Creating, cutting and printing your own woodblock

Step 5 Fix, re-cut and re-ink

After the first print you can actually take a look at the image and decide what you're not happy with. With the water based inks, particularly, which dry so quickly, it's easy then to go back and carve out a little more of the block where you want more white to show through.

It's a good idea to annotate your first print with the changes you want to make, rather than just trying to remember. It forces you to be a little more diligent about working through problems. Then fix the problems with a little more carving and give the print another go.

That's it, really. I've stuck a couple of finished examples in the images on this page that I'm a little more happy with than the version I used throughout this explanation. One is straight onto the heavyweight paper I mentioned that I use, and the other is a card I made for the holidays using some rather nice blank, brown stock that I picked up from the stationery store, Paperchase. I'm not sure if Paperchase are just in the UK. I know that Borders Books and Music bought them, so they may be around in some areas of the States.

Good luck with your project(s). Please leave comments if you have questions or corrections.

Comments

[sasika]

Thanx a lot for sharing this instructable. It's really helpful for me.

[nicholaspaul]

What a great, casual, and easy to read instructable! Very informative, highly detailed and written with a great style. Since I like your style so much, can you also do one on raising kids, how to understand your wife, and the meaning of life? Then I'd be set! Thanks! I'll be sure to try this out in the near future.

[maxman]

That holiday card is wonderful. Thanks for writing this instructable. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time.