Workshops / Workshop 7
Block printing
Cut a simple design into a soft printing block and print repeating patterns on paper.
In brief
In relief printing, you cut away the parts of a block that should stay blank. The raised parts take the ink and print. Because the design is stamped, the picture reverses: letters must be carved as a mirror image. One block can print many identical copies.
What it is
A relief print is made from a surface with raised and lowered areas. Ink sits only on the raised areas, so only they print. Woodcut uses a block of wood, linocut a sheet of linoleum, and soft-cut printing a rubber-like block that is easy to carve. A potato cut in half is a block too.
| Material | Carving | Best for | Care |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soft-cut rubber block | Very easy | First prints and classroom use | Wipe clean after use |
| Linoleum | Easy when warm and soft | Bold designs; many prints | Warm it gently before carving |
| Wood (woodcut) | Harder; has grain | Fine lines and texture | Sharp tools and patience |
| Potato or foam | Very easy | Quick pattern stamps | Short life |
Why it matters
- Repeat. Once a block is cut, it can print again and again, which makes patterns, borders and editions possible.
- Reverse thinking. The mirror image teaches you to think about how things look from the other side.
- History. Printing from carved blocks and, later, from movable type changed how images and words spread.
How to make a print
- Design. Draw a simple, bold design on paper with thick lines. Write any letters backwards: trace the design on thin paper, turn it over and transfer it so that the print comes out the right way round.
- Transfer. Rub or trace the reversed drawing onto the block. Mark the parts to cut away with a pencil.
- Carve. Use a V-shaped gouge for lines and a U-shaped gouge for clearing larger areas. Always cut away from your body and keep the hand that holds the block behind the blade. Rest the block on a bench hook or non-slip mat.
- Ink. Squeeze a little ink on a flat tile or tray and roll it out until it is thin and even with a roller (brayer). Roll it across the block in two directions.
- Print. Lay the paper onto the inked block, then rub the back with a spoon or a flat tool called a baren, working from the middle outward. Peel the paper back to see the print.
- Dry and number. Dry prints flat. Signing and numbering a batch of prints as 1/10, 2/10 and so on records how many were made.
- Repeat or add colour. For a second colour, you cut a second block and line it up with the first by using corner marks. This lining up is called registration.
| Fault | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Writing prints backwards | The design was not reversed | Trace the design and turn it over before transferring |
| Patchy print | Uneven ink or pressure | Roll the ink thinner and more evenly; rub the whole back |
| Fine lines fill in | Too much ink | Use less ink; clean the block |
| Blank areas print as grey | Low areas are too shallow and touch the paper | Carve them deeper |
Printing on cloth. Use ink made for fabric and follow the instructions for setting it, which often means pressing with a hot iron. Ask an adult to do this.
A short history of printing from blocks and type
| When | What |
|---|---|
| 760s | Small printed charms made in Japan are among the oldest surviving printed objects |
| 868 | The Diamond Sutra, printed in China, is the oldest dated printed book that survives complete |
| Around 1040 | Bi Sheng in China is recorded as making type from baked clay (known from a later description by Shen Kuo) |
| 1377 | Jikji, a Korean Buddhist text, is the oldest surviving book printed with movable metal type |
| About 1450 to 1455 | Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz developed printing with movable metal type; the 42-line Bible is dated to about 1455 |
| Early twentieth century | Artists began to take up linoleum as a printmaking material |
Block printing and typesetting solve different problems. A carved block suits pictures and a fixed page. Movable type suits long texts because each letter can be reused.
Effects and legacy
Printing made texts and images cheaper and allowed identical copies. Historians continue to debate how large its effects were on learning, religion and politics, but most agree that it changed how ideas travelled. Today block printing is a craft and an art form, and its habits of reversal and repetition appear in everything from wallpaper to stamps.
Check yourself
Read the question, think of your answer, then open it with a tap or the Enter key.
Why must letters be carved backwards?
Printing reverses the image, so a mirror-image block prints the right way round.
What parts of a relief block print?
The raised parts that take the ink.
What is registration?
Lining up successive blocks so that colours sit in the right place.
What is the oldest dated printed book that survives complete?
The Diamond Sutra, printed in China in 868.
Which two safety rules apply to carving?
Cut away from your body, and keep the hand that holds the block behind the blade.
Why does movable type suit long texts?
Each letter can be reused to set many different pages.
Basis of the facts
Where these facts come from. Techniques follow standard printmaking guides. The history table follows Tsien (1985) for printing in China, Korea and Japan, with the Diamond Sutra dated 868, Bi Sheng about 1040 and the Korean Jikji dated 1377, and Febvre and Martin (1976) and Eisenstein (1979) for Europe, with Gutenberg working in Mainz in the 1450s. The claim about artists and linoleum is general. The debate about the size of printing’s effects is stated as a debate. See the sources list.