Tan-Z Kut

Description

Tan-Z Kut is the most recent iteration of carving materials in the quest to come up with the perfect carving medium. It is a beige material that is smooth on one side and pebbled on the other, due to the extrusion process used to make it, so it’s very easy to tell which side to carve. I recommend sanding the carving surface lightly with a fine grit sandpaper before transferring your image, which will improve both the transfer quality and the inking process, once you’ve finished your carving. Also, heat transfer on this material only needs very low temperature – just enough to move the toner from your copy to the block. I use an old iron set on #2 of 10 heat settings (permanent press).

Important shipping tip: Smaller sizes up to 10 x 6 will fit into a flat rate envelope, but the two larger sizes require a box. I can fit lots more of these heavy sheets in a box than the calculator thinks I can and, depending on how many you buy, it may wildly overcharge you for postage.  I will refund any shipping overcharge, or if you’re not comfortable with that, you can send me a note with the list of what you want and I’ll completely work around the shipping calculator.

I really enjoyed carving this material and so did many of my merry band of testers. Not everybody liked it, though. There were two notable exceptions in the total test group of 17, both of whom were primarily knife carvers. If you’re interested in reading about all the results, you can find them in the links below. I posted the results as they came in from the different testers.

First group of testers

Second group of testers

Third group of testers

Fourth group of testers

My first test (gouge carving)

My second test (text and knife carving)