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[D. Broughman]

I found this thread interesting and was wondering if there is a way to get a print done from the copper printers block I have.

[drcy]

Find an local artist art school that makes prints. They could do it for you. They will have one man printing presses to do it. I've taken printmaking classes at the local art institute and used the art presses.

If you wanted, you could practice and try it on your own at home. Get some printers ink. You won't ruin the plate if you clean it right afterwards. After all, it's made out of metal. The key is to not use oil paint or acrylic paint or such as that will dry fast and gunk it up. Printing ink is designed for a plate like that, and can easily be cleaned up. Printing ink for a regular dime store rubber stamp likely will work fine. You can try using the plate like a rubber stamp. See what technique works and what doesn't.

Whether you're Picasso or making a newspaper picture, making the printing plate itself is the hard part. Making a print from the plate is the easier part (I said easier, not easy). The plate itself most probably can't be duplicated, even by an advanced artist and an art college. In part, because it was made with decades old, obsolete technology. It's a sheet of solid copper with a detailed image embossed it it. Something a scammer can't do on his computer printer. Plus, copper is expensive these days.

However, about 25 times easier and less time consuming would be to make a quality computer scan, reverse the negative image, do some photo shop and make a digital print.

I do think having a quality modern print (even digital) from the plate would increase the revalue of the plate itself. Makes it an overall attractive and interesting display piece. Collectors do that with their old photo negatives.

[RCMcKenzie]

Not exactly a Kreindler, but you can make your own baseball card prints with supplies from a hobbies and crafts store. Here is a linocut of a J. Wood dotted tie photo of Joe Crotty...

[steve B]

Originally Posted by RCMcKenzie

Not exactly a Kreindler, but you can make your own baseball card prints with supplies from a hobbies and crafts store. Here is a linocut of a J. Wood dotted tie photo of Joe Crotty...

That's kind of nice actually. The printing needs a bit of practice, but the actual portrait part is good.
My art teacher made me try that style a couple times, but I never could get that level of "liveliness" in the subject. I was much better with architecture and mechanical subjects.

Steve B

[RCMcKenzie]

Thanks, Steve. I like to think of my style as... in the manner of German Expressionist's Christian Rohlfs and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, but the truth is I can't draw well enough to be a realist.

[drcy]

The baseball one will be harder to print, due to the fine dots detail. May need a professional.

On a side printing note, a linocut (such as shown above) is the same as a woodcut, except linoleum was used for the printing block instead of wood. Linoleum is a lot easier to carve and is a relatively modern product. A print expert can look at a final print and tell you if it's a linocut or a woodcut, but that's because the know what they are doing.

[steve B]

I'm about halfway there.

I can get the process for almost everything I come across in person, less by seeing scans. Really good woodcuts are difficult, especially ones done on the endgrain of a hardwood like Maple.

Oddly T205 backs were a challenge, should be lithographed, but have lots of indicators of type being used. Then I found out that a common process of the time involved laying out litho plates with transfers - which could be printed from either a master litho plate or set type.

I've done a small bit of many of the common things. Lithograph, etching, engraving, wood block, linoleum, silkscreen, Maybe one or two others.

Someday when I find my stack of prints from HS I'll photo or scan a few.

Steve B

[D. Broughman]

Originally Posted by D. Broughman

I found this thread interesting and was wondering if there is a way to get a print done from the copper printers block I have.

Here is a print from my printers block.