154 
KERAMIC STUDIO 
WOOD BLOCK PRINTING FOR PATTERN 
Albert W. Heckman 
"Jl/TUCH has been written about wood block printing, yet 
-L* -*- much has been left unsaid, for the subject is an almost 
inexhaustible one, and one which is never without interest 
to an art student. As teachers of art find this to be so, the 
subject is being introduced more and more each year in the 
Art Schools and High Schools throughout the country. Once 
one has done some block printing he realizes its value as a 
medium of expression and as a means of special educational 
value. The quick results one gets, after a few trials at cut- 
ting a block and printing with it, are simply astonishing to a 
beginner. This is probably due to the limitations one must 
conform to in making a design simple, so that it may be cut 
in wood, and also to the fact that once a block is cut ah" sorts 
of color experiments and pattern arrangements can be made 
with very little effort. 
Printing for pattern is especially interesting. You never 
know just what you will get and the uncertainty makes the 
work all the more fascinating. You can, of course, cut a small 
design which is complete in itself, in which, event you know 
what to expect in printing. But when you have a small 
block on which there are perhaps a few abstract lines or some 
detail of a flower, leaf or bud, and it is repeated in various 
ways, the results are surprising to say the least. Take for 
instance the designs Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 on page 155. They 
were all made from one block on which one of the motifs given 
in last month's Keramic Studio was cut. The other designs 
were also made from others of the motifs. 
The materials needed for wood block printing are few and 
inexpensive. All that are absolutely needed are a piece of 
felt about six inches square, a piece of glass on which to lay it, 
some oil paints and turpentine, some water colors and a little 
mucilage, a sloyd knife for cutting the design, two or three 
small gauges for digging out the background spaces, a wooden 
clamp and a brace for holding the block firmly to the table or 
bench on which one is to work. A pen-knife may be used in- 
stead of the other but it is more difficult to use. 
Any kind of wood which has a close grain will do for the 
blocks. Cherry wood is used by the Japanese and Turkish 
box-wood is used by many of our expert wood engravers. 
For our purposes pine, maple or gum-wood answer very nicely. 
The size of the block depends, of course, on the size of the 
motif to be cut. It is best not to have this too large for the 
wood is apt to warp and then the block ceases to be of any 
practical value. However, it is safe to use any size up to three 
or three and a half inches in diameter and an inch or more in 
thickness. The wood is cut on the side with the grain and 
not on the end grain as for wood engraving. Linoleum may 
be used in place of wood, in which case it is glued to a block. 
It is very easy to cut but it does not stand much wear and there 
is something about its surface that does not hold paint as evenly 
as wood. Therefore, to get best results one should use wood. 
In order to get an even, clear impression from a block one 
should have a flat responsive surface to work on. Several 
thicknesses of blotting paper will do, or better still, a pad 
can be made on a drawing board similar to an ordinary ironing 
board. For printing large pieces a pad is indispensable. 
After the motif which is to be printed is made, it is simply 
drawn or transferred to the block, or the paper on which it 
was drawn may be pasted on. The background is then cut 
away to about an eighth or a quarter of an inch in depth. 
Sometimes it is necessary to give the block a thin coat of shel- 
lac to insure a good printing surface bat ordinarily the paint 
used in printing soon fills up any porous places there may be in 
the wood.- 
The process of printing is very simple. The paint is 
applied to the raised part of the design with a large flat bristle 
brush or from a pad. The latter is much the quicker way and 
it is wholly satisfactory. One should be careful not to charge 
the block too heavily with color for an impression which des- 
troys all color and texture of the thing printed is undesirable. 
After a few trials you can tell just how much paint and tur- 
pentine to use. 
The patterns illustrated this month are all very simple 
ones, such as any beginner ought to be able to make. They 
are enough however, to give one an idea of the infinite variations 
possible with a few motifs. At a first glance Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 
appear to have been made from separate blocks but a closer 
inspection reveals that they were all made from the same one 
which was repeated in different ways. 
From your sketch book or your book of tracings select a 
motif simple enough to cut, and after you have cut it, try your 
hand at printing. If you do not happen to have a book of 
tracings use some of the motifs given last month. Often two 
or more motifs may be used together to good advantage, just 
as two or more colors may. For instance, in No. 1 an extra 
block, a small square one, was used and in No. 6 two blocks 
of the same motif, one of which is the reverse of the other in 
light and dark arrangement, were also used. If you have a 
motif which repeats with too marked a movement in one way 
this may be overcome by cutting an extra block of the motif 
with the movement going in another direction. By combining 
the two you get an interplay of movement which is more pleas- 
ing than it otherwise would be. This is evident in the two 
textile designs of last month. 
In order to get the best ultimate results one should make 
a number of preliminary trials for different arrangements in 
color and pattern and the best one selected for the final printing. 
For this purpose some varieties of ordinary wrapping paper 
or just plain wall paper are suitable. Use water colors to which 
a little mucilage has been added to give them more body. 
These trials need not be wasted; they can be used for end papers 
in making books. 
Oil colors are the most satisfactory to use in printing on 
cloth. They bear washing if one does not use strong soap or 
water that is unduly hot. Turpentine is the medium used with 
them and enough is added to give a consistency of cream. The 
color may be ''set" after the textile is dry by pressing it on the 
wrong side with a wet cloth and a hot iron. Dyes are used 
too in printing textiles, but they are quite difficult for a beginner 
to use. 
If one makes a few patterns he will not be satisfied until 
he has made more, and by the time he has made twenty or 
thirty on the order of those illustrated he will have become 
familiar enough with the craft to undertake a more difficult 
problem. Designs can then be made to suit some particular 
material, such as a chiffon, a linen, a heavy silk or a scrim to 
be used in making scarfs, covers, table runners or curtains. 
Later on we will again take up this subject, dealing with it 
in a more advanced way and we will apply some of the designs 
already made, as well as new ones, to some specific articles like 
the above mentioned. 
Whether one is a novice, a student or a teacher every bit 
of work done in wood block printing will prove to be helpful. 
Aside from the practical benefits to be derived from it, it affords 
a splendid means of working out, and keeping in touch with, 
the fundamental principles of designing which one must always 
have at his finger tips in order to produce good work. 
