Block Printing Tutorial

I've been wondering if anyone else is as clueless about "prints" as I am, or was.  Whenever I used to read the word "print," I thought, "reproduction" or "printout." I knew about screenprinting, and woodcut printing, but I just assumed that anyone making an original screenprint or woodcut print would *say* so.  So whenever I refer to my printed art as a "print," I try to communicate that it's not a computer-made reproduction.  I am also crossing my fingers that you know what the art involves.  Rather than rely on luck, how about a lesson in printing?

I don't profess to be an expert. I've read all of one book about printmaking, and have taken zero classes.  Nevertheless, I print. Here's how:

1.  I sit down with a piece of art linoleum or wood. I draw on it, or transfer a design with carbon paper, making sure my design is the mirror image of how I want it to be on the final product.

2. I start cutting out the design with the wood knives, creating shapes like you'd carve a pumpkin...the parts I shave out of the material are going to be paper-colored, and the parts that I leave behind are going to be colored. It's just like carving a rubber stamp.  I never fail to draw blood with those really sharp little carving knives.  One slip-up, and the whole block is ruined, or at least I have to adjust the design. Or I'm running for the first-aid kit.

3. When all the bits are carefully carved out, I can "ink" the block.  I can use acrylic paint if the viscosity is right, or printing ink, or even stamp-pad ink, rolled on with a rubber brayer. 

4.  I get out some smooth paper and try to line it up correctly over my block, before the ink or paint dries.  I press it down firmly on the block, then rub it all over with the back of a round wooden spoon.  Stamping the block onto the paper wouldn't work, there just isn't enough flexibility in the block to get an even transfer of ink to paper. 

5. I peel the print back and let it dry, or trash it if it didn't work. 

So when I say "hand-printed," "linotype," or "original woodblock print," this is what I mean!  I'm offering the greeting cards below for $4 each, and I hope you'll agree they're worth it.  They're 5x7 flat cards on pearlized gold paper, with matching envelopes. Each one is hand-printed using archival sepia-red ink, and signed and labeled on the back. The woodblock is my original work, titled "In the Moonlight."  Let me know if you're interested---I can mail a card to you for $0.50 extra.  I could also do a big batch for baby shower invitations or birth announcements.