Но сам процесс...
Several people asked me recently to explain a process of woodblock printing, my hobby in the last couple of years. So, I decided to make a post that will give a glimpse into this ancient way of image reproduction that has been replaced long ago by more efficient tools (who said "laser printer"), but luckily survived as a way of artistic expression.
I hope that this post will be interesting for you. For those of you who are interested to learn more, I'd recommend Diode Press YouTube channel that provides series of tutorials for different techniques of printmaking, starting with woodblock and linocut printing https://www.youtube.com/c/DiodepressNet1
The first step is finding a subject/inspiration for the woodcut. Many of my works, including this one, are based on my photos. In this case, the inspiration came from a shot I made in Djúpalónssandur black-sand beach in Iceland. The rock on the right reminded me of a troll, who, along with fairies, constitutes a backbone of Icelandic folklore. Trolls live in the mountains and only come down from them to forage for food. Trolls can only survive in the darkness of night and if they were caught in the sunlight they would immediately turn to stone. This rock had to be one of those careless trolls. First, he got petrified, and now he is going to be wood carved!
Photo is rarely ready as-is to become a woodblock print, and my photo editing skills are not strong enough for post-processing it into a nice black-and-white woodcut scheme. So, in many cases I end up sketching despite starting with a photo. In this case I used it as an opportunity to enhance the landscape by making the rock more troll-like and converting the cloud into a mysterious abstract shape. After sketching the scene, I scanned the image and printed it resized to match the woodcut block. The fact that the image was printed using a laser printer is going to be really useful for the next step.
Now it is time to transfer the image to the woodblock. As you can see, the transferred image is mirrored; during the printing it will be mirrored back, thus restoring the original orientation.
Using a laser printer allowed me to transfer the image directly from the print to the woodblock using a blender marker. All I had to do was to put the print on the block facing the wood, and to traverse the image using the marker. The particles of the image toner powder just got stuck to the wood. Just wonderful! No manual or carbon-paper redrawing is needed!
The tools that are used for woodblock carving are sets of U and V shaped gauges and knives. They are usually made in Japan, where the technique of woodblock printing (木版画, mokuhanga) is still widely popular. I am using two sets of tools - one for general work, with width ranging from 3 to 9 mm, and another set for carving the details, width of those is only 1.5-2mm.
[2-3 hours later] Ok, the carving is completed. All the areas that should stay white are carved out, while those that should be printed stayed intact. So, it’s ready for printing. I mean, unless I find some issue during the trial prints, but let us hope for the best. By the way, for this woodcut I've used for a first time a cherry wood block (you can see the noble pink toning); as expected, it was much harder to carve but holds details better than shina (Japanese linden) blocks that I usually use.
Finally, printing stage. We are preparing the color on the glass board and are going to apply it to the block using the rubber brayer, European style (in Japan the color is applied using a wide brush instead).
Hm, we have some color in places that should have stayed clear, especially in the sky. Usually, it means that the carving was not deep enough, and the brayer touches the shallow areas. But in this case deepening the carving solved the problem only partially. As you will see, some unwanted black points/segments remained despite the fixes. The reason is a “bug in design” - I left a large white area on the top, without additional “black” - raised - areas to hold the brayer firmly above. A couple of small clouds could solve the problem. Nu shoyn, it’s anyway too late to fix it…
Ok, now it is really printing time. Fixing the block on the printing board, putting paper on top and pressing it to the ink on the block using a baren. Medieval printmakers in Europe were pressing the paper using a simple wooden spoon, but baren is smoother and allows even distribution of pressure. Also, it would be kind of embarrassing to create an art piece using a spoon, right?
The first print is ready (it’s not really the first one, it’s a first successful one, but I spared it for you). There are a couple of unwanted white sectors, but it can be fixed later. Now let us continue with printing the series, because what’s the point of woodblock printing if you print only one copy? Actually, there is something named monotype, where a similar technique is used to produce a single image, but that’s not our case.
The series is done. All the prints in a series should come from the same block (check), have same quality (check) and be practically indistinguishable (ah, kind of). Now we should let the ink dry. The ink that I am using will be dry overnight, but there are kinds that stay wet for days and even weeks. I am not that patient.
The ink is dry and now it’s time for a stage that is sometimes skipped in printing tutorials - the fixups. It’s a chance to fix the imperfections of the print and to “heal” the unwanted white areas. I am doing it by applying a miniscule amount of color (same color that was used for the print) using a pointy rubber brush (or whatever this thing, that I originally got with my ceramics toolset, is). I imagine that for a series of 100 prints this fixups stage would be exhausting, but I have only five of them. Now we’ll let the ink dry again.
Finally, it’s time to feel yourself a real artist - I mean to sign the series, to mat or even frame the first (aka best) copy to show off to your friends, and put the rest of the series, along with the carved board and the original sketch, to your portfolio bag.
Congratulations, we did it!