What is woodblock printing, and how does it work?
Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper.As a method of printing on cloth, the earliest surviving examples from China date to before 220 AD.Woodblock printing existed in Tang China by the 7th century AD and remained the most ...
What does woodblock printing mean?
Wiktionary (2.25 / 4 votes) Rate this definition:
- printing noun The process or business of producing printed material by means of inked type and a printing press or similar technology.
- printing noun Material that has been printed.
- printing noun All the copies of a publication that have been printed in one batch.
- printing noun Written characters not joined-up.
What is the purpose of woodblock printing?
- Design the print — Before you take the knife to your wood or linoleum block, first take the time to draw out your design on the block itself. ...
- Carve the block — Using a gouge or knife, slowly start to carve away material. ...
- Ink the block — We’re almost to the exciting part. ...
- Print the image — Now you are ready to print the image by hand or with a press. ...
Why is woodblock printing so important?
Why was woodblock printing important? Woodblock printing was used mostly to print religious books. The most famous book printed during the Tang dynasty was the Diamond Sutra. This huge book included pictures and text and helped to spread Buddhism throughout China. Before the invention of gunpowder all weapons had to be powered by hand.
How was woodblock printing made?
Woodblock printing begins with an image carved into a chunk of wood and then rubbed with ink and printed on a substance like cloth of paper. In China, documents like religious texts, calendars, and calligraphy, or beautiful decorative writing, were printed with carved woodblocks beginning around 600 CE.
What does woodblock mean in art?
The oldest form of printmaking, woodcut is a relief process in which knives and other tools are used to carve a design into the surface of a wooden block.
What material is woodblock printing?
Traditional Japanese woodblock printing has, for centuries, utilised washi made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree: kozo. Kozo fibres are extremely long and will create very strong and absorbent paper. Gampi has long silky fibres that can create a thin, translucent and smooth tissue-like paper.
Who made wood block printing?
The earliest woodblock printed illustration extant today was made in the year 868, at the time of the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907). Discovered by a scholar named Aurel Stein in 1907 in Dunhuang, it is the title page of the Diamond Sutra.
How can you tell a woodblock print?
Old prints typically show the designs on the reverse side of the paper, where the ink bled through the paper, whereas some modern copies do not. Modern papers tend to limit absorbancy more than Edo-period papers, but a design might nevertheless show through in some modern impressions.
What is block printing used for?
It is used for small to medium 'runs' of prints. Successful block prints range from bold, simple shapes and designs with limited colours, to more complicated designs using a number of different colours. Block printing is good for making positive and negative images and repeating patterns.
What is the woodblock instrument?
Description. A wood block is a small slit drum made from a single piece of wood and used as a percussion instrument. The orchestral wood-block instrument is generally made from teak or another hardwood.
What wood is used for woodblock prints?
The wood chosen for woodblocks was sakura (cherry wood), a fine-textured wood with a straight grain. This is hard enough for intricate carving in high relief and will survive through the production of many copies of the print.
When was woodblock printing invented?
The earliest woodblock printing known is in colour. Chinese silk from the Han Dynasty printed in three colours. On paper, European woodcut prints with coloured blocks were invented in Germany in 1508 and are known as chiaroscuro woodcuts. Colour is very common in Asian woodblock printing on paper; in China the first known example is a book on ink-cakes printed in 1606 and the technique reached its height in books on painting published in the seventeenth century.
What are the components of wood block printing?
The three necessary components for wood block printing are the wood block, which carries the design cut in relief; dye or ink, which had been widely used in the ancient world; and either cloth or paper, which was first developed in China, around the 3rd or 2nd century BC.
What is a woodblock in a relief matrix?
The woodblock is prepared as a relief matrix, which means the areas to show ‘white’ are cut away with a knife or chisel, leaving the characters or image to show in ‘black’ at the original surface level. The block was cut along the grain of the wood.
What is the best known type of Japanese woodblock art print?
As a method of printing on cloth, the earliest surviving examples from China date to before 220, and from Egypt to the 4th century. Ukiyo-e is the best-known type of Japanese woodblock art print. Most European uses of the technique on paper are covered by the term ‘woodcut’.
What type of printing did the Jesuits use?
Jesuits stationed in China in the 16th and 17th centuries indeed preferred to use woodblocks for their own publishing projects, noting how inexpensive and convenient it was. Only with the introduction of more mechanized printing methods from the West in the 19th century did printing in East Asia move towards metal moveable type and the printing press.
How many pages are in a block book?
All block-books are fairly short at less than fifty pages. While in Europe movable metal type soon became cheap enough to replace woodblock printing for the reproduction of text, woodcuts remained a major way to reproduce images in illustrated works of early modern European printing.
What is block printing used for?
Block printing has also been extensively used for decorative purposes such as fabrics and wallpaper. This is easiest with repetitive patterns composed of one or a small number of motifs that are small to medium in size (due to the difficulty of carving and handling larger blocks). For a multicolour pattern, each colour element is carved as a separate block and individually inked and applied. Block printing was the standard method of producing wallpaper until the early twentieth century, and is still used by a few traditionalist firms. It also remains in use for making cloth, mostly in small artisanal settings, for example in India.
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Woodblock printing in Europe
Wood printing came much later to Europe. Printing fabrics with a wooden matrix was common for several centuries. However, woodblock printing had to wait until the introduction of paper production in paper mills in the 1390s.
Hartmann Schedel and Albrecht Dürer and woodblock prints
Around 1500, woodblock prints flourished in central Germany (Augsburg, Ulm, Nuremberg) and in the Netherlands as book illustrations. One of the most important works of this period is Schedel’s Weltchronik, illustrated with 2,000 woodblocks, made by about 100 men at 24 printing presses in Nuremberg.
Death and resurrection of woodblock prints
In the 16th century engraving became the most necessary printing technique throughout Europe. Thus woodblock prints were displaced, losing importance with the invention of lithography and later photography. As a result, it remained primarily an artistic printing medium rather than something more practical and economical.
Why did monks use woodblock printing?
Woodblock printing, which was a much more labor intensive process than modern printing techniques require, was first used by temple monks to reproduce and disseminate Buddhist texts more efficiently than they could be by hand.
How much are Japanese woodblock prints worth?
Japanese woodblock prints range in value from a few hundred dollars to upwards of $1 million. Exceptional examples by master printmakers like Hiroshige, Hokusai, and Kitagawa Utamaro, which tend to make infrequent appearances on the open market, fetch impressive prices due to their age and rarity.
What is the impact of Japanese woodblock prints?
Japanese woodblock prints have had a profound impact on the trajectory of visual art in Japan and throughout Western art. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists influenced by Japanese printmaking developed an aesthetic called Japonism, which fused traditional European styles with Japanese elements.
What is the golden age of Japanese woodblocks?
The late 18th century is considered the golden age of Japanese woodblocks due to the wealth of artistic talent and a shift in popular subject matter. Woodblock prints of the Edo period (1615-1868) characteristically featured sumo wrestlers, famous Kabuki actors, and geisha performers. In the late 18th century, this style ...
Who is the most famous woodcut artist?
Two of the most renowned practitioners of woodcut printing, Utagawa Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai, both emerged in the 19th century. Hiroshige is best known for his tranquil and ethereal landscapes, most notably in a series called “The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido.”.
Who are the four specialists in woodblock printing?
While woodblock prints are often attributed to a single artist, the actual prints often represent the combined efforts of four specialists: the designer, the engraver, the printer, and the publisher .
Do woodblocks affect the value of a print?
While multiple woodblocks were often used in the printmaking process, that number used does not impact the value of a print. “There are most certainly more complex designs that are successful artistically and commercially. It’s the subject and quality of the design are the most important aspects of a print,” says Levitz.
What is block printing?
Block printing is a relief printing technique that uses a carved material (typically wood, linoleum, or rubber) to transfer ink onto fabric or paper. The block serves as a kind of stamp, with the final product a mirror image of the carving.
Where did block printing originate?
The earliest known examples of block prints come from China, dating back to the third century AD. These very early blocks were used to print on fabric, as paper was invented around the same time or later. Yes, block printing probably predates paper. (There are no known examples of printmaking on papyrus).
What is a linocut print?
Linocut prints use the same process as woodcut prints, but use linoleum blocks as a base. It’s a relatively modern technique of block printing originating in Europe in the mid-1800s.
What do you need to print block?
The supplies you need for block printing partially depend on what type of printmaking you want to do, but there are a few basic tools that you will always need: Blocks — These can be wood (plywood or MDF is the easiest) or linoleum. Softcut rubber blocks are also great for beginners.
How to print a picture on a block?
Then, roll the brayer directly over your block until an even coat is applied. Print the image — Now you are ready to print the image by hand or with a press.
How to fix a mistake in a block?
Place the paper over the inked block and press firmly with the spoon until the ink is evenly applied. Remove the paper and voila! Retouch or keep printing — It’s often the case that there are mistakes in the first printing of a block, but you can always go back and carve a bit more material to fix it.
What paper do you need to print on fabric?
Paper — Unless you’re printing on fabric, paper is an obvious requirement. Normal printer paper is ok for testing prints, but if you want to display your prints get a decent printing paper like the Strathmore 400. Baren — You can use the back of a spoon to print, but a dedicated baren will work much better.
What is block printing?
Called block printing, this technique involves you creating a stamp that you press onto paper, cloth, ...
Where did block printing originate?
What is the history of block printing? Block printing has a long history that spans thousands of years. Originating in East Asia, the technique existed in China as early as the 2nd century CE; one of the earliest surviving woodblock printings was done before 220 CE.
