Applying Ink to Wood Block for Relief Printing

Video Transcript

"Once the ink is thoroughly mixed, we can pick it all up with the knife and then draw it all down, creating a nice bead. And we're ready to spread the ink with our brayer. This is an essential step here. What we're trying to do is create a nice, thin layer of ink. So, how it looks on this inking slab, it should look on the block. So, it's a sound that we're actually looking for, or listening for. And, what we're doing is going up and down, and then lifting, allowing the roller to rotate. And if you listen, we have a nice, subtle sound. Now, what I'm going to do is make another sound. You don't want that sound. You want it to be a smooth sound, and the way-if you do achieve that louder noise, then you have to clean your slab off. Push all that ink into another bead. With the remaining ink that's on the brayer, spread that out until you have that nice, subtle noise. If you notice, too, there's also a sheen to the ink, almost a reflective quality, as I go up and down. So, once we have the ink ready, we then apply it to the block. Being very methodical, start in one corner, inking just a little bit at a time, and recharging our ink, our brayer. The very first time that you print a wood block, the wood is actually absorbing some of the ink as well. So, what I like to do is carefully ink the entire surface, and then go back over the surface once more. Ok. So, once the surface of the block is covered in ink, like I said, I like to go back through and recoat the surface, making sure that I'm working the ink with the direction of the grain. Always with the direction of the grain. With linoleum, it really doesn't matter which direction you're going. The direction that suits the image is probably the best direction. Although, with the wood, going with the wood grain is appropriate. Another thing to be very careful about is that, if you see, which you may not, there is a little fleck of wood. You know, some residual wood falls off the block. And, with one of these palette knives, I can go in and carefully remove that little chip of wood, making sure that I go back over it with the ink."