Woodblock Print: Gay Bomb!

[SevenCubed]

If you haven't heard of the proposed "Gay Bomb" idea that was pitched to the US Government, feel free to google it up. So this is my first carvewright Woodblock print piece. Unfortunately, a lot of the detail didn't show up in the blocks. I need to get a better feel for what I can expect on a 5x7" piece. Thankfully, though, the process works!

-343

[Greybeard]

I wonder how many of the "traditional" crafts will feel an impact from cnc machines in general, as well as the CW in particular ?

I bet it beats cutting grooves in your hand ? :D

Regards
John

[Kenm810]

If you want check out post from a couple of weeks ago
Stencils & Block Printing http://www.carvewright.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

[SevenCubed]

Ah! I'm glad you saw it! Yeah, Your post on woodblock printing helped get a fire under my butt to get SOMETHING made. The results aren't overwhelming, but I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. Thanks for your advice and expertise!

[Gman_Ind]

My wife and her family are stampers, I can see making custom stamps with the CC.

[SevenCubed]

The thing is, the 1/16th carving bit is _not_ good for really super-fine detail. It looks like most "custom stamp design" folks use laser engravers. It's kinda hard to show how much detail was lost by using the 5x7 blocks... I plan to carve out some 10x14 blocks of the same design and it should become much more obvious what kind of fine level detail the CW can manage.

[Kenm810]

On some of the smaller blocks I make up for the lack of detail by adding different carved textures to parts of the art on the block with the CW or do a little touch up by hand in the detail with my Dremal tools and dental picks. The CW dose the majority of the work, I or my wife finish the blocks with any fine work that might be needed http://www.carvewright.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

Here's a versatile Dremal, high-quality cutter made of high-grade steel for use on wood, plastic and soft metals.
If your interested rjustice has 1/8" bit holder adapters available for the finer carving bits.

[dominulus]

SevenCubed:

What was your original source file for the woodblock print? A bitmapped image or a grayscale jpeg?

Did the carving bit leave any support shoulder for your fine lines?

I'd like to know how the image presented by the software compared with your final result. I do like how the software works on a Mac -- so easy to use along with Photoshop, but am curious if wisiwig.

For cutting, did you use bit optimization or feathering?

I intend to use my machine for woodblock printmaking, too. But it arrived with a bad cutting motor, so I'm still anticipating its effectiveness.

I wonder how it would cut dot or line screens and what the maximum resolution would be. Probably fairly low.

[SevenCubed]

Lessee. The original source file was a bitmap I made in Photoshop. I designed it to be 5x7 inches at 300 dpi. The carving bit didn't leave a support shoulder for the fine lines, but that was MY fault, not encorporating such things into the actual file. I used bit optimization, but no feathering. Feathering wouldn't matter anyway, since the image was scaled to the precise size of the workpiece. I plan to do a series of "Super Gay Bomb" prints that will be carved on 10x14" blocks, so I'm hoping that a combination of more real estate and experience learned from the first blocks will yield better results. As always, I'll post 'em as I get 'em. When I do the bigger blocks, I'll actually add some structural support to the lines and see if I can't milk just a BIT more detail out of the piece than I've currently got.

I have a piece I carved recently that featured a halftone gradient. Instead of yielding a lovely smooth transition, The finished product went from solid black abruptly to Checkerboard, then abruptly to white. It was kinda sad. Given, I was carving on really super-crappy laminated particleboard (a friend of mine gave me a keyboard tray from a desk he was scrapping), but I don't know how much higher quality I can expect. I'll post pics once I get 'em off my camera.

Sorry to hear about your cut motor! best of luck on gettin' up an' carving soon.