Block Printing: Secrets Uncovered!

Block Printing Stamps and Things

You guys, I have learned the secrets of block printing.  Come closer, and I will share them with you.

First, Speedball Speedy Carve.  It's pink and squishy, and cuts like butter.  Squishy, rubbery butter.  It's excellent.  My cutter has never slipped on this surface and jabbed my finger.  I thought it would be far more difficult to make detailed designs in Speedy Carve, but it's not any worse than having lino crumble on you when you're trying to make tiny cuts.  So I'll be buying this stuff from now on.

If you are using unmounted linoleum, printing can be a pain, but you can make it easier by doing a very simple thing: put a piece of sheet foam between your carving and the block.  I use clear acrylic blocks that are meant to be used with clear scrapbooking stamps, and sheets of craft foam - you can find it in stores with the 'kids craft' stuff.  So it goes, block, tape, foam, tape, carving.  It helps to have the squish of the foam when printing, because that way you'll get more even pressure.  It doesn't remove the mottling problem completely, but it does make it better.

I never did get that rubber brayer.  Instead a got a tiny foam roller - it's 1 inch across - so it doesn't need to soak up tons of paint before you can start rolling, and I don't feel like I'm wasting paint.  Plus, it was only a buck, and while you could throw it away and use another, it washes up easily.

Things I hope to learn as I go:
How to make my prints more vibrant.  It's the mottling issue again.  I'm starting to like how block printing looks, but I wish there was a way to lay more paint down so not so much fabric shows through.  (The rubber brayer?  ...maybe.)  And once I figure that out I can print on dark fabrics!