PROJECT 4: Block Printing

It pleases me that I am finally updating my blog as I know it has been awhile since my last post. I have many reasons for my delay. The first is that block printing material is hard to find. First I stopped at my trusty neighborhood Hobby Lobby but they did not have the material I needed. Then I went to Boulder's finest hardware store/art store and while they did have a few block printing items they did not have exactly what I needed. I was finally forced to order the materials off line from Dick Blick but then of course needed to wait for them to arrive. Then when everything finally arrived I was too busy with work and then I had some lovely out of town visitors that I devoted all of my attention to.

The funny thing about this all? Block printing is the project I have most been looking forward to. It has always been a dream of mine to have my own stationary line. I walk into a stationary store and am overwhelmed. I love the feel and smell of all the different paper. I spent hours picking out my wedding invitations and still pull them out sometimes to remember just how lovely they are. I have made many cards before using different techniques but never block printing so naturally I was excited to try it out.

The first thing I realized is that I absolutely love the process. Cutting the thin strips of rubber off the block is very satisfying. I also realized that it is very difficult to pick a design that will transfer well to block printing. Because detail is something that does not lend itself to block printing it may not be clear that something will not work out once ink is applied and it is transferred to card stock. For instance, I tried making a buddha design in one of the blocks but it did not transfer well so I tossed that idea. The turtle and flower set below were fun to make but I was not extremely pleased with the outcome. My favorite is the lotus flower set below. I think the simplicity of the flower without any writing makes these cards sophisticated but the color makes them fun at the same time.

This is definitely an art that I will continue to practice and hopefully one day will master so that I can add block printing sets to my stationary line!

Tip: If you are a beginner don't use linoleum blocks, they are very hard to cut, My mom told me this and she is an art teacher so I followed her advice and used rubber blocks instead. They were very easy to cut from and I didn't have any trouble.