Paper Types

I have found the following types of black paper that are suitable for relief printmaking (some more than others) and that are lightfast. These passed the Las Vegas driveway test, where I place a piece of paper half covered with a piece of wood out on the driveway for a day or so. If after a day or two (hey! I got busy and forgot, okay?) in the desert sun both halves of the paper look the same, the paper is lightfast.
A bit more info on paper is in the Studio Notes on Paper. Much more information on paper can be found in books such as my favorite, The Book of Fine Paper by Silvie Turner, available in the Bookstore.
Paper sources are in the Suppliers page.

1. Canson Me Teintes pastel paper faded a wee bit, but imperceptibly so. It can be used for printmaking on the non-pastel smooth side.
2. Arches Black is the king of the black papers, although a bit grainy since it is a drawing paper. It will take as much ink as you can dish out, important as you will see in a minute.
3. Strathmore Recycled black did not fade to my surprise and it is very smooth. Comes in pads. It has a tendency to refuse the ink on later layers, which may seem like a disadvantage but ends up giving surprising results, very much like oil paint glazes.

As you can see by the image, black paper tends to give very rich results. This print, Garden Gifts, was made with two separate reduction blocks, one for the flowers and one for the green background leaves.  Also in this print I chose to leave the black line as a feature in the print. Leaving a black line is very easy when printing on black paper, you carve a line where you want the black line to outline the design. Being used to carving in negative, this takes a bit of concentration! After carving all the lines, both around the flowers and the leaves, I transferred the design to the second block. This was done by printing the entire design to a sheet of mylar and then transferring the ink to the second block, registered in the same exact place. Next step was to eliminate the background in the roses-block, and eliminate the roses in the leaves-block. The rest proceeded much like a standard reduction print. Reduction prints are fully explained in the Studio Notes: Reduction. Let's get to the step-by-step with a different print.

Step 1: Design and carving of key block

I start out with a rough outline on the block. Notice in the background that there is a pencil drawing on another block.  I begin with pencil, as in the figures. Later, when I am satisfied with the image composition and design, I go over the principal lines with a permanent marker (Sharpie). This wonder of all markers will remain on the block through many states of printing and cleaning the block. For the first step, I simply carved out all the black lines drawn on the block.

Step 2: Registration and transfer to color blocks

Then, using the registration board, I transferred all the carved lines to another block.  Again, I do this by printing the entire block on a sheet of mylar. The mylar is tacked to the registration board. I then lift the mylar out of the way without removing the tacks. Take out block #1, put in block #2, lower mylar back in place and rub. Using this method, you can transfer a "key block" to as many other blocks as needed. This is the registration board I use for all my work. They can easily be made out of foamboard to suit the specific print.  Notice a couple of things: The foamboard construction allows the block to be printed by hand or press The margins can be whatever you wish, simply place the strips to hold the paper against, at any point from the edge of the block Blocks can then be carved to the edge, saving precious cherry wood More on registration? Go to the registration pages.

Step 3: Reduction process begins

This is the peach block, or the prickly pears block.
Often when printing on black paper you will have to print the first color twice or more. This seems tedious, but since you are printing lightest color first, you need a good base upon which to lay the rest of the colors.
This very light peach had to be printed three times to achieve good saturation! The first two times I ran through the press, but the third time I wanted more control so I printed it by hand with a wooden spoon.