My first experience with printing was in 6th grade for a history project. We were studying Ancient China and each group had to create a hands-on project for the final, so my group tried block printing. I remember being so excited to carve out the individual blocks, partly because we had special permission to use swiss army knives, and partly because I couldn’t wait to see the final product. It was a long process to decide which characters we wanted, stencil the blocks so our characters would not be backwards, and finally carve the pieces of wood. Of course, after all of this work, when we went to print the characters on paper, they didn’t show up very well because there was not enough pressure and the paper didn’t hold the ink. However a classmate discovered that the block prints showed up really well on skin, and soon the whole class was walking around with characters printed up and down their arms.
Reflecting on this project really makes me have an appreciation for a master printer. It’s one thing to crudely carve into a block when you’re eleven, but another thing to go through the process we watched in class. The printers are so patient with every technique they use, recognizing a piece can require many rounds in the acid bath using different types of printing styles to be finished. They also check the print after each step, a method my group mates and I could learn from. Even though the process is long, it is worth it to get all the textures and tones for the final product. Of course, a piece does not need to use all the techniques we went over in class. Goya’s Los Caprichos just uses the aquatint method and his pieces are just as impressive. For the Los Caprichos aquatint works because it makes the pieces very dark and sets the tone Goya wants. The darkness also highlights the parts that are in light, and it adds to the dialogue Goya creates with his work.
