In keeping with my New Year’s resolution, I am trying to be better about posting on the Stampeaz site and I thought it might be helpful to start from the beginning and show you how I go about preparing a block for carving. There are a number of ways to do this, but my personal favorite is a light sanding. Sanding will take any film from the manufacturing process off the surface of the block, allowing the material to take both image transfers and inks more readily.
As you can see in the block of Firm Kut above, light reflects off the shiny surface. Right off the extrusion machine, carving materials tend to be a moisture resistant, since heat is used in forming the blocks and it creates a film on the surface. Some people like to rub this off with acetone to remove it, but acetone gives me a headache and makes the block sticky for a while. So, here’s my process.
I use several different grits of sandpaper, generally starting with something around 220 and moving up to 320 and finishing with 400 or 600, sanding in all four directions – up and down, side to side and both diagonals. It doesn’t take much, so don’t overdo it. A light sanding with each grit will do the trick. You’re only removing the sheen and making sure not to leave any sanding streaks.
Between each sanding grit, I hold the block up to the light to make sure I haven’t missed a spot – in other words, there aren’t any shiny spots left – and that the surface looks even and smooth.
Here you can see the difference between the shiny, unsanded block on top and the sanded block below. The light no longer reflects off the sanded block and ink will stay right where it’s put. Sanding will also improve image transfer quality, since toner doesn’t stick quite as well to the shiny surface.
This process only takes a couple minutes (and a very small amount of sandpaper, which can be used many times before the grit starts to wear off) and is well worth the effort. I hope this short tutorial is useful and will take the mystery out of block preparation. I find that surface sanding improves every carving material I’ve ever worked with – even linoleum.
Do you do this with the pink stuff too?
Yes, Sheila. I do this with any block I carve. I even did it with the old PZ Kut. These blocks all use an extrusion system of some kind. That also usually means that heat is involved and the heat creates a sort of skin on the outside of the block. Once that’s gone, everything seems easier, at least for me. Image transfer, inking, and even the carving seems to work more smoothly, since the resistance of that skin is just a tad stiffer than the inner block. Most people seem to notice a difference, but if you’re not having any issues at all, it may be a step you can comfortably skip. Try it and see what you prefer. 🙂