ART (OTHER FORMS) > BLOCK PRINTING

Block printing is making use of a carved piece of wood or any other type of wooden block to imprint an image or text on fabric or paper. In the early days of printing, it was used to print entire books. It is one of the oldest types of printmaking, and has been around for thousands of years. There is evidence that it existed as early as the fifth century BC, with actual fragments found from as early as the fifteenth century. It has been done around the world, with roots in India, China and Japan. Since there is such a long history of block printing, there are many different techniques, but it is essentially using a carved material covered in ink to transfer an image on to paper or fabric. Block printing can be done with wood, linoleum, rubber, or many other materials, but I use linoleum for my work. Images that are printed with this technique are typically much bolder than other types of printmaking: since the blocks are carved by hand, there is often less detail and more texture to the prints. It is possible however, when using a very small knife, to carve blocks with a huge amount of detail. Block printing is also known as “relief printing” because the ink leaves a raised texture on the paper. This is different than letterpress where the image is applied with enough pressure to leave an indent on the paper; typically block printing is done by hand, so the ink sits on the surface adding a raised texture to the paper.