleum block w/ completed Sharpie drawing

- X-acto knife (with new blade)

- carving set (gouges)

- bench hook and/or non-skid material

SAFETY FIRST

1. Use a “bench hook” (fig. 1) when carving your block to avoid cutting yourself. A bench hook holds the block in place as you carve so that your hands are free. It is typical for people to use both hands on the tool when carving for greater control. If holding your tool one-handed, always keep your non-tool holding hand BEHIND the cutting tool. Always cut away from yourself.

2. Keep your tools sharp, a dull tool makes a ragged cut, it is hard to push through the material, and it is dangerous (a sharp tool is safer than a dull tool.) If your blades are sharp and you are having trouble cutting into linoleum (i.e., you are meeting resistance) heat the surface of the linoleum with a hairdryer, this will soften the linoleum and make it easier to cut. 

CARVING GUIDELINES

There aren’t fixed rules for carving the block. Practice and experimentation lead to expertise and a personal “hand,” as in regular drawing. However, the following suggestions will help you to develop your own procedure.

 

The tools may be described as U-shaped veiners, V-shaped veiners, gouges, and chisels. Take a piece of scrap linoleum and experiment freely with each of your tools (or tips) to familiarize yourself with the marks they make. Veining tools are used for cutting close to the lines or masses of the design and may thus be considered outlining tools, while gouges and chisels are better suited for quickly removing large negative shapes.

 

When trying to cut very fine details in Linoleum, pre-cut the lines with an X-Acto knife, and angle the cuts away from the surface that will be inked. This makes the areas that are left more stable and less likely to break off. (fig. 3) Curves and angles require utmost care in cutting. Pivoting the block often works better than turning the tool in cutting curves or angles.

 

Cut away (remove from the block) anything you do not want printed, but remember that some of what you leave in large cutout areas will probably print as well so be aware of the directions of your cuts and make them fit the “flow” of the image. In terms of depth, you want to carve low enough so that ink won’t catch on unwanted areas, but not so deep that you hit the burlap backing.

 

Leave an uncut border (fig 2) all the way around the edge of the block unless your image has only small areas that are cut out. This allows you to roll ink over the whole surface without having the brayer “fall” into the cut areas of the block. You can always tape the border before inking, and remove the tape when you are ready to print the block, if you do not wish to have the border printed.

 

Work carefully and deliberately. You can always remove more material from the block, but you can’t go back and add it after it’s gone.

* Here’s a link to a decent demonstration video on carving the block in case you need a refresher of the class demo: 

Diode Press, Linocut Printmaking Tutorial 04: Carving the Block _  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuDZIhKxlQ8

WEEK 1 _ Project 1 "Exquisite Corpse"

Project 1 – EXQUISITE CORPSE PRINT

Exquisite Corpse was a collaborative parlor game invented by the French Surrealists in the 1920’s.  Initially conceived as a way to explore chance through the use of text, participants would write on a piece of paper, fold the sheet to conceal words, and then pass it along to the next person for their contribution.  Once the sheet traveled to each participant (none of them knew what each other had written), it was unfolded and read as a poem.  The name Exquisite Corpse was a result of one of these games: “The exquisite corpse will drink the young wine."  The game was also adapted to drawing, where the participants in the group would collectively generate an image of a body, with each member contributing to a different section of the form.  As with the word game, the drawing was folded when passed onto the next person, so the end result was always a surprise. 

 

Project 1 will be modeled after this Surrealist image-generating technique.  We’ll start by drawing out images on forms that provide guidelines that designate the areas where the body must intersect (see red lines on form below for example). Please be creative with your imagery, and also think about ways you can utilize the negative space around your figure (with pattern, text, architecture, landscape, etc.).  Also, you don’t have to depict a human figure, and are free to create an imaginary form of your choosing, as long as its fits within the designated areas on the block. 

 

Students will begin by creating a minimum of 2 different designs as options. It’s fine to “pencil” you designs during layout stage but you must ink them in Sharpie (pure black and white) before submission. This will allow you to see how the design will translate in block-print. Completed designs are due next class (Weds., Aug. 28).

 

Then students will each receive a block of the same size, which will be divided into 1/3’s. Then select one of your designs and transfer your image to your blocks and carve each section. You will each carve your own figure and after everyone has finished, the blocks will be reassembled/printed in different configurations during a single collaborative day of printing.   (Weds., Sept. 4). 

TIMELINE

 

Week 1:     8/26  _  Syllabus. Project 1 “Exquisite Corpse” introduction. Students begin designing figures using the provided forms.

  8/28  _  Project 1 designs due (minimum 2 options) > pinup. Blocks distributed and toned. Design selection and transfer to blocks.

               Carve for HW.

                                                                        

Week 2:     9/2  _  LABOR DAY (no class)

  9/4  _  Project 1 Carving Complete (hard deadline) > Collaborative Print Day for Exquisite Corpse Prints

Refresher: Designing for Relief Printing

Definition: Woodcut and Linoleum block printing are the traditional processes, but many other materials may be used for relief. The raised (or “relief”) surface will be inked and printed; the non-printing areas of the block will be cut away and do not print. This process allows for multiple prints of a single image (an edition) and will hold up to many passes through a press or much rubbing with a baren.

Designing for block print has a lot to do with drawing as we generally understand it, but the nature of the technique makes dealing with tonality a little different. 

 

Think of block print as a YES or NO proposition.

 

What is meant by this is that there will be no gradation of tonality in the inking. It’s all black or white. You can’t “shade” as you do in drawing. Instead, any mid-tones that are desired must be created through the use of optical grays. Optical grays in drawing refers to techniques like stippling, hatching, and cross-contour where lines and marks create the illusion of a grayscale based on their frequency and proximity to one another. 

 

Let’s look at a few examples and go over the way that they are “drawn” as a consequence of the tools and reductive method that were employed in the carving of the block.

All-over Design _ Student (William S. Rice)

A. Value shapes, sharp edges, little-to-no texture, positive/negative reversal motif in repeating diagonals. (Stark contrast; no inadvertent inked ridges in the light shapes). 

Windmill, Golden Gate Park _ William S. Rice

B.) Some larger blocked areas of tonality with “soft,” permeable edges that allow for less harsh figure-ground relationships. Directional “hatched” lines create mid-tones, texture and rhythmic movement. Linear border.

Fractured Self-Portrait _ Unknown Student Work

C.) Value shape layout employing repetition as a design element similar to a 2-color posterization effect. Mid-tones are created by the leftover highpoints in the light areas, some intentional, most a consequence of the technique. They add to the expressive content. 

D.) Heavy use of cross-contour to suggest a volumetric form. Somewhat erratic line quality and mark-making complement the irreverent, stylized death’s head. No border.

 

In general, I would describe block print as one of the most “graphic” printmaking techniques. Other techniques like aquatint and monotype allow for more “painterly” approaches to image making.