I'm going to show you how I made this woodblock print- environmental protest rally sign - using birch plywood and posterboard. For inspiration look online for images of woodblock or lino cut posters. The nice thing about this is once it's done, you could make a ton of them if you had someone help you assembly-line style. Your end result is a half-sheet posterboard 22"x14"
SUPPLIES PART 1:
First I bought a 1/4", 4ft x 2ft sheet of Birch Plywood at Home Depot. I had the guy cut it into four 1ft by 2ft pieces, this allows me to make four different prints or 2, 2-color prints.
I was trying to get the most out of my wood. It makes the printing process a little tricky later that the wood is shorter than the paper. Dividing it in three might make aligning the print on the wood easier.
I bought an extra fine sander block, foam brush and acrylic varnish. The varnish is for keeping the surface from absorbing all your ink. If you don't have one already you'll also want a box cutter or xacto knife and a small headed flat wood carving knife. Mine was from an old box of an xacto set. This is down and dirty woodcut. This is not going to be fancy, We're basically just prying the veneer layer off.
Step 1: Varnish your wood with the foam brush and a light coat of the acylic varnish. Make sure to do both sides otherwise the wood is going to warp. I propped mine up using clothespins on all four corners.
Step 2: Draw out your art to at the size you are going to have it one the posterboard. Make your artwork with as few curves as possible. They are going to be difficult to cut later.
(It's better if you don't use posterboard for this step as it may make it hard to transfer the artwork onto the wood, because of the thickness. Any regular thickness paper that is the right size will do.)
My artwork was 20in by 12in which gives it an equal border all the way around on your posterboard. Note: You are cutting the posterboard to half size for these so the posterboard is 22x14.
If you don't feel like you're all that artistic, you could print out letters really big and trace them, or use stencils.
To get an idea what your finished artwork will look like take a picture and "invert" it in your picture editing app. Make any necessary changes,
Make sure you make the lines really dark with your pencil.
Step 3: Window "Light table". Hold your artwork up to a sunlit window, and on the back outline the areas where the lines are. You are going to be rubbing it with your pencil onto the wood, you don't want to do areas that are empty if you don't have to. Your arm muscles will thank you later.
Step 4: Pencil Rubbing. Put your artwork facedown on the wood. Make sure it is centered. Maybe measure and make marks on the side to be sure of your placement. Rub the pencil over the back of your artwork. Lift up a corner and make sure they are dark enough before removing your paper. You should have a light copy of your artwork on the wood now.
Outline anything that is going to be hard to see later. Once you start cutting you don't want to be guessing.
Step 5: Cutting and Carving. We're basically just prying the veneer layer off. And it wants to splinter. So cut ALL your outlines with your box cutter FIRST. This will help the splinters stop before they go into areas you don't want removed, For large areas I found it helped to cut lines so I was just peeling up a strip at a time.
For safety I recommend goggles. And always cut away from yourself.
Here it is all carved. You'll note that I carved out a border on both sides so the edges will be white.
SUPPLIES PART 2:
Speedball brayer, Speedball ink, wax paper (any kind will do), a rag, a spray bottle of water, rolling pin, Posterboard- standard size 22x28"
You won't be able to get the first two at a Michaels or Hobby Lobby. You'll either need to go to your local artist supply store (not crafts) or buy them online. I like jerrysartarama.com or dickblick.com.
Cut your posterboard in half so it is 22x14.
Step 6: Ink your woodblock. Put some ink on your wax paper and roll the brayer around until you get a consistent texture like wall paint. Then roll it onto your woodblock. Get a good consistent ink all over your woodblock.
Step 7: Dampen your paper and rub with rag
(So because my woodblocks are slightly smaller than my paper I marked the center on each side of my woodblocks and also marked the center on each side of my paper. This helped me align my paper. Again, this was a cost saving measure because I was making several woodblocks. Once you place your paper, you shouldn't move it, or it may streak.)
You want to just mist some water over the side of the paper you'll be printing on. Then quickly with your rag wipe the paper so there are no droplets. And place (with alignment in mind) damp side down on your inked woodblock.
Step 8: Rub your paper with your rolling pin. The ink should keep it in place. Press fairly hard.
Peel your paper off of the woodblock
Step 9: Hang dry. I used binder clips and pushpins. When I ran out of binder clips I used a clothespin and a paperclip to make a similar thing. Once the ink is dry they may be a little warped. You can stack them at that time and weight them with some books. If that doesn't take out the warp, lightly spray the back with water again and weight them down for a few minutes.
The ink took a few hours to dry for me. I was using speedball's water based ink.
Enjoy!
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