Process

The Studio

Traditions, built on practice, research, invention, and ink.

Printmaking studio bench with a large magnifying lamp and hand tools — The Studio
Tools, materials, and close observation shape every print.

From Block to Print

The Craft

“Relief” print making, with some exceptions, dates back as far as 7th century China. The most basic element of “relief” printmaking is the printing block. In more modern times it is a 1/8th inch layer of linoleum, glued to a plank of wood. The linoleum surface can be tooled in any imaginable way to create an interesting image through carved areas and textures.

Printmaking process step 1 showing color layer progression

Printmaking process step 2 showing color layer progression

Printmaking process step 3 showing color layer progression

Printmaking process step 4 showing color layer progression

Printmaking process step 5 showing color layer progression

Printmaking process step 6 showing color layer progression

Each color usually requires a separate block, meaning there can be as many or few as is practical. Many of my prints are between six and eight blocks per edition and because printmaking produces a mirror image, each block must be hand carved in reverse.

An ink roller coats the surface of the carved block, onto which a sheet of archival paper is positioned precisely, then cranked firmly between the rollers of the printing press. The paper is then peeled from the block to reveal an impression.

Overhead view of ink rollers and a tray of carving gouges — Tools of the Trade
Rollers, brayers, and gouges kept within arm's reach.

A hand guiding a carving tool across a block — Cut by Hand
Every line is cut in reverse, one pass at a time.

Completed plate etched with a school of fish, before inking

Close detail of flowing aquatic line and texture etched into the plate

Angled close view of aquatic textures etched into the plate surface

Intaglio

A SECOND TRADITION ABBREVIATED GUIDE

Etched copper plates · centuries-old tradition

Etched plate of a rooster before a thatched wishing well surrounded by hollyhocks — Wishing Well
Line and texture bitten across the full plate.

Etched plate of a seated Buddha beneath a torii gate and sprawling tree — Lotus
Fine scribed line drawn directly into the surface.

Intaglio is a printing practice of record reaching back hundreds of years. A copper plate becomes the canvas that is drawn onto, scraped, and manipulated with specialized tools to open its polished and asphalt - coated surface to then be submerged in a pool of Nitric acid. Acid eats into the metal, then delicate surface patterns begin to appear and scribed lines form grooves.

Ink is worked into all the details, both sensitive and deeply bit, then the polished surface is wiped clean so the image lives entirely below the plane of the plate. A sheet of damp cotton paper is placed over the inked plate and cranked through the press under great pressure where the ink and paper fibers are married together across the topography of the copper plate to create a record of tooling and acid etching.

When the paper is peeled away, the image emerges — describing the slight tonal variations of the greys, the intention of a deep black scribe and the intervening burnishing for whites. The careful application of ink into the varied surface of the plates along with the warmth of natural paper, make these intaglio prints feel less like printed multiples and look more like detailed singular images to be explored.

Printmaking hand tools laid out across a plate surface — Hand Tools
Scrapers, needles, and burnishers.