Hands-On

Something I've aspired to do consistently throughout my life is continue to develop my artistic skills and identity. I want to create. I want to be hands-on and produce things using multiple materials and through various methods. Woodblock Printing is a form of printing - on either paper materials or fabric. Its origins date back to ancient times, but is still popular today (recently making a sort of come-back, actually). Currently it's mostly being practiced in India, where it is then exported to major economies - such as ours here in the USA.

Recently I became very interested in the process and decided to attempt it myself. The following is my (extremely) novice first attempt.

To begin, I took a block of linoleum and traced my simple chain design on top. Slowly, I carved away at the block. You need to carve away the block that isn't included in the design, and so I took out material until just an outline of the chains was left.

When I was satisfied, I took my ink spread on a brayer (basically a small rubber paint roller) and rolled it over the block. Because I carved out all of the empty space, it only applied to the outline of the chain. I pressed it onto my paper and repeated. Thus producing a kind of cool little chain pattern!


Anyway, I had a lot of fun doing it so I'll continue to experiment with different designs, colors, and mediums. I really want to get to fabrics.

Thanks for reading!