Printing History:

The use of wood blocks for printing on both textiles and paper dates back to China around 105 C.E. This date coincides with the Chinese invention of paper. The first prints that can be identified as rubbings from woodblock are Buddhist charms from Japan printed in the 6th and 7th centuries.

<-  Ujibashi-danpi, a Japanese stone rubbing from the 7th century.

Suprisingly, there seems to be no connection between the rise of printing and Asia and the rise of printing in Europe. The first type of printing in Europe appears to be textile printing. One finds numerous examples from the 6th century onward. The uses of these printed textiles seems to be decorative wall hangings. Due to their fragile nature, few examples survive and thus their uses are unclear. The earliest surviving woodblock is called the Protat Block, which dates from c. 1370-1380. Cut on both sides, one side depicts a portion of a Crucifixion scene while the reverse shows an Annunciation scene.

The Protat Block   –>

The printing of woodcuts on paper did not appear in Europe until the 15th century. This too coincides with the rise of paper-making in Europe. With paper readily available, printers began taking advantage of the material in order to duplicate images effectively. By the 1430’s, significant numbers of woodcuts were being circulated in Europe. The subjects were often religious, and used as souvenirs of pilgrimages to the shrines of saints. Woodcuts soon became popular for book illustration, and by the 1470’s were beginning to replace hand illuminations for print books. As time went on, European countries developed their own styles of printing.

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) is one of the most famous woodcut artists. He can be credited with perfecting the art of woodcut. His skill came form designing woodcuts to have a level of detail equal to or greater than than of engraving.

<–  Albrecht Durer, The Four Angels, from The Apocalypse series, 1498.

Wood Engraving, as we know it today, was developed as an artistic technique in the 1790’s by Thomas Bewick. Bewick was a British silversmith and engraver. While he did not invent any new tools or techniques, he became the first promoter of using the graveur (or burin) on wood. This technique of wood engraving quickly became the most common method of illustration for newspapers in the 18th century because of its fast and inexpensive production. By the 19th century however, commercial printers had replaced it with more technologically advanced processes. Although it is no longer the primary method of commercial image reproduction, wood engraving has continued as an art form. In addition to the traditional wood engraving techniques, new materials are available to create the same effects. For example, Resingrave blocks are hard blocks made of resin that allow the artist to get a cleaner and more defined line than with wood.

Relief vs. Intaglio Printing:

There are two traditional forms of printmaking; Intaglio and Relief Printing. Woodcuts are a form of relief printing. They are produced by carving out the design with a knife and printing the surface of the block. That means that the lines you cut with the burin are actually the negative space. Intaglio prints, like engravings, are usually carved on metal plates with a burin, or graveur. The word “Intaglio” means “cut in.” Therefore, the black lines (e.g. the lines that show when printed) are those that are incised into the metal. One prints an Intaglio print by rolling ink into the grooves made by the burin, wiping off the excess ink, and printing the plate on damp paper.

Wood engraving is a combination of these two techniques. It uses the base and printing process of relief printing with the tools of engraving (i.e. the burin).

The burin is an engraving tool with a wooden handle and long metal shank with a V-shaped point.

When pushed across the metal plate, the burin creates a clean, V-shaped groove. There are many different types of burins. Some are used to make small lines, some for carving out large spaces, while others are used to make unusual shapes and lines.

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Printing Technique:

Holding the Burin:
To hold the burin, hold out your hand as if you were shooting a gun, but with your first two fingers instead of just one. To position the burin inside that hand position, place the handle of the burin in the palm of your hand. Pull in your pinky and ring fingers to hold the handle against your palm. Rest the tip of the shaft on the pad of your index finger and bring your thumb to rest on the side of the shaft. This way you can use your middle finger as a stabilizer when cutting.

How to cut into the block:
In order to make a cut, rest the shaft at a little less than a 45-degree angle from the block. Then use your wrist to push the handle of the burin forward. This will make a downward motion, shortening the angle between the shaft and the surface of the block. When the angle gets to about 10-degrees, the tip will start to move forward.

Tip #1: You always cut away from you. And always move the block, not your arm.
Tip #2: The more pressure you exert, the deeper the cut will be.

To cut a line without picking up the tip of the burin, the middle finger acts like a caterpillar, arching and unarching itself in order to move forward. This finger is the stabilization that keeps the tip of the burin in place while you prepare to move forward again.

Making a black line:
To make a line in a wood engraving, you must cut away on either side of a black line. In the image; A) Draw a line on the block, B) Cut a parallel line on one side, C) Cut a second parallel line on the other side, D) Begin widening the lines, and E) Clear the white space on either side of the line.

Printing the Block:
Once the block is finished, it must be printed. One can use either a printing press or a wooden spoon. To print with a spoon, ink the block, lay the paper down on top of it, and rub the back of the paper with the back of the wooden spoon.

If printing with a press, first set up your block in a chase (or a metal frame used for locking up images before printing). Create some method of registration alignment for keeping the paper in the same place each time. Use a roller to ink the block.  Place a piece of paper in your registration system and roll it (or press it) through the press. Don’t let the paper shift, or you will end up ghosting the image. After you remove the paper, it should be perfectly aligned and printed.

Bibliography:

Bliss, Douglas Percy. A History of Wood-Engraving. London: Spring Books, 1964.

Hind, Arthur M. An Introduction to a History of Woodcut with a detailed survey of work done in the fifteenth century, 2 vols. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1963.

Laitinen, Kari, et al. The Art and Craft of Woodblock Printmaking. Helsinki: University of Art and Design, 1999.

Landau, David and Peter Parshall. The Renaissance Print: 1470-1550. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994.

Parshall, Peter and Rainer Schoch. Origins of European Printmaking: Fifteenth Century Woodcuts and Their Public. Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2005.

Walker, George A. The Woodcut Artist’s Handbook: Techniques and Tools for Relief Printmaking. New York: Firefly Books, 2005.