1) What are some ways to make a relief block or plate that you had not considered before reading this chapter? What sorts of things do you need to consider before you choose a method for creating a relief block or plate?
2) Which relief techniques from the reading are you particularly interested in and why?
3) Find an example of a relief print online and post a link to it. Why did you choose this piece? What do you appreciate most about it?
The only relief printing that I’d done before was linoleum in 2D Foundations and I didn’t even know it was considered a “relief” print. I knew however, that it could be done on rubber or wood, but I’d never considered cardboard or a potato. I feel like the cardboard might be a little hard to do because of the ridges in-between the two outside sheets. And the potato sounds like it could be a stamp. One major thing to consider before choosing a relief method is the image you want to print. Like it says on there, it can’t be too detailed, except for maybe using wood for the block.
ReplyDeleteThere are two different reliefs that I’m interested in trying, the cardboard block and the wooden block. I’d like to try the wooden block because it says on there that unlike some of the other blocks, like linoleum which I’ve tried and was difficult to do, the wooden one can have a little more defined lines. I’d also like to try the cardboard for the texture. I’d like to see how it would look once it’s cut out and the texture it creates by both the wet cardboard once it’s inked and the texture of the inside of the thin cardboard which has small ridges and is rough.
I chose the following relief: http://www.andy-rader.com/art-print/empress.html. I chose this relief for several reasons, one is that it says that it’s made on plastic which I’ve never seen before. For me the line work was also very impressive. When I did my linoleum I had a lot of trouble carving it out and making fine lines. The fact that this relief is so detailed and has so many thin lines impressed me incredibly because of the skill and the attention to detail the artist had. I also like how he or she shades the whole thing, especially the women’s face. I also like the contrast between the thin lines in the face and thick contrast to the thick dark lines in the hair.
I was unaware of the effect and influence the weather plays on cutting into the plate. For example, it is best to have warm weather or a radiator to cut into linoleum. Also, the importance of the grain direction of the material being cut into. Although linoleum does not have a grain, other materials such as wood and cardboard do. With this being said, I was not familiar with the various types of material that could be used for relief blocks so the idea of using anything other than wood or linolium is foreign to me.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in cardboard as a material because of the natural texture it provides and ease of cutting this material. I am also very intregued by the reduction block method used by Picasso because of the high contrast of the same image.
I chose this piece because I feel like it is a look I could achieve with my lack of experience. It also is an example of the reduction process I was intrigued about in the reading. This website gives the process overview as well as the multiple images of reduction.
http://www.sharingthestoke.com/?tag=reduction-block-print
I am unfamiliar with relief techniques other than the basic lino and woodcut methods, so the whole chapter was filled with new information. I had thought that lino prints could only be made by chipping away at the material with tools, but the chapter showed me differently in that caustic materials can create etchings in the lino. Another method I had not previously even considered is the use of plaster to create my own blocks. Before deciding on a technique, an artist should think of the materials he already has his disposal because as the the reading pointed out, reliefs can be made out of pretty much any material that can be cut into.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the various printmaking techniques sound interesting and fun to experiment with, I would probably just stick to woodcuts. A woodcut would allow me to try something different from my lino experience, but I would not have to reach too far out into the unknown. The one fact I am certain of is that I will not be using cardboard. Every time I have tried to do anything with cardboard, my only success has been in injuring myself...
After browsing through a various galleries and webpages, I found this woodcut print for sale on Etsy: http://img1.etsystatic.com/005/0/6396649/il_570xN.383898785_hcap.jpg. I like it a lot because it's essentially a whole series of lines and cuts that make up a single image. Additionally, the print has particular meaning because the artist said the man in the image is his grandfather, who died shortly after the completion of the work. In my own work, I could potentially use a similar formal technique in my own woodcut, and I would like to tie in some personal meaning as well.
I had never considered using cardboard as a relief print material. I was amazed to see the detail that was achieved using this medium. I have also never considered doing a wood block print because it seemed like it would be difficult but I felt like this reading explained it in a way that seemed not as hard as I had thought. I also like the idea of collage printing. Before you make your prints some of the things to consider is if you will be using a printing press or not. Certain materials can be printed without a press just fine. I think that I like this way of printing because the possibilities are endless! You just need to look around and you could be inspired by something to make art.
ReplyDeleteI chose a print from Andy Radar, I chose this print because the image doesn’t even look life a print. I like the various shades of one color that he uses, creating more dimension using a technique usually used to portray flat looking images.
http://www.andy-rader.com/art-print/titan-oceans.html
Some ways to make a relief block or plate that I had not considered before reading this chapter are that there are more options than just lino and wood to carve into. You can use things like cork, and vinyl, and even use natural objects such as a potato! That was a crazy thing to envision. You have to consider which method will best portray your idea, for example if you needed to have more detail, and etching or lino would make more sense but if you only wanted bold geometric shaped things, then woodcut, cardboard, and collage reliefs would make more sense.
ReplyDeleteSome tools that are perfectly adequate to use on lino are too flimsy to work on other methods such as, wood. Some relief techniques that I find especially interesting are, the reduction black method. I’ve always thought in terms of the lightest color being printed first, but then I read that you can print black first and then print white and color on top. It seems like it would be more work, but then again it seems easier to figure out what the end result will look like.
The multi block method, in which you take separate blocks for each color and then test out colors, is cool, because that is similar to what I did with my calligraphy in the last project.
When I read about ‘Stripping the ink’ I thought that was a horrible idea, taking newsprint and rubbing it on top of a freshly printed piece, sounds like that only leaves great room for a horrible mistake to happen (like a giant smudge).
Printing by hand with a spoon sounds fun and also a bit hard to recreate, due to humans not being able to create the exact pressure every time, then the darkness of the ink on the paper may change.
I’ve done a lino cut print before and I really enjoyed the whole process, I hope to make more of those types of prints.
I found the Caustic soda technique strange because it included a warning to “always add crystals to water and never the other way around”. Sounds like something could go very wrong.
I found this image of skulls at different angles at the following link, http://lestaret.wordpress.com/tag/relief-print/ I chose this relief print because I thought that there was such beauty in the simplicity. The embossment on the paper was wonderful and the shapes created by the chose of line placement and line thickness made this work interesting and very successful. I appreciate the little lines created around the skulls that make it imperfect; it makes it come more alive to me. Also the fact that there is a theme is awesome, I especially like the one with the text that says “~never more”.
1) What are some ways to make a relief block or plate that you had not considered before reading this chapter? What sorts of things do you need to consider before you choose a method for creating a relief block or plate?
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of the process involving caustic soda crystals, the speeding up of the etching process is something very intriguing to me. Some things I need to decide on is, what kind of image I want to work with, both size and style to decide which method will be best to pull such a print for this project.
2) Which relief techniques from the reading are you particularly interested in and why?
Woodcuts are really interesting to me because I have never personally worked with them but I always have loved the result or product of working with such process.
3) Find an example of a relief print online and post a link to it. Why did you choose this piece? What do you appreciate most about it?
http://records.photodharma.net/documentary/buddhist-woodblock-printing-in-china
I chose this one because not only is this once process (woodblock printing) that interests me greatly but the detail achieved with such a technique so long ago is really impressive to me. I appreciate the longevity of this process of work and integration of text and image.
1) What are some ways to make a relief block or plate that you had not considered before reading this chapter? What sorts of things do you need to consider before you choose a method for creating a relief block or plate?
ReplyDeleteIt never really dawned on me for some reason that you could essentially use anything to make a relief block or plate; I've always ever thought about relief plate as either wood or linoleum, but in actually basically anything you could carve into could be considered a relief plate. For instance, a potato-stamp, cardboard, or even cork can work. You need to consider what materials are available to you, how important detail and precision is important to you, and what kind of mark-making you want to utilize. For instance, a linocut would allow way more expressive mark-making than woodcuts, which would be a bit more precise and harder to carve into.
2) Which relief techniques from the reading are you particularly interested in and why?
I'm interested in woodcuts because I have never done it before, and yet it is such a traditional printmaking technique. I imagine it would create an entirely different feel than a linocut would.
3) Find an example of a relief print online and post a link to it. Why did you choose this piece? What do you appreciate most about it?
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uu0tqZdBrBY/TJKNWWAYxSI/AAAAAAAAANY/uuFZhy77ib0/s320/Kathe_kollwitz.jpg
The image I found was "The Widdow II" by Kathe Kollwitz. I really deeply love German expressionism because of the strangeness and attention to line quality. This image perfectly exemplifies both attributes that I admire about German expressionism, and it's got a very macabre, eerie feel to the entire thing.
1. I am shocked that you can use things ranging from cardboard to a potato to create a relief print. Some things I may need to consider before choosing a method for creating a relief block or plate are the size of the image, the amount of detail in the image, and how clearly I want the image to come out. It would be extremely difficult in my opinion to carve a facial profile of some sort into a wood block, so I would probably avoid that. I am personally a perfectionist/neat freak so I like my images to come out crisp and clear so I would probably avoid a majority of techniques suggested such as the potato one because I don't like my things smudge-y looking. Instead, I would probably opt for a "clean" lino print.
ReplyDelete2. I am a fan of linoleum printmaking but woodcuts sound interesting as well. The wood seems like it would be a bit more difficult to do but I really like the sharpness of the print it creates. I can see myself doing this with images such as high heels, lips, or flowers. I think it would be fun to try something new and I am up for this challenge.
3. http://pinterest.com/pin/9148005462581152/
I chose this piece because I am always drawn to bright colors and whimsical imagery, and I had never seen a relief print quite like this before. I love the color palette chosen- bright blue, hot pink, mossy green, lavender, and a hint of yellow. Although the image as a whole is far from realistic, it is still almost like you are looking at an actual scene of hummingbirds in a garden. I like that it is cheerful and think the composition worked well also.