Wallace Koopmans Artlog

A flock of prints.  I’ve finished printing and just need to number and sign them.

I wanted to show how little is required to do relief printing.  In this photo is everything that is required; A block of material to carve, paper to print on, ink to print with, a hard surface (glass in this case) to roll out your ink on, a rubber roller and something to force contact between block and paper.  I am using a bamboo barren but a wooden spoon can be used as well.  And of course something to carve with. It is a very accessible art form,  maybe you did it as a child cutting shapes into potatoes and using them as stamps.  Art or craft it’s irrelevant if you enjoy creating something. 

Here I’ve done a proof to see if there is anything that needs refining.  I changed my mind mid way through creating this block, dropping the idea of a colour gradient back ground and just leaving the individual cuts visible.  This clearly isn’t a lesson in how to print but I hope that seeing the simplicity of  relief  printing is encouragement if it’s something you’ve thought of doing.