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An Essay on Inking Relief for Newer Print Artists

An Essay on Inking Relief for Newer Print Artists This is my addition to an inking troubleshooting guide posted by u/Hellodeeries, who also happens to be a mod in the Printmaking subReddit. The Guide illustrates in great detail what inking errors look like. As you will see, the error is not always what you assume it is. https://www.reddit.com/r/printmaking/comments/13d3hsz/ink_troubleshooting_guide_for_relief_printing/   This is my expansion into the details of inking. I had to learn proper inking when I began using ABS engraver’s plastic. It’s on 1/20” thin material, so it can’t be cut deeply and will readily get ink into the cut background. The following might not need to be so rigorous for all linocut, but because I began doing it this way to accommodate the critically thin ABS blocks, it will work for all relief blocks. Number 1 – Use oil-based ink. You can’t follow this practice with water-based ink on blocks of any size; it will dry too quickly. Here, I presume you use ...
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Another Relief Exercise in ABS Engravers Plastic - REVISED

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  I don't know how many people are inclined to try ABS. I generally like it, but it does have some lessons to learn. For one, I suspect that it doesn't accept ink quite so well as the texture of lino. The ink looks okay on the block, but there's a tendency toward thin spots, like the car body. But if I ink more heavily (which I felt was the wrong thing as I was doing it), the roadway got very dark, with far fewer features, which didn't help the chicken at all. And more of the 45 lpi hatching in the suits filled in. So, that's not really the answer. I could just accept the thin inking on the car, but I don't like to do that. So, I think I'll try maybe sanding the block to give it more fine texture to grab ink. If I had inked a linocut like I inked this, it would have been perfect. I could go back in with a 1" brayer and add ink to the car and some other places, but I don't like that too much, either. The detail needs a light inking hand. I really wan...
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ABS Engraver's Plastic Relief Project - Start to Finish

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 ABS Engraver's Plastic Relief Project - Start to Finish Another using a new to me relief material ala linocut/woodcut. See the earlier posts for more in ABS. I'm still learning all the aspects of working with this material and using engraver's tools, ultrasonic cutter,  and rotary tools with conical file bits for clearing large white areas, very tedious with this 1/20" thin and hard material.  So, I'm showing the cartoon, the transfer to the plate, the cut plate, the cut plate inked, and the proof. I did not think this one had large enough white areas to need them cut completely away. And the nature of the subject meant some noise in white areas wasn't important and may actually be a good effect.  Sharp eyes will notice that when I produced the cartoon, I neglected to include the left window box frame and had to put it back in on the fly when cutting. As usual, the cartoon was developed on Dura-Lar which was scanned for the transfer.  I'm still developing ...
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Ultrasonic Cutters in ABS Engraver's Plastic Relief Printing

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  Ultrasonic Cutters in ABS Engraver's Plastic Relief Printing  One of the difficulties with using cutting ABS engraver's plastic for relief printing is that it is only 1/20" thick. So, you can't carve very deep, and larger shallowly cut areas are very easily soiled, "chattered", when inking unless great care and a very light hand is used, and that sometimes isn't enough.  But I learned about ultrasonic cutters, and it occurred to me that they might be used to cut away the otherwise shallow white areas. Ultrasonic cutters vibrate a very sharp blade at a very high frequency, typically around 40,000 times per second. They are popular among model makers and anyone does small scale carving of wood, resin, plastic, etc.  I tried it on the Wolf Woman ABS plate, since it has large cut areas. The ultrasonic cutter cut easily through the ABS and allowed very fine work. Because of the high frequency, the blade gets hot, and there is some melting, which tends to lea...
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Another Relief Exercise in ABS Engravers Plastic

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  Another Relief Exercise in ABS Engravers Plastic This is another project using ABS engraver's plastic. Same 1/20" thick 8"x12" sheet.  This one is titled "Poulet! Poulet!". It is a favorite scene from a favorite classic film, To Catch a Thief. In it, Grace Kelly's character has been driving Cary Grant's character at high speed to escape police surveillance. She has to brake hard for a chicken in the road. After she drives on, we hear a crash. In the next scene, the police are on the radiophone trying to explain why they crashed while the chicken strolls in the road.  As seems to be my usual fate, I didn't like where the first cutting was going and recut the plate.  This was the first time I used multi-line tools. The men's suits are toned with a 45 lpi 1/8" tool. I also made extensive use of the rotary file. The foreground roadway was made by repeatedly touching the cone file bit to the material to leave plenty of black. The shadow is...
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Location: Lockhart, TX 78644, USA
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Relief Printmaking With ABS Engravers' Plastic

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 Relief Printmaking With ABS Engravers' Plastic  Part I - What is it? This blog is about using ABS plastic as a relief printing plate material. It is worthy in its own right and is also a useful alternative to wood, such as boxwood, for carving. Along the way of learning to work with ABS, I encountered new tools and methods, and all that will eventually be covered here. I am grateful to Chris Pig of Black Pig Printmaking for the YouTube videos he posted about this material.  We will use ABS to make relief printing plates, similar to linocut and printed much the same way. I will assume for now that you are familiar with the principles of relief printing and the design requirement of the images.  Engravers' plastic is a thin sheet of ABS plastic, commonly coated on one side with one color and a core of another. For sign-making, the color coat is laser cut. For us, it will be an aid in cutting. One significant thing is that it is only 1/20 of an inch thick, which will c...
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Location: Lockhart, TX 78644, USA
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