Wooden board, as a plate material, is one of the earliest media used by humans to make prints. Ancient Chinese prints with a history of more than a thousand years are almost entirely dominated by woodblock prints. Although woodblock prints have lost their former luster in the modern West, China, which has a rich tradition of woodblock prints, still maintains its advantages. In addition to the people's preferences and habits, it is also because it is easier to popularize than copper and stone tablets.

For a long time, people have regarded woodblock prints as a typical example of letterpress printing. However, woodblock prints, especially in modern times, are not only the best material for letterpress printing, but also the best material for intaglio, comprehensive and air-pressed printing. Affordable and good plates. At present, the "color extension" used by many domestic printmakers is actually the comprehensive use of the convex and concave surfaces of woodblocks: wood grain watermarks are also examples of the combination of convex and concave (the recesses of the wood grain accumulate more ink, and the grain area has less ink, so the wood grain appears) . Nowadays, people use various coatings (such as varnish, wax, plastic, etc.) to brush on the wood surface to make the knife move freely, eliminate the obstruction of the pattern, and have the effect of metal gravure: woodblocks (various plywood) are also used It is flat and cheap and can be used as the base plate for comprehensive editions, cut-and-paste editions, etc. With the advancement of science and technology and people's continuous exploration, wooden boards will definitely have broader prospects as plate materials.

This section discusses the general uses of wooden boards as plate materials as follows.

1. Tools and materials

The tools and materials of woodblock prints are the same as other types of printing such as paper plates. They consist of three parts: plate material, engraving tools and printing tools.

A. Plate material:

Any wood board with a flat surface that can be inserted into the knife can be used. Especially for modern woodcuts, there is no need to pay attention to it. Boards with different textures and textures will have different artistic effects. The important thing is to use them just right. Generally, the texture of the board is selected based on whether the content is coarse or fine. Wood types such as peach, plum, ginkgo (white fruit tree), etc. can be used to carve delicate prints because of their tight and thin wood. Forged wood in the north, camphor wood and maple wood in the south are also good wood engraving materials. But now that these boards are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain (except for some authors from the wood's origin), people are trying to find other boards and their substitutes to make woodblock prints. Three-ply, five-ply, sawdust boards, etc., which are widely available in the market, have been used by most woodblock print artists. Iinocut, plastic, gypsum, etc., which are popular abroad, are essentially substitutes for woodblocks.

B. Carving tools:

A box of art woodcarving knives (Figures 161 and 162). There are several types of boxed wood carving knives on the market. For beginners, eight packs are enough. When purchasing a wood carving knife at an art supply store, it is best to look for the one with a large flat blade or a large round blade in the box. If not, you can go to a shop or stall selling iron products in the market to buy a medium-sized flat chisel (with the flat blade facing up) for carving large prints and shoveling the bottom. Woodcarving knives usually include Mitsubishi wood carving knives. (Angle) knife, round knife, flat knife, oblique knife, square knife, etc. The characteristics and uses of various knives are briefly described as follows:

The names of the various parts of the carving knife: blade, blade surface, knife stem and knife handle. (See Figure 163)

The correct way to hold the knife is: Hold the knife in the right hand, with the middle finger and index finger of the left hand touching the knife stem to control the direction and speed of the knife and not easily injure the fingers. (Picture 164)

For the Mitsubishi knife, insert the corner of the blade into the wood and push forward with force. For carving: You can also insert the edge of the blade into the wood and use it as a flat knife: It can also be used as a wave shovel to push and carve. The place where the knife enters and the place where the knife comes out are short lines with sharp ends, or chiseling, that is, after the knife enters the wood, the knife is withdrawn to pick out the wood chips and carve triangular white dots.

(Picture 165)

A round-mouth knife is mainly used to carve large surfaces. There are four general carving methods. One is shoveling, where the knife enters and exits in an arc shape; the other is digging, where the knife stops after it enters the wood, and the wood chips are removed with the knife, or the wood chips are removed by hand after the knife is withdrawn. The two ends of this knife are square and the other is round; the third is a horizontal cut line. When holding the knife, do not push it forward. Instead, use the middle finger and index finger of your left hand to press the knife stem to push the knife to the right. At the same time, hold the knife with your right hand. Press the blade against the wood surface to carve soft lines; the fourth is to shake the knife, hold the handle slightly upright, and move the knife left and right to carve out lines like ropes. (Figure 165, 166-1)

Flat knife (also called flat knife): This knife is like a woodworking knife Flat chisel, but the flat chisel used for carpentry has a thick shaft and is suitable for hammer driving, while the wood carving flat knife has a thin shaft and is suitable for hand driving. Nowadays, when many woodcarvers use a carpenter's flat chisel to carve blocks, they often hit it with a wooden mallet, and their knife touch is rather clumsy. There are generally five carving methods: the first is shoveling, with the knife touching in a square shape; the second is digging, pushing the knife flatly into the wood, then withdrawing the knife to pick out the wood chips; the third is using a sharp knife to carve lines, like a plow, and then pressing the blade surface against the wood surface, Cut off the wood chips raised by the "plough", or add another knife in the same way on the other two sides of the carved line. The two knives are clamped together, just like a Mitsubishi knife, and the wood chips are dug out: The fourth is to cut, with the knife slightly vertical. , use force to penetrate the wood surface, and carve out the lines and shapes one by one, just like carving seals and cutting stones. If your hand strength is insufficient, you can use a mallet to pound it. At this time, the left hand should be used to hold the knife with a fist, and the right hand should hold the mallet to knock it (see Figure 166-4); the fifth is to chisel the line, enter the knife vertically, and connect the straight blade marks into a long line, such as "breaking the ulna", "house" "Leakage mark" (Figure 165, 166-3)

Oblique knife (also called oblique knife): generally used for engraving, or used as a supplementary cut with other knives. There are two ways to carve the line: one is to use the front tip of the knife and slightly tilt the knife to pull the line; the other is to use the back corner of the knife to push the carving line flat, like plowing a field, the same as with a flat-blade knife. The difference is that the inclined knife is easier to control than the flat knife.

Square knife (also called square knife): It is a recent new product. It integrates Mitsubishi knife, round knife and flat knife. It is very convenient if used properly.

The use of the carving knife is generally the same, but when it comes to specific engraving, it will also vary from person to person. According to the author's different preferences, the knife should be used with some emphasis. Some woodcarvers mainly use round knives, while others are accustomed to using flat knives and oblique knives. Some woodcutters mainly use Mitsubishi knives, and their carvings are very detailed. Generally speaking, the knife used for a woodcut should not be too complicated. Once it is Mitsubishi, then it will be round, and then it will be flat again. In this way, the knife will look messy and uncoordinated. A piece of music has a main melody, a painting needs a main melody, and a woodcut also needs a master craftsman. Woodcut was once called the art of carving, and that's what it meant.

In addition to the above-mentioned carving knives, you can also prepare some nails, knives, sandpaper, saws, scissors, soldering irons, etc. for making various textures on the layout. (Figure 161, 162)

About sharpening the knife: As the saying goes, "Sharpening the knife will not delay the woodcutter." The carving knife will become dull after being used for a long time. , affecting the carved emotions. Abrasive tools: whetstone, emery and grindstone bricks, etc. Flat and beveled edges are easier to sharpen, just pay attention to the straightness of the blade surface when sharpening. Mitsubishi and round-blade knives are more difficult to sharpen. When grinding the two edge surfaces of Mitsubishi knives separately, the force and times must be even. The round edge surface needs to be rolled back and forth on the grindstone, or a round groove must be dug on the grinding brick, and flat grinding back and forth. Whether each blade is sharp or not depends on whether there is a bright line reflecting light on the blade. If not, it indicates that the blade is sharpened.

Preservation of cutting tools: After using the cutting tools, if they are not used temporarily, in order to prevent rust, you can apply some machine oil or vegetable oil on the cutting heads.

C. Printing tools

Woodcut printing includes Watermarks and mimeographs use slightly different tools and materials. Compare the following list:

Mimeograph

Printing paper - white paper or colored paper generally available in the market can be used, but the solid surface Light is suitable, such as drawing paper, drawing paper, cardboard and coated paper. Rice paper or absorbent paper can also be used for mimeographing, and the prints will be non-reflective after printing.

Wiping utensils 11 The simplest ones are woodcarving knife handles and ordinary metal spoons, but for large-area overprinting, you need to use Ma Lian (see production method). It is very advisable and interesting to make your own rubbing tools with different grinding surfaces from a piece of hardwood. (See Figure 161)

Ink application tools 11 ① Small rubber rollers of several sizes. Small rollers specially designed for printmaking are difficult to buy in the market. There are glazing rollers available in photographic equipment stores, but they are too hard. It is best to buy a printing roller at a stationery store, cut it into three sections: large, medium and small, and make your own roller, which is ideal. ②Adjust the size of the ink blades. ③One or several small glass plates, used for ink adjustment.

Pigments - Mainly black and white offset inks for printing, and equipped with various oil paints. However, before using oil paints, the toning oil in the paint must be absorbed with rough paper (or other rough paper) before it can be mixed with the offset white ink used for printing or the toning oil used in the printing factory (Village oil or white oil). Deoiled) Mix and use. If you use oil paint directly, it will be difficult to transfer to paper due to lack of viscosity, and there will be heavy oil stains exuding out of the form after printing, which will affect the printmaking effect.

Others 11 L-shaped positioning square (made with wooden strips).

Watermark

The printing paper is rice paper, which is suitable for clamping rice paper (it is not easy to damage the paper by pulling it many times, and it is easy to control the moisture). Other paper with good water absorption properties such as filter paper paper etc.

Wiping tools - Horse rake or brown rake. (See below for the production method)

Tools for applying ink one by one ① Brush pen, shading pen, brush, gouache or oil brush of several sizes. ② Mix the color and mix some small white porcelain plates.

Pigments - Watercolor, gouache and Chinese painting pigments are all acceptable.

Others 11 Watering can, paperweight (iron block, porcelain rod or hardwood block, etc. can be used).

Ma Lian production method: It consists of bamboo shoot skin, rope plate and round wooden board.

Soak the dried bamboo shoot skin in water to soften it, flatten it and wipe off the water, cut it into eleven pieces according to the picture, cut it into circles with a pair of three plywood scissors (the size will depend on the bamboo shoot skin), use them one by one. Coil a strong cotton rope or brown rope (the rope is about 3-4 mm thick) into a round shape, the size of which matches the round plywood. To prevent the rope from loosening, you can first seal it with a cross with transparent tape (see picture) , then glue the round plate and the rope plate firmly with white glue. After drying, tear off the tape, smear yellow wax all over the surface, and place it in the bamboo shoot skin (note: the outer skin of the bamboo shoot skin has fine hairs, facing inward, and the inner skin is smooth on the outside), wrap the rope plate board tightly according to the diagram, and finally tie the two ends of the bamboo shoot skin. The connections are tightly tied with rope to serve as handles. The horse company is done (see Figure 167).

Note: Mr. Shi Yan, a contemporary art historian, verified in the 1940s that Malian was actually introduced to Japan from China via Korea. Later, it was slightly improved and became the modern Malian. The Japanese word "eight" and "dagger" baren are homophonic to the Chinese word "horse hyena" (the previously used woodblock print eraser "horse hyena" was an eraser made of horse mane. In ancient times, it was also made of brown leather). Therefore, Ma Lianshi originated from China.

The brown rake is the current appearance of my country's traditional wiping tool. It is composed of brown slices and square wooden strips. Take a piece of square wood about one hand long and 4-5 cm thick (with the hardwood as the top), use a gouge to make a groove in the center of the ridge - fold the brown pieces along the brown silk to the width of the wood strip, and then use kraft paper (or (other strong paper), and tie both ends of the brown roll together (just long enough to wrap both ends of the wooden bar), press it under the wooden bar, and at the same time tie the ropes at both ends to the grooves on the back of the wood. Finally, tear off the kraft paper outside the brown roll, and the brown sacrifice is completed. (Figure 168)

Production of the roller: According to the ratio of 1/2, 1/3, 1/6 Use two rollers to make the seal, drill holes on both sides of the wooden core, and then attach a wire frame with a handle. (See Figure 107)