Guests printing sunflower

Woodblock printing is fun as was so clearly shown by a couple who visited our B&B a few weeks ago.

After having seen Carcassonne and a few of the Cathar castles, cycled up some serious hilly roads and enjoyed the surroundings, they decided to have a go at woodblock printing.

Apart from remembering what they did at college during art class, like creating a linocut, no other attempt was made at printing.

subject

They chose to do a sunflower and there were only two days left to do it. The sunflower was picked from the garden and a two block print decided upon. Each cutting one block at the same time and alternating between the blocks while cutting. It was truly a joint effort. As time was a limiting factor, all the intro about woodblock printing etc was skipped.

trial block

Not too much time was spent on various techniques apart from how to cut a fine line with particular attention to the direction of the grain of the timber, an explanation of the importance of correct registration and keep the hands and fingers at all times behind the gouges. Dave Bull's (founder of the Baren Forum) favourite motto is "Cut - Print". No more aptly demonstrated in this case.

cutting away

As blocks we used two pieces of poplar ply, which is readily available here. The design was drawn straight on the block with a felt pen, copied on tracing paper and transferred to the second block using carbon paper. Of course making sure the registration was right.

After that it was all downhill. I'd imagined that after a few hours they would have liked a break and do some more sightseeing, but no, they were hooked (line and sinker included for sure).

Not much explaining was required after that apart from the odd tip and a bit of guidance. They really took to it like ducks to water. It was a joy to watch. Anyway at the end of day one and printing very late in the evening, as it was rather hot in the afternoon, we had the first proofs.

For the yellow, deep cadmium yellow dry pigment with rice paste was used, Moku Hanga fashion. That was just and only just possible as the humidity was very low indeed. For the black we had to resort to oil based etching ink as it was an absolute no show using Sumi or the like. The paper was 200 gms cartridge. Because of the nature of the print and the weight of the paper I'd imagined to get away with not moistening the paper and I did: it did not cockle or warp.

applying pigment with brush

They had a go, using the brush for applying the pigment, using the brayer, placing the paper correctly, making use of the registration slots (kento's), printing with the Baren, in short the works and in the end, there it was, the smile.

smiles end of day one

The advice was, what you don't cut now, you can always cut away later. Not the other way round. Thus it was decided by the the two xylographers to cut away more in the petals, keeping in mind the natural shading and overlapping of the petals. This adds some depth to the image.

first cut

Also some repairs were required to the sunflower heart which they did themselves. There was discussion on how to finish the ends of some of the petals and how to to achieve it. This was tried on a separate block before cutting the actual block.

working out detail

This was all done the next day, after which we made the final print.

second cut

During printing the paper picked up some pigment outside the actual image. However I believe it only enhances the playfulness and vibrance of the sunflower head and suggests movement.

yellow block

final print