This exercise is drawn from the full guide to block materials for relief printing. If you have not read that guide yet, read it first — this exercise will mean more once you understand what each material is actually doing under the tool.
The guide explains the theory. This exercise makes you feel it.
What you will need
Three blocks, each at least 10 × 10 cm: one softcut, one Japanese lino, one traditional lino or grey lino. A sharp V-gouge — the same gouge throughout. The same ink, applied in the same way. The same paper, at least three sheets. Good light.
If you only have access to two of the three materials, do the exercise with what you have. The comparison still teaches.
The mark to carve
Choose one simple shape and carve it into all three blocks identically. I suggest a thin curved line — something that requires the gouge to move steadily through the material, the way it would when carving fur or a long grass stem.
The mark should be long enough to show how the tool behaves mid-cut, not just at the start. About 8 cm. Curved, not straight — a curve reveals more about how each material resists or yields.
Carve the same mark. Same pressure. Same speed. Same depth, as close as you can manage.
What to attend to while carving
Before you look at the print, sit with what the carving itself told you.
In the softcut: how much resistance did you feel? Did the gouge want to skid or slide? Did the mark happen easily, or did it require something from your hand?
In the Japanese lino: where did you feel the material pushing back? At what point in the stroke did you notice the grip? Did slowing down change what the mark felt like?
In the traditional or grey lino: where does it sit between the other two? What does the middle ground feel like — is it closer to one end than the other?
Write one sentence for each block before you look at the prints. Not a technical description — a physical one. What did it feel like to carve?
Printing
Ink all three blocks identically. Same quantity of ink, rolled to the same coverage. Press each one with the same pressure. Peel the paper back at the same angle and speed.
Lay the three prints side by side. Leave them for a moment before you look closely.
What the print reveals
Step back first. At a distance, what do you notice? Are the marks the same weight? Do any of them look stronger or more hesitant than the others?
Then look closely at each line.
The edge of the cut. Is it clean and sharp, or slightly soft? Does it hold the exact path of the gouge, or has something compressed or spread? The softcut will often show a slightly warmer, softer edge. The Japanese lino will hold the cut more precisely. The traditional lino sits somewhere between.
The surface of the black. Where ink sits on the raised surface, does it sit evenly? Are there any signs of micro-texture — the faint grain of the material showing through? Traditional lino often carries a barely-there grain in the print. Japanese lino is denser, cleaner. Softcut can show slight compression.
The feel of the mark. This is harder to name but you will feel it. Some marks read as carved. Others read as pressed. The material leaves its character in the print.
The question to sit with
You carved the same mark. You printed under the same conditions. The three prints are different.
What does that difference tell you about which block your current work needs?
Not which block is better. Which block is right for the mark you are actually trying to make — the mark that needs to carry what your image requires.
The Reflected Ground hare series is carved on Japanese lino. The detail in the fur requires the edge that only that material holds. But the exercise taught me that — not the guide.
Discover more from reflected ground
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