Woodcut Class

Last Wednesday night was the second session of a woodcut class that I am teaching in my studio.  Most of the students are still working on their first blocks, but some pulled some if their first prints.

Fawn had taken a class with me before, and cut this lovely magnolia image. She wire brushed out the background to enhance the wood grain.

 

After giving my lecture on color printing, Becca was excited to try out some techniques with her block.  This actually one run through the press, inked with two rainbow rolls.  No, it's not sushi, but combining two colors together on a brayer to achieve a soft blend.

For Becca's print, I helped her make a mask and stencil to ink up her block. A piece of paper was cut with an x-acto knife in the shape of the mountain.  The top half blocked the sky portion so that the mountain could be inked in the rainbow roll blend of ink.  The bottom half of the paper blocks the mountain so that the sky could be inked in another rainbow roll. This was all printed in one run,  but could also be inked and printed in separate runs to avoid smudging.

Julie was not in the class, but was given private instruction on Thursday mornings, and I thought I would mention her here. She carved this dragonfly which I helped her ink up with the mask and stencil technique.  It turned out to be a great little print! 

Photos from White Space

My piece for White Space was four feet square, larger than any piece I've ever done.  I had read somewhere a line about the idea of swatting nervous butterflies away from your stomach. When considering what to do for White Space, I decided to use this idea as a metaphor for swatting away my own butterflies about this event. I took photos of my hands, and drew the image on to the 4' x 4' woodblock.  The butterflies were carved separately, and cut with a jig saw into shaped blocks.  The night of the event, I printed a rainbow roll of orange and yellow as background for the butterflies, and printed the black butterflies on top.  Then was the incredible task of carving the huge block.  I recruited some helpers from the audience to cut out the butterflies, and to help me print the paper just in time to finish!  Thank you everyone for coming out to White Space, and for all of those who helped me finish my biggest woodcut ever!

Me in the studio with the woodblock

Rolling ink for the butterflies

Inking up the block

The bidding sheet

Carving the block

Must not stop carving!

A little visitor with so many questions

Applying glue to the board

The crowd

Friends taking pictures

My little helpers.  These girls helped me rub the back of the paper to print it.  They were such a big help.  I couldn't have finished the piece without them!

The audience

Jen, my husband Paul, and Lisa who was also a big help in in getting my piece finished!

Yaay! I'm done!

The finished piece;

"Swatting the Butterflies Away From My Stomach"

Time Lapse Video of My Piece at White Space

Thank you everyone that came out to White Space to cheer me on.  I appreciated seeing so many familiar faces in the crowd. This was a challenging event, working so large in such a short time period.  I carved the wood block like a mad woman, and finished just in time!


Haberkorn Woodcut Timelapse: BMOCA White Space Event from Theresa Haberkorn on Vimeo.

2010 Scroll Woodcut Calendars are Now Available!

The 2010 calendars are now available at my etsy store Haberkorn!

The steps to making the calendars are as pictured above.  (From left to right) I start with a drawing, which is then transferred to wood and carved out with gouges, and printed on to paper.  The print is scanned in to my computer, where I add the months, and then print it.  The calendar is scrolled around a wooden dowel glued to the bottom for weight and stability.  At the top is a grommet and ribbon to hang the calendar from.  The finished size is 8" x 26", great for those little skinny walls that are too small to hang much else. These calendars make wonderful gifts for everyone on your list!

I Cut Myself!

I get asked every once in a while if I have ever cut myself carving a wood block. Until yesterday,my answer was no, I hadn't really cut myself. When I teach classes, the first thing I say about carving is to never place your hand in the path of the tool. If the tool slips, you will most likely cut yourself. Thankfully, I've had only a few students cut themselves, and nothing so bad that an adhesive bandage couldn't fix. I've met several people who have shown me little "C" shaped scars on their left hand from a slipped tool cutting them. One story was from a guy that said he was in the back of math class carving his block when he cut himself, and had to go see the school nurse.

Yesterday I started carving the wood block for my 2010 calendar. My tools were a little dull - Which by the way, dull tools are more dangerous than sharp ones, because they slip, and need more force to cut through the wood. I also teach students to constantly turn the block, rather than twist your body into a contorted position to cut. Well, I broke all of my own rules, and was cutting sideways with a dull tool, and it slipped into my left middle finger. I didn't really even bleed, but it was a good reminder to be safe, and use the tools properly. So now when people ask me if I've cut myself, I can say, only once.

Registration Guide for Woodcut Printmaking

My student Debby's wood block in the registration guide

In college, I didn't learn how to register paper properly when printing wood cuts, so over the years, I've tried various methods I saw in books, and modified them for my own use. Through trial and error, my registration system has evolved to this current version. I hope this will be of help to other printmakers looking for a way to register their prints.

• A piece of thin but sturdy drawing paper is used as a base for the guide. It should be slightly larger than your wood block to accommodate the guide.
• Build the guide on the upper right hand corner. The woodblock is 1/4 inch thick, the same thickness as foam core. If your wood is thicker, build up layers of foam core or mat board to reach the same height as the wood.
• Place the wood block on the base paper, and draw a mechanical pencil line around it. Glue down strips of foam core as stops for the wood block outside of this line. Make sure they are placed at a perfect ninety degree angle, and fit snug against the wood block. If there is any wiggle room between the guide and the block, the registration will most likely be off when printing.
• Next determine how much margin you would like between the image to be printed and the edge of the paper. In this photo, it was 2 1/2 inches at the top, and 1 1/2 inches on the side. The dimensions were a little strange in order to maximize one large sheet of paper cut down for four prints.
• To make the paper stop, glue down foam core strips overlapping your margin line. Draw the margin line on the foam core strip, making sure it is a perfect ninety degree angle, and is lined up with the corner of the wood block stop. On the outside of this line, glue a strip of mat board. When printing, the edge of the printing paper will push up against these stops to keep it in place.
• This system requires the paper to be cut with a straight edge at a ninety degree angle. If a torn edge on the paper is desired, make the paper margin much larger than needed, and tear it down to size after the print is dry. A torn or deckled edge would not work well with this system since it has such an irregular edge.
• To use the guide, place it on the press bed, place the inked block in the corner of the wood block stop, and then gently place the paper against the paper stop, carefully lower down on the block, and run it through the press.

Envelopes

The envelopes for the invitations were a project by themselves. I made envelope liners that had my woodcut seashell printed on them, and hand addressed the guests names on them.

I was inspired by Martha Stewart to line my invitation envelopes. To make a pattern for envelope liners, take one envelope and cut away the gummed area. Measure and mark 1/8th of an inch off on the sides and bottom of the envelope, and cut on those lines. Transfer the pattern to mat board. Use this to cut around with an xacto knife to cut out each liner. I printed a woodcut on the liners, but any rubber stamp would be a nice touch, or use pretty patterned paper as a graphic liner. To glue them in, slide the liner into the envelope, fold down the flap and the liner together to make the crease. Slide a scrap piece of paper under the liner that is still folded over, and run a glue stick around the edge. Remove the scrap paper, and fold the envelope flap back over the liner and rub it down to stick with a bone folder.

Envelope pattern made of mat board

On the blog Design Sponge that I love to follow, I saw a project for addressing envelopes that inspired me to create my own project. That project was to use a calligraphy font on your computer, and print your envelopes through your home printer in a color slightly darker than your envelopes. This would be used to go over with a paint pen to create the look of calligraphy.

I adapted this project by printing out my guests name and addresses from Word in Bickham Script Pro on to white paper. If you don't have this font, there are several sites that offer free fonts like searchfreefonts.com I placed the print out on a light box, and centered the envelopes over each name, and traced them with a calligraphy pen and ink. Using the dip pen in a bottle of ink gave the envelopes a lovely hand written touch. My hand writing was a little shaky, but I think the results looked almost as good as the real thing. I also used this light box and tracing technique for the seating cards, and menu cards, which I will show in the next post.