BLOCK PRINTING
Technique
The wood block is carefully prepared as a relief matrix, which means the areas to show 'white' are cut away with a knife, chisel, or sandpaper leaving the characters or image to show in 'black' at the original surface level. The block was cut along the grain of the wood. It is only necessary to ink the block and bring it into firm and even contact with the paper or cloth to achieve an acceptable print. The content would of course print "in reverse" or mirror-image, a further complication when text was involved. The art of carving the woodcut is technically known as xylography, though the term is rarely used in English. For colour printing, multiple blocks are used, each for one colour, although overprinting two colours may produce further colours on the print. Multiple colours can be printed by keying the paper to a frame around the woodblocks.
There are three methods of printing to consider: Stamping
Used for many fabrics, and most early European woodcuts (1400–40). These items were printed by putting paper or fabric on a table or a flat surface with the block on top, and pressing, or hammering, the back of the block.RubbingApparently the most common for Far Eastern printing. Used for European woodcuts and block-books later in the 15th century, and very widely for cloth. The block is placed face side up on a table, with the paper or fabric on top. The back of the paper or fabric is rubbed with a "hard pad, a flat piece of wood, a burnisher, or a leather frotton".[1]Printing in a press"Presses" only seem to have been used in Asia in relatively recent times. Simple weighted presses may have been used in Europe, but firm evidence is lacking. Later, printing-presses were used (from about 1480). A deceased Abbess of Mechelen in Flanders in 1465 had "unum instrumentum ad imprintendum scripturas et ymagines ... cum 14 aliis lapideis printis" ("an instrument for printing texts and pictures ... with 14 stones for printing") which is probably too early to be a Gutenberg-type printing press in that location.In addition, jia xie is a method for dyeing textiles (usually silk) using wood blocks invented in the 5th-6th centuries in China. An upper and a lower block is made, with carved out compartments opening to the back, fitted with plugs. The cloth, usually folded a number of times, is inserted and clamped between the two blocks. By unplugging the different compartments and filling them with dyes of different colours, a multi-coloured pattern can be printed over quite a large area of folded cloth. The method is not strictly printing however, as the pattern is not caused by pressure against the block.
About This Artwork
Toni Anita Gray
Afro-American, born USA, 1954-PRESENT
The Golden Wall, 1961
Oil on canvas
152.4 x 183.5 cm (12 x 13 1/2 in.), framed
Titled and signed lower right : “Lady Screams the Blues, oil on canvas, 2005, Toni Gray”
2005.1954R
Contemporary Art
Lady Billie Holiday Screams the Blues
This work of art is dedicated of the late great "Billie Holiday" a lady, woman, female, who is in deep need to just scream instead of to sing. This release of piercing cry or cries expressing excitement, great emotion, or pain in this work of art could be heard for miles of her pain associated with lack of money, freedom, men and drugs. A houseful of barking dogs and screaming children could not out yell her inner pains. This sound, something in a high-pitched, frenzied way is a cry for a new kind of freedom to be released and to “Get out!” This vociferously call attention to one's views or feelings, esp. ones of mental and emotional distress: each yell supports other screams being done in a world filled with great injustices from lynching’s to the difficulty of African Americans to break into the fields of music and dance due to the coloration of their skins. Screaming from all over the city; they were awakened by screams for help like the high-pitched cry made by an animal; the screams of the seagulls; the scream of a falling bomb; and blues deep like the color of a blue-black paint. This screaming, singing, crying melancholic music of black American folk origin, typically in a twelve-bar sequence developed in the rural southern U.S. toward the end of the 19th century, finding a wider audience in the 1940s as blacks migrated to the cities.
This urban blues gave rise to rhythm and blues and rock and roll-a piece of such music, an informal feelings of melancholy, sadness, or depression as if one would look at Billie prior to getting high and instantly know "she's got the blues." Blue, the color intermediate between green and violet, unlike the sky or sea on a sunny day in that this is the color of blue jeans.
That same color we find with a dying person with breathing difficulties. Not like the beautiful blue jay, blue fox but the blueness of a person who is experiencing the lowest level of difficulty, of a person or mood of melancholy, sad, or depressed like when one explains to someone else that "he's feeling blue.” It’s a language marked by cursing, swearing, and some blasphemy, and like unto the dark blue of his eyes such as a police officer or a baseball umpire. Blues that came with the Civil War, the wars in Afghanistan, or a member of that army, navy and or marine core.
Billie, she could sing until she was blue in the face, but no one would really feel or see her blues; she was just hearing the blue moon in song, without warning; unexpectedly she poured me out song after song of the blues from which nothing unusual was expected although the unexpected happened and she died.
We, African Americans had a special love for this lady of blues, who wore a kind of fit of blues: depression, sadness, unhappiness, melancholy, misery, sorrow, gloom, dejection, despondency, despair; the doldrums, the dumps, a blue funk. Her spirit was like that of a blue sapphire, or a sky of powder blue, of a car painted midnight blue.
She was beautiful, like the flowers she wore in her hair, like the peacock in blue, or the colors of ultramarine, aquamarine, and even we feel a bit blues because Billie is gone. Now we listen to you Ms. Billie a bit downcast, despondent, low, and down in the dumps nevertheless, because of your voice we become the antonyms, happy, as we stand still in the tones that fill the spaces around each of us with your dynamic Golden raspy tones. Moreover as we gaze across this picture dedicated unto thee, some forms of you appear and are remembered, as they float above the expressive cuts filled with black ink that punctuate the work, while others are embedded in the background of days with you gone by as on the once blank white canvas, your memory providing the canvas new shapes and colors; with a lively sense of movement, dimension, courage, strength, and freedom through the art from the memory of you, your spirit and your songs.
You are being missed Lady of Blues.
Toni Anita Gray
Afro-American, born USA, 1954-PRESENT
The Golden Wall, 1961
Oil on canvas
152.4 x 183.5 cm (12 x 13 1/2 in.), framed
Titled and signed lower right : “Lady Screams the Blues, oil on canvas, 2005, Toni Gray”
2005.1954R
Contemporary Art
Lady Billie Holiday Screams the Blues
This work of art is dedicated of the late great "Billie Holiday" a lady, woman, female, who is in deep need to just scream instead of to sing. This release of piercing cry or cries expressing excitement, great emotion, or pain in this work of art could be heard for miles of her pain associated with lack of money, freedom, men and drugs. A houseful of barking dogs and screaming children could not out yell her inner pains. This sound, something in a high-pitched, frenzied way is a cry for a new kind of freedom to be released and to “Get out!” This vociferously call attention to one's views or feelings, esp. ones of mental and emotional distress: each yell supports other screams being done in a world filled with great injustices from lynching’s to the difficulty of African Americans to break into the fields of music and dance due to the coloration of their skins. Screaming from all over the city; they were awakened by screams for help like the high-pitched cry made by an animal; the screams of the seagulls; the scream of a falling bomb; and blues deep like the color of a blue-black paint. This screaming, singing, crying melancholic music of black American folk origin, typically in a twelve-bar sequence developed in the rural southern U.S. toward the end of the 19th century, finding a wider audience in the 1940s as blacks migrated to the cities.
This urban blues gave rise to rhythm and blues and rock and roll-a piece of such music, an informal feelings of melancholy, sadness, or depression as if one would look at Billie prior to getting high and instantly know "she's got the blues." Blue, the color intermediate between green and violet, unlike the sky or sea on a sunny day in that this is the color of blue jeans.
That same color we find with a dying person with breathing difficulties. Not like the beautiful blue jay, blue fox but the blueness of a person who is experiencing the lowest level of difficulty, of a person or mood of melancholy, sad, or depressed like when one explains to someone else that "he's feeling blue.” It’s a language marked by cursing, swearing, and some blasphemy, and like unto the dark blue of his eyes such as a police officer or a baseball umpire. Blues that came with the Civil War, the wars in Afghanistan, or a member of that army, navy and or marine core.
Billie, she could sing until she was blue in the face, but no one would really feel or see her blues; she was just hearing the blue moon in song, without warning; unexpectedly she poured me out song after song of the blues from which nothing unusual was expected although the unexpected happened and she died.
We, African Americans had a special love for this lady of blues, who wore a kind of fit of blues: depression, sadness, unhappiness, melancholy, misery, sorrow, gloom, dejection, despondency, despair; the doldrums, the dumps, a blue funk. Her spirit was like that of a blue sapphire, or a sky of powder blue, of a car painted midnight blue.
She was beautiful, like the flowers she wore in her hair, like the peacock in blue, or the colors of ultramarine, aquamarine, and even we feel a bit blues because Billie is gone. Now we listen to you Ms. Billie a bit downcast, despondent, low, and down in the dumps nevertheless, because of your voice we become the antonyms, happy, as we stand still in the tones that fill the spaces around each of us with your dynamic Golden raspy tones. Moreover as we gaze across this picture dedicated unto thee, some forms of you appear and are remembered, as they float above the expressive cuts filled with black ink that punctuate the work, while others are embedded in the background of days with you gone by as on the once blank white canvas, your memory providing the canvas new shapes and colors; with a lively sense of movement, dimension, courage, strength, and freedom through the art from the memory of you, your spirit and your songs.
You are being missed Lady of Blues.
The engraving is a descendant of the block print, although the technique for creating the block with which to print is different. Many famousartists, such as Hiroshige, worked in the block print medium. Block prints were also used to produce books and other printed material. A block print is a piece of printed material made using the block printing technique. In blockprinting, the printer carves the design to be printed into a solid block, much like a stamp. The design can include text or be purely visual, and the block can be applied to paper or textiles.Block printing is an ancient printing technique, and numerous examples of historical block prints can be found in the historical records of Europe and Asia. The origins of the block print can be found in the round cylinder seals used by the Mesopotamians. These seals are the first known examples of a fixed design on an element which is designed to be rolled over another element, thus transferring the design. Cylinder seals were made from carved stone or clay, but printers started to switch to wood because it was easy to handle and carve. Woodblock prints, also called woodcuts, dominated the nascent publishing industry for hundreds of years. The engraving is a descendant of the block print, although the technique for creating the block with which to print is different.
What is Block Printing?
Block printing is a tradition that has its roots in ancient Egypt, China and Japan. It is a technique which allows you to reproduce an image on paper, textile, or fabric. There are four types of block printing: intaglio, lithography, serigraphy and relief. What this article focuses on is relief printing, also called woodblock printing or simply speedball printing.
Why Block Print?
Block printing can be used to copy your fine art prints, spruce up your stationary and envelopes, make textiles, accent fabric, stylize your scrap booking project or make a unique poster for your foyer.
What Do You Need to Block Print?
There are many starter kits that you can buy with the basic tools for block printing, but when it comes to buying each item separately its helpful you have a list of the supplies needed. The following are the basic items needed and what they are used for: Linoleum block: This is where you are going to do most of your work. This texture surface is where you carve your image and where you use that carving to reproduce the original. Sandpaper is also used to get the exact texture (smooth or rough) for any image.
- Carving tools: After your transfer the image, you will need the carving tools to set the image. Finding the right variety of tools is essential in making sure your image comes out the way you want it to.
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- Transfer paper: Using graphite paper is one way to transfer your image to almost any surface. One plus about graphite paper is that you can put your image on backwards so it comes out forwards. Another option is a copy machine; you can use a copy with a blender marker to transfer the image to the block.
- Brayer: The brayer is used to transfer the ink to the block.
- Roller: This is used to press the image onto the paper.
- Ink: An oil based ink works for the majority of projects, or you can use speedball ink which is made specifically for block printing and is available in a myriad of colors.
- Cleaning Supplies: Block printing can be really messy. You will need something to keep you and your area clean.
- Work Surface: You are going to need a surface to put the ink on. If you have an old work table that you don't mind getting a little ink on, then you're ready to go, if not you have other options. Glass is the best to use because of its smooth surface and is reusable. Plastic also works, but has a much grittier surface and can be hard to keep the ink consistency you might want for your printing. One great idea is to use old picture frame glass or just buy a new picture and use the glass from it.
Lady Screams the Blues in Purple