I Tried BLOCK PRINTING and it was Awesome! 

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The best thing any content creator can do for the art community is showing their trial and error. Well done.

hi there! I'm a traditionally trained printmaker so I might be able to help you out :) anyway, if you really like linocut, buy yourself the best carving blades you can afford :) as you've noticed yourself, better quality blades make life so much easier.. decent quality blades can be sharpened with sharpening stones and will last you a long time.. and yes, it is a perfectly valid technique using an exacto knife to help with carving ;) we use similar knives in woodcut and linocut carving.. you should print your designs by placing a sheet of paper on top of an inked linoleum plate and rubbing the paper using a spoon or a baren.. you can find inexpensive barens that will do the job quite nicely.. you really should use a glass plate or a plexiglass plate to ink the barayer... a small ammount of ink will be enough to ink the plates you use... listen to the sound the brayer makes when you roll the ink on the glass... you want a hissing sound and not squelching sound... squelching sound means you've rolled out too much ink... when inking your plates, do multiple passes with a brayer in 4 directions: top to bottom and diagonally... anyway, those are the basics that immediately come to mind... if you have any questions, feel free to ask :)

Nooooo! Don’t introduce me to ANOTHER craft! These look great!

I love how you've been spreading out into other creative crafts beyond making terrain and painting minis for D&D!

I spent 3 years of my undergrad degree just messing around with linocuts and I gotta say that it was NEVER a chore. If you ever want to play with color, consider linoleum reduction as a technique - it’s kind of like christmas every time you reveal the results! You hit all the important points of Lino skill: good sharp tools, use glass or plexi to roll the ink, experiment with transfer techniques. I usually draw my stuff directly, but I’m old school.

Right on, Jeremy! I appreciate you expanding our horizons. I did some block printing way back in high school. Maybe I’ll take it up again. - Rick, USMC

My mom likes to tell me to focus on one craft and master it. I love learning to be a jack-of-all-trades! There's so much fun to be had. You're an inspiration for me to keep learning, experimenting and having fun.

Dude, it's so cool that you did this. Showing the entire process; the experiments, the failures, and the successes, is absolutely crucial. It's so important that people know that they can try different crafting projects, outside of their comfort zones, and learn valuable skills and gain experience.

"don't ever let a lack of materials stop you" is genuinely one of my life mottos. Its right up there with "fake it till you make it"

It’s not often you get the full quote, it charges the whole meaning! That said, I think you nailed this one!

Oh man I remember getting to do that in my high school art class (minus the wood glue image transfer). It was always a kind of zen process once you got going. Great work!

I think the phrase “Perfect is the enemy of good.” applies here. Not that I don’t think the prints came out awesome, they definitely did! But I find that I don’t branch out and try new arts because of perfectionism. So thanks for sharing your learning process, including the parts that didn’t work. I recently wanted to try power carving with a dremel. I already had a decent dremel kit, bought a $14 set of carbide bits, and made my first carving (and Ice King portrait) on a piece of pallet wood. I learned a lot, and actually love the imperfections and places things didn’t “go right”. One of my favorite crafts I’ve made recently - and am now going to try and mold and cast to make multiples copies of the carving.

I taught printmaking for 26 years To make carving easier heat the lino to soften it makes carving easy and yes proper carving tools are a real need

I freaking LOVE block printing, stamp making etc. It’s my preferred art. Please please get a carving bench hook so that it holds your block and you don’t risk cutting your hands you can also place the paper on top of the block and use the back of a spoon to transfer the ink from the block to paper. I’m so excited that your excited I keep talking to the video. I’m a nerd!

I took a printmaking class last semester, so I thought I'd give you a few tips I learned: 1. We used MDF for our block. 2. Whether you use linoleum or MDF, make sure you have the right, and properly sharp tools! Tool quality in carving is paramount! 3. The way we transferred our images was to trace over it in graphite or charcoal, then press it into the block (as if doing a reverse print, onto the block).

I absolutely recommend the Flexcut palm chisel sets for this, they come super sharp, and i've used them for 15 years on wood. The travel set is fantastic

I learned block printing in high school--back when we had actual art classes lol-I love it. Someone else has probably said this already, but they make lino blocks that are already on wood bases. They are steadier to carve and easier to print with. I was taught to lay the paper on the block and use a brayer to press it so it's evenly inked.

Didn't expect to get into a whole new art form this evening but here we gooo! Those prints look so awesome!

If you wash the linoleum with washing up liquid and warm water and dry it before transferring the designs, you will find the designs transfer much better.

The best thing I have found for doing toner transfers are Chartpak Ad Marker - Colorless Blender markers. You just lay down your print out the way you were doing and color through the back of the paper. It’s super quick and easy! Great video, love the jack of all trades approach to making!

It's a slippery slope! Today it's printing small lino blocks with a roller, before you know it you're reading up on which organs you can sell to afford an etching press...! Anyway, if you enjoyed lino printing, you owe it to yourself to try the multi-colour subtractive process. It makes the whole thing more nerve-wracking when you have a limited number of prints of your first colour and you've already carved more off your block so you can't go back, but it's also far more satisfying and gives you so many more creative options!

I LOVE block printing but haven't done it for years. You've inspired me to pick it up again. With very detailed designs, burnishing is a big help: once the paper is stuck to the ink, turn the whole thing over, paper and block together, then use the smooth back of a spoon to sort of polish all over the design. A thin, tough paper, like rice paper, is a big help. Good luck! Hope you become (another) addict.

A way that I transferred my images onto the lino is by using carbon paper. This also helped in my cutting and visualizing my positive versus negative space via the creation of muscle memory.

Oh wow, I completely forgot about block printing. Awesome stuff! Also, it was nice seeing you stop by during Rogue Hobbies live stream yesterday to congratulate Louise! Well done sir.

Hell yeah, you should be proud of these! I might cop one next paycheck!

Just want to give you a shout out that you kind of restarted my love for crafting and give me something to keep from getting stir crazy during the lockdown phase of covid. I got into making terrain and miniatures because of you and once things started opening up I started taking ceramics classes through my local parks district and while that has become my new craft of love I still love doing and learning different things. Last summer during the open studio at my ceramics studio my teacher gave me a rundown on lino cutting and although I'm similar to you of not being a master of illustration, though you're much better than I am, I've been having a blast with it and love it for the same reasons as you were saying. Thank you for bringing joy into my life and sharing your interests and passions with the world!

Everything you do just makes me happy, as watching you do stuff shows that it can be done, making entry into arts easier

I love seeing you explore your different artistic outlets

During carving you can soften the linoleum with a little heat from a junk clothes iron. Cuts like butter.

I'm sure there will be many of us who used to do this in our school days - using carbon paper to transfer an illustration, carving up linoleum mats (and maybe a bit of your skin), rolling on some ink, and carefully peeling the print off. I really feel for my H.S. art teacher - he must have been a bundle of nerves having all those kids using carving tools. I may even have one of those old prints laying around...

block printing is fun! I did an assignment for one in college, I'd love to do it again.

Block printing rocks. I havent done it in awhile and you just brought that desire back again 😊 Thank you for showing us how its done. The good and the bad of the craft

Thank you for showing me how easy it can be to just start to do it! I've wanted to do this with my drawings for a while now.

I LOVE Lino printing just wish I had more time to do them. Great job 👍♥️🌈🙏

I used to work a Gutenberg press at the Renaissance Festival with hand cut blocks. We had everything from fairies to St. George Fighting the Dragon. One of the best times of my life

I love block printing. Haven't done it for a couple of years after high school. This makes me want to start again. Just another hobby to start.

Saw your video last week and I was instantly hooked. Ordered some basic tools and ink and started making my own prints the very next day. Thank you so much for the explanation and ideas.

What a great journey! The extra detail on the knight looks incredible

It is really cool you could enjoy this detailed work so much and find it relaxing especially given your hand shake struggled you have had. This might help your motor skills a lot as well. They look awesome. These would be great for D&D games, posters, pamphlets or even print on clothes, dice bags and so on. You could make a stamp for your work with the BMC logo or your name / initials.

Linocut printer for many years - so many great comments that there's little to add! A potentially useful item you can easily make is to have something to push the block against while you're carving so you're not carving with one hand and pushing with another. I cannot for the life of me remember what they're called, but they are a board with like a raised line or L-shape on top so you can nest your block there and carve against it, and on the bottom of the board is a hanging lip of wood so you can hook that at the edge of your table. I used it particularly when I was doing large woodblocks, due to them being harder to carve and manage, and I had one that was just a 1'x2' piece of wood about 1/4" thick, with a long lip about 1" square attached to the bottom and an L-shape of those same pieces attached on top. May not be useful as you're currently using linoleum and small pieces so they're easier to cut and maintain, but if you go larger/use wood and/or find that holding it with one hand and carving with the other is annoying, then it might not be a bad thing to have (and easy to make one yourself).

Wood block and linocut are awesoome

When my kids were toddlers I used to cut a potato in half, let them draw a shape like a star or heart on the flat cut side, then I'd cut it out like I was block printing. We'd happily spend a rainy afternoon doing potato prints. Just getting them ready for cool stuff like this blockprinting when they are older.

Amazing! They fit the Shadowdark aesthetic that I am in love with! Bought both before I finished the video! 😁

Congratulations on not gouging your hand! Especially that small. Glueing it to a hard back definitely helps. I normally will use nail files to sharpen my blades (the sandpaper style). Wood block is my favorite to work with. Something about having the wood grain in the print does it for me. The famous 4 riders of the apocalypse was an end grain wood print.

I remember doing this in school when I was in high school around 1984 luckily I attended a Polytechnic school and I was able to take many elective classes this helped me to learn how to do many different things in my life A shout out to my fellow Benson polytechnic high school in Portland Oregon United States

"don't let a lack of materials or tools stop you from trying new things" [proceeds to struggle for the rest of the video as a result of using subpar materials and tools]. I still agree with the sentiment, its just funny.

You can use copy paper to transfer. Or print out the design, go over the back of the paper with pencil, and place it pencil side down on the rubber block. Use pen to draw the design, and the pencil will be transferred as your draw. No need to wait for anything to dry, just get to carving.

Lino printing is amazing And actually the chisel are mainly used for large areas. scalpel are the best thing for details 😊 Carbon paper or tattoo transpher paper is your friend

Your art style definitely looks slick on block prints. Like, it looks like some old-timey artwork from folkstories or something. Really cool, and informative! Bit of insight into block printing, very neat! Also, finding a new creative method that is fun and relaxing is always a huge win!

I always wanted to see how well these would be at making battle mats. You could make ones for chests, furniture, beds, walls, rubble, corpses, and so on. Even plot out different room sizes.

try placing parchment paper over your carving block and using an iron to heat it. This will soften the material to ease carving. You can also use heat from an iron to transfer a design from a laser jet print instead of using glue. Applying heat will soften the bond of the powder from the paper and bond it to the carving block.

I just got back into using fountain pens for urban sketching, so of course, I have to go looking for good waterproof inks to go with the watercolor so I don't ruin my drawings. Then I fell down the ink rabbit hole. I am imagining these block cuts with some of the really cool shimmering and sheen inks. There is even an ink I use that only shows up in black light for my player hand outs. This block cut video just gave me a bunch of ideas. Thanks Jeremy!

Someone probably mentioned this in the comments already, but if not... You'll get way better results using what's called a printing baren and placing the block design side up, putting the paper on top of that, and then rubbing the paper with the baren to get your image imprint. Basically outside of using a press roller, this is how the majority of people do block printing. Be sure to use a layer of something like wax paper between the baren and the print paper to protect the baren from ink or other mess. It also reduces rubbing friction as print making papers tend to be toothy. You can get a decent baren for as little as $5-$10. I spent more for a ball bearing style baren for about $40 and it works amazingly well but even the cheap $10 ones work great.

I’ve been teaching 8th graders how to do this for 30 years. Yours looks awesome

I think the Mighty Mighty Boss Tones captured your experience in their song, "That's The Impression That I Get."

Interesting change of pace from the usual terrain building videos

I would like to thanks you so much! I've started to follow you one month ago and i've discovered a real joy in making by myself all the stuffs i need to play better D&D with my friends inspired by your channel. Always interesting videos and good tips to improve our creativity. Really really thanks a lot❤

OH yes, block printing is FUN!!!

I loved block printing in my AP art classes back in the day. Linoleum carving was so fun. This vid makes me want to get back into this so bad

The prints came out looking great! Don't know how the linoleum would react, maybe leave fuzzies, but a rotary tool work great carving wood. Might be a good avenue to investigate.

Block printing has always fascinated me as well Jeremy! Yours look fantastic! Guess I am going to have to give this a go too! Thanks so much for the inspiration! Lisa

Did this in art class in year 11. Was a lot of fun carving it out of the tile. Wish i still had it.

Yeah that part about "don't let a lack of materials limit you"....um not quite with you on that one. Just use what others advise you to use bro, it makes life a lot easier. Thanks for the video and your hard work!

The content you put out is always so inspiring in an intoxicating way. I wanna get out there and craft thanks to you! Appreciate it. Your channel is a joy to watch.

Now you need to try out reduction block printing! I agree block prints always have a very cool feel whether they are done super well and detailed or a little rougher

Badass. This channel has been such an inspiration.

These will make neat prop bits, like maps/ scrolls. Or even texture on something, like posters.

Awesome work! linocut/printmaking is such a cool artform and its rad to see you working with it! Great designs!

I just read through the comments and saw quite a few ideas that he said he'd try. It would be nice to see a follow up video of him trying some of the comment section recommendations. I did this once at school and failed spectacularly. Its amazing what minimal time, materials, and talent can give you. Maybe I'll give it a crack again. It is a cool aesthetic .

I studied Fine Art Printing in College, it’s by far the most punk rock of all the Fine Arts. Get a piece of plexi glass or real glass to roll out your printing ink, make your life WAY easier.

2:11 Testify! "Don't ever let a lack of materials (or tools) stop you from trying new things. There's always an alternative."

Cool knight. Really "brightened" my day.

Try double printing the design you're using for the acetone transfer. It will give more toner in the paper to make the transfer darker on the linoleum.

Really enjoyed this. It was cool seeing you do something different. My partner got me a starter set a couple of Christmases ago and I found it so enjoyable to do. I really should do some more.

Seeing you take up block printing made so much sense to me. Great designs! Looking forward to seeing you make your own printing press! 😂🔥

Try using an iron to transfer your print out to the carving block (works with laser printer only). If its a fresh print out, it should transfer pretty great.

It looks soo cool 👍

love to see you branching out your video's! block printing seems such a good match for your style!

Great craftsmanship! I am not a carver but I am a tattoo artist, and I think that if you put the acetone on the linoleum and then put the stencil on it, on the tinted side, it is possible that the drawing will stick better, as happens when you are going to place a tattoo stencil in the body

Been wanting to try this but was unsure where to start. This was incredibly informative and I just ordered the same starter kit from amazon.

Very awesome.

My fiancé majored in this in college! Its so awesome! Try a multicolor print next!

Very cool!

Blockprinting is a lot of fun! And be careful with som other similar techniques like dry point or metal engraving, they are adicctive. Another form to transfer the image to the block is mirroring your image before printing and put a sheet of carbonic paper (with some adhesive tape to fix it) between your design and the printing block, then redraw all over the image with something sharp like a ballpoint pen. The carbonic paper will transfer your image to the block, ready for just just carving it. You will not have to troubles with the PVA layer.

Get a good sharpening stone and some light oil. 3 in 1 should work. And carefully sharpen your chisel blades a bit before every carving session. If the chisel seems to have a problem cutting, resharpen a bit to touch up your edge. Even cheap chisel blades will benefit. You can probably find a RU-vid vid somewhere showing you how to do it.

Super cool! Time to go learn this myself now. :)

Pro-Tip: If you use a Pane of Glass as a palette for your Roller, you get more smoother results with the paint color.

At age 10 i was given a set like this in Art class. only stabbed me self 5 times and one visit to the ER. To this day i still think of those carving tools as sharper then razorblades, but i cracked when you did the first cut. Thanks for the video

Very cool. I am seriously tempted to try it now. Cheers!

So cool

Keep it up this is awesome

That's so cool! I agree that there's a visual unity in stuff made with the medium, even the art nouveau one you showed in the beginning. I'd *guess* that it's something about the crispness of the borders/contrast. I'm playing Okami right now, and I know that was (obviously) inspired by brush type art, but a lot of traditional Japanese art was also woodcuts iirc? And I'm thinking I've got to go looking to see if anyone has done Okami prints like this because I think the result would be stunning.

Dude! I had an art class in high school where we did this, and it was low key one of my favorite mediums to play with. I've been eying the stuff for this at the art store the past couple years, I gotta get back in

Hell yeah, man! Next step is laying two colors.

Looks like a great technique for making player handouts, if you're really obsessive about such things.

Thank you for using the whole quote. People truncate it too often, and it bugs me. A medium you may like if this was enjoyable is "Scratchboard" art.

I really enjoyed that :)

It would be a little extra work, but I bet you could use the same kind of transfer paper as a tattoo artist uses. They transfer great onto fake skin(mine are like rubber bands) and only require a small amount of dry time. I use just a green deodorant stick and once dry it's basically stained.

I have never heard the second part of the saying, I dig it. Thanks for the video. Looking forward to a block print shirt next Adepticon.