RUBBER STAMP: THE MINIATURE MATRIX BY RAND HUEBSCH (above and left) Brayer-inked with oil-based black etching ink, then hand-printed as rubber stamps. They are among the 18 chapter headings, used actual size (2"h x 4"w), for the young-adult novel The Telling Pool (Harry N. Abrams, 2005). When I first learned to However, the best carving carve rubber stamps out of block is Mastercarve, pro- soft-polymer blocks, I duced by the Staedtler Mars enjoyed the process so much company from the same soft that it was my sole printing polymer used for its erasers. technique for a year.As The block cuts like butter; miniature relief blocks that unlike some others, it is nei- are inexpensive to make and ther rubbery, impeding the easy to print, stamps are cutter, nor does it crumble ideal for introducing to stu- along the edges of the dents such printmaking carved line. The 4" x 4" size concepts as the multiple is often the most economical image transfer, inking varia- and can be cut into smaller tions, stencil cutting, and pieces with scissors or an X- color registration. acto knife against a ruler held firmly on a carving Materials block.All of its surfaces can Carving blocks be carved.You can also buy Linoleum-cutter set the small erasers made by (one handle and various Staedtler Mars and then use interchangeable blades) several together for a com- Soft-lead pencils or felt- posite image. tip pens Stamp pads Drawing and Smooth paper Carving a Stamp Please note: There are a First, stamp a light color number of blocks that can onto the block. Stamp off be used,and,for that matter, any excess so that when you so can erasers, such as start to carve, there will be a Artgum, which have the helpful contrast between the advantage of being easily colored surface and the obtainable at stationers. white of the carved areas. 18 BOUND & LETTERED Paper stencil (actual size and printed from a carved polymer block) used for overlap printing. The print (4"h x 6"w) shows a school of fish and was made using water-based stamp pads, with crayon additions. See inside front cover for color illustration of school of fish. Next, either draw your design away from youself and keep the directly on the block or do an steadying hand to the side of the image transfer, for which tracing pointed end of the linocutter. paper works well. Trace the out- line of the block onto the paper Carving Tips to provide a framework within To increase the width of a line, which to draw.When the draw- so that more of the paper shows ing is done, reposition the block in the print, use either the same within that outline, press it blade in a second stroke along Pencil sketch for image transfer to carving block. (The transferred against the drawing, and repeat- one edge, or a thicker blade. For sketch reversed on the block to correct itself for printing.) edly tap or press all over. If the a curved line, turn the block transferred image is faint, you while carving, as in wood can reinforce it before carving. engraving; the slower the carv- For carving, some people grip ing motion, the greater the con- the cutter’s handle as they trol. For a tight curve, turn the would a pencil. I prefer to hold block more quickly it so that my palm is under- While lines and dots, rather neath and my fingers curl than crayon-like gradations, are around it. In either case, hold best suited for relief images, you the cutter so that it is at a diago- can create some tonal areas on nal to the block, and the “u”of the block by selective sandpa- the blade is right side up. Place pering.At various stages of the block on a solid surface, like carving, test-print the stamp; a table top, and steady it with draw with white pencil onto the your free hand. proof,then study that to see Engage the blade into the whether to carve away the cor- block, and then very slightly responding area on the block. move it upward in the material when you start to carve. Don’t Inking and Printing press too deeply.Each width of To ink the stamp for printing, gouge makes a distinctive mark, place it on a stamp pad and, like a brush. Try varying the using medium pressure, tap it carving pressure, to produce a all over. I prefer the felt pads to widening or narrowing line. I the foam ones. Dye-based inks use an X-acto-like blade only may be less fugitive than other rarely, for neatening the interi- kinds. Some of the inks are ors of corners. Broader blades water-fast, so that once they or gouges are good for clearing dry, watercolor washes can be large areas. It is important to added and the print will not Title-page image (4"h x 3"w) from relief-rolled block, printed remember that these blades and smear. with oil-based etching ink. gouges are sharp.Always carve BOUND & LETTERED 19 Look at the block to make sure in a different color. Print one that there is an even coverage of Anthologies of woodcuts can provide many image ideas. It section at a time and don’t ink then press it onto the print- will help to keep in mind two basic relief-printing concepts: (1) remove section A from the paper ing paper. Holding the block in the image on the block reverses on the paper and (2) only the until you have positioned sec- place, use that same tapping un-carved areas will receive ink and thus create the printed tion B next to it. Or assemble all motion, but with more pressure, image. For design planning, draw with white pencil on black the inked elements, face up, and to transfer the ink. It can help to paper, to approximate carved areas on the block. This white-line then place thin paper on top and have the paper on a slightly carving approach is very direct, as it involves a single stroke of use the baren to apply pressure cushioned surface, such as a the blade. Prints by Thomas Bewick, originator of wood engrav- and print. blotter.Although smooth-finish The rubber stamp is well suit- ing, are good examples of white-line images. papers provide for the most ed for repeat printing within a even printing, also try textured Albrecht Durer’s woodcuts are remarkable examples of the composition or to augment ones, especially if the image is black-line approach, which requires that material be carved existing images.When the bold. away on both sides of any line that is to print black. (For a stamp is used in this way, it is You can instead place the black-line image from a white-line carving, use opaque white best to carve the surrounding stamp face up, put paper on top, ink on the block and then print on black paper. Reserve a bor- polymer down to a level that will and apply pressure with a disk der of uncut block around the image, so as to have a white bor- not receive ink.Among the more or baren*,as is done in tradi- der when the block is inked.) Many artists like to use both obvious images for repeats are tional Japanese woodblock approaches in an image, as the German Expressionists often did leaves,birds,plants,and archi- printing. in their woodcuts. tectural details, as well as Before printing in another abstract elements.With a single color, stamp off all the ink to stamp, you can also obtain a register by eye, or make an L- avoid contaminating the next Variations great variety of multiples, by shaped cardboard jig that is pad.When finished, clean the For traditional multi-color printing it in different colors, placed on the paper and in the block with soap and warm printing, make a block for each directions, overlaps, and “ghosts” corner of which each inked water. color in the image, by means of (a second printing without re- block is positioned successively. Transferring ink from pad to separations.All the blocks inking). For me, one of the plea- The jigsaw block, such as stamp by brayer usually gives a should be of uniform size. Use sures of printmaking is the Edvard Munch used, is another more even coverage. It also the outline of one of them as a paradoxical option of using the multi-color approach. Plan the allows for a larger-size block framework for the prototype same matrix for printing varia- image so that different sections than could be fitted onto a color drawing (in designing that tions. will be of different colors. Carve, stamp pad.You can also put a prototype, make use of the fact For an overlap effect (as in a then cut the various sections thin strip of water-based block that an overlap of two water- flock of birds or school of fish), apart (with X-acto knife or scis- ink, such as Speedball, onto a based inks produces a third first make a masking stencil by sors), so that each can be inked sheet of Plexiglas or shatter- color). Then draw the outline of stamping on paper or thin proof glass, roll up the brayer, the same block and apply to the stamp. Take on tracing paper. care not to over-ink and fill in Place that sheet the carved lines.Adding acrylic over the proto- retarder to the ink on the slab type and trace can slightly delay its quick dry- the outlines of ing time.As oil-based block all the areas of inks dry more slowly, they are the same color.