A number of people have asked questions about felts or blankets on the Xcut Xpress. Here are my thoughts, for what they’re worth.
 
Let’s examine what the ‘blanket layer’ does as part of the ‘sandwich’ a printmaker puts together when taking a print on any roller press.
The two tasks of a blanket relevant to any printmaking method are: firstly as a ‘friction’ layer; enabling the smooth metal roller to grip the print ‘sandwich’ and feed it smoothly through the press. Secondly, evening out to a degree the pressing of the paper down on to the ink and taking up some of the variations in surface of plate/block and paper.
 
Then we come to the key factors in the choice of an appropriate blanket layer: the method of printmaking being used; and the particular requirements of each different pass of a print through the press.
 
The blanket layer is potentially very flexible under high pressure and this flexibility can be finely controlled according to the results desired. So, for example, the plate/block might be required to be printed ‘intaglio’ - either a deeply bitten etching, or a collograph with several different levels and textures. In these cases the paper will probably need to be damp (and therefore more flexible) and the blanket’s job is to push the paper right down into the inked areas to pick up all the marks and textures of the image. Hence, over the years the typical combination of a thin, smooth but flexible ‘swanskin’ topped with absorbing and ‘driving’ layers of coarser weave blankets have been adopted on most ‘etching’ presses.
If we then compare that with the other extreme of printmaking technique:  a ‘relief’ print; such as lino or woodcut, with fine detail – both positive and negative – carved on a smooth level surface. Here the artist will only want the (probably quite thinly rolled) layer of ink to be transferred cleanly, but totally, to the (usually dry) surface of the paper. Here the blanket must act as a ‘driving’ layer in the sandwich and at the same time even out the roller pressure; but not bend the paper at all down and around the edges of the inked parts of the image. So – in this case one layer of thin felt or even just a layer or two of thickish paper might well do all that is required.
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So….what will the average printmaker user of the XCut Xpress need to have to hand in the way of blankets?
As always with creative printmaking, personal experimentation is a must. (But I would add here that all trials and proofs should be done as far as possible using the same paper, ink and other elements as are planned for the final version. A quick proof on thin copy paper in the wrong ink will tell you very little about the real potential of your block/plate!)
Think about what you actually want to happen as the rollers press the paper to the ink and try different combinations to make that happen.
 
One piece of non-woven 5mm felt such as that sold in the UK by Handprinted https://goo.gl/dJStK3 will probably be a good all round starting point. It is thick enough to push dampened papers right down in to intaglio plates, but can have a piece of dry thickish paper placed between it and the paper to be printed if a lightly inked relief surface only is being printed.

Personally, for printing my lino blocks, I still use just one piece of thin craft felt, perhaps with an additional layer of thinner paper between it and my preferred 300gsm Somerset. And such intaglio as I have printed on the XCut – which is not a great deal I have to say – seemed to work fine with just one medium density 5mm blanket and one sheet of acid free tissue over well dampened paper.
 
As always – interested to hear of and see others XCut Xpress XPeriments!

I have just completed a 5 day ‘residency’ at the very lovely Whitehouse Gallery  http://www.whitehousegallery.co.uk in the ‘Artists Town’ of Kirkcudbright https://goo.gl/qIz7Nn
The gallery recently opened some additional nice bright spaces upstairs - and gallery manager Lynne Atkinson and I decided that it would be a good opportunity to show some of the actual process and methods of making original prints, as well as finished work.

Despite having my well-equipped studio at home at Craigshaw Barns, I also have a bit of a current interest in showing what can be done with small scale ‘table-top printmaking’. So, as well as the XCut Xpress (with its longer bed), I took along the simple screen printing set up - as mentioned in an earlier post. I also took previous lino blocks, preparatory drawings etc. as well as all the tools and materials I would need to progress my next planned print.
I began with setting up the screen printing unit to print some background tints for the little greetings cards of the hare and squirrel. At least twenty people over the five days – young and old – had their first go at screenprinting. Many more were interested to have the process explained.

An advantage of having several base boards for the XCut  (as well as its all-important pressure adjustment dial) is that one can have several prints on the go at once. So, as well as one set up for the cards, I also brought along the key block and all the pre screenprinted sheets of the ‘Bullfinches’ print. (see images below).

I had also saved a proof of every stage of making this little print, so I was able to not only explain and demonstrate actual carving and printing of a linocut on the XCut, but also show how screenprinted colour can be registered with the lino in what is a common method for me: utilising the speed, control and convenience of screen printing, in combination with the graphic and print qualities of linocut.

So over the five days, I finished editioning the Bullfinches and was also able to let many folk ink up, register and print their own cards. Folded, put with an envelope in a nice little cello bag, they made a nice thing to take away (for a charity donation!)

All in all, a very enjoyable few days; perhaps a day too long and I never expected to make a lot of print sales. (Although, must say, I can’t complain!) Really I just like ‘spreading the word’ and one meets some really interesting and interested people. Well worthwhile! And thank you to Lynne and The Whitehouse for the opportunity.

Back in September last year, I got myself quite enthused with the project set out below. I shared the original polemic and received quite a bit of positive interest. However, as I said at the time, I knew that I did not have the energy to pursue it with the energy it deserved. So i just let it lie and got on with more important personal work.
But since then I have started this blog and thought it might be worthwhile putting it on here in the hope that someone somewhere might want to pick it up and run with it. So here is the initial piece:

Through this initial discussion I want to explore, and hopefully also offer the germ of a solution to, the issues surrounding giclee (computer inkjet) prints, or other photo-mechanical reproductions being signed and sold as "limited editions" to the detriment of those artists who produce genuine, original, most often hand printed, work.
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Most printmakers and some galleries and curators continue to be plagued and annoyed by this issue and often discuss it amongst themselves; usually to very little end other than to continue to feel angry, smug or both; as well as having to constantly explain it to potential buyers. My idea set out below of one way this question might be addressed may not be original. There may well already be an ongoing scheme similar to that which I outline. If so, my research and questioning has not yet revealed it.

Let me first make one thing clear: As far as I am concerned, the issue is not with the sale of 'giclee' prints as such. I have no problem at all with art being made affordable by the use of reproduction. And there are of course an increasing number of artists who are creating and printing original images digitally. My concern, as with most printmakers, is the confusion brought about when reproductions of works created in another medium are sold as so called ‘signed limited editions'; simply in order to confer upon them a spurious rarity value.
 
Here is not the place to describe all aspects of the making what I will call ‘original’ prints. Similarly I think it would be almost impossible to capture, in one simple explanation, every single aspect and types of image making that could be defined as an ‘original’ printmaking. In many ways, of course, it would be preferable to identify and clearly label those prints that are not originals, but are simply reproductions. But clearly that is never going to happen!
 
Such a definition of an original print has already been attempted many times. I doubt we will ever be able to please everyone or include every relevant aspect, but there is a need to at least attempt a new and brief contemporary definition on which a majority can agree. From this could also evolve more comprehensive summaries for wider general use.
 
Having thought about this at length, I believe that what we need first is a way in which original artist’s prints can be simply, quickly and clearly identified and promoted at point of sale/exhibition. Not, as some have suggested, in a tedious legal, trading standards way, but something more akin to the way CAMRA – The Campaign for Real Ale - managed to successfully promote a product with many variations but a clear identity. (Indeed, I did think of ‘Campaign for Real Artists Prints’ as a title for this project, but decided the acronym ‘CRAP’ was perhaps not what we needed!)
 
What we do need is a brand. A recognisable and widely promoted quality mark/logo which would only be associated with original artists prints. This ‘badge’ would need to be linked to, and explained by, the agreed definition and explanatory material mentioned above, of what an original print is (or what it is not).
 
I imagine it working something like this:
 
A sticker or stamp with the easily recognisable and widely publicised logo of the scheme would be applied to original artists prints – and ONLY original artists prints - at point of sale. Not on the work itself, but on associated price labels, cello wrapping, frame backing etc. Somewhere close by – in the gallery or studio - would be displayed and obvious the same logo; along with the agreed definition of an original print and brief but fuller explanations. This could be on small, durable wall display cards, leaflets etc. Those doing the selling or supervising would also be able to explain the definition and the scheme itself at greater length if required.  I have in mind, for example, the way the ‘Own Art’ system is displayed and promoted. In due course, the identity of the scheme and its uptake – and thus the identity of genuine original artist’s prints would grow to the point where potential buyers and collectors would hopefully begin look for the logo on work they were interested in. Galleries and printmakers would be stimulated by the commercial advantages of this and be keen to become part of the movement and happy to make the effort of applying the logo and displaying/explaining the scheme information.
 
As it would only be linked to works meeting the broad criteria of an original print (and at the moment I see it only practically applying to conventional fine art printmakers producing ‘normal’ signed editions) it would still rely on the integrity, honesty and knowledge of the seller and the back-up of a wider education and information programme that we still need.
 
Personally I would not want anyone to try and police the scheme in any strict legal way. I would not want to see it ‘owned’ by some grand membership ‘Society’ or other.  Certainly after the initial involvement of printmakers themselves, galleries and other outlets for such prints would need to come on board. There would probably need to be a loose association of users and supporters and some means of providing (at cost) the materials. Perhaps I’m being idealistic, but in these days of instant communication, perhaps this could operate on a communal web based system at very little cost; maybe just with some ‘crowd funding’ or similar to kick it off?
 
So - there it was. I still think its a great idea. I would be more than happy to see maybe even an adapted and changed version attempted. Anyone????

​This post is about the two little greeting card/prints I have created for visitors to ‘have a go’ with during my upcoming ‘residency’ at the Whitehouse Gallery in Kirkcudbright this Easter .
I apologise for its complexity of explanation in places.  I’ve tried to simplify but I know some people will be interested. And never did know when to stop!
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As always – even these little things needed some preparatory drawing.  I believe it is the essential basis of much printmaking – especially linocut, to allow ones brain to explore the image in detail first; before beginning to carve. Of course some lino printers  work every part of the block out first and then simply remove the non-image areas. Of course, with things like text, I do this too,  But most often, I like to ‘draw’ the image with the gouges.  And I find to do that I need the almost subconscious preparation of having already translated the source material into graphic form – albeit initially in tones. For one of these prints  I had a hare drawing already prepared, but decided she was a bit serious looking, so I drew another.

​This exercise was partly personal experimentation and partly preparation for showing the use of the XCut Xpress during my gallery residency.  Also the intention was to combine screenprint with linocut. (see below) so I used the white plastic base board supplied. And, because I needed a registration method that was transferable to screen printing, I didn’t use the Ternes Burton pin registration system, but reverted to my more usual method of three thin card ‘stops’ to fix the position of the ‘lay edge’.

​The two wee blocks were carved and proofed in register and just in black.
It is my habit now to print on the XCut in one direction only - from left to right, handle turning clockwise. And I tend to register to the farthest edge of the paper; believing the card stops to help keep the paper in position. Of course, with the Ternes Burton pin system the other edge is used, as the tabs help stop paper drag as it goes through the rollers.
I later flipped the block around 180 degrees, to how it is shown in this pic, so it was still printing in the correct place to make a greeting card, but this allowed the block to pass under the rollers first – thus reducing the risk of paper movement and mis-register.

In over 40 years of screenprinting I have never seriously tried to print on paper without the use of a vacuum suction print table.  All that is about to change!
First I bought a pair of these https://goo.gl/17NOgV on EBay. Less than a tenner including delivery. OK I had to wait for them to come from Hong Kong, but they looked sturdier in the pictures than some others I had seen. And so it proved. They seem remarkably well made and efficient for the price.
The screen is a 140t mesh 30mm aluminium section and the base board is a ‘re-purposed’ bit of old kitchen unit melamine surfaced chipboard, with a prop and support made from offcuts.

​The black proofs from the lino blocks were used to trace and hand paint six stencils on the screen (I will have to explain this process in another post – this one’s too long already!) The ‘lay edge’ i.e. the corner of the sheets of paper which will go into the registration stops on the XCut is made with thin plastic stops taped firmly to the base board for each of the six stencils (three colours per print).

This part of the experiment was crucial. Modern water based screen inks are not only non toxic; they are thixotropic i.e. they pass fluidly through the screen mesh under pressure from the squeegee, but do not flow much when in the screen. Thus, not only are they less messy (and less smelly!) than the oil based inks I used for many years, but they are less ‘gluey’. I hoped that if printed thinly (hence the very fine 140 mesh) and in relatively small areas, they would not stick the paper to the underside of the screen; thus enabling heavyish paper to be printed cleanly without a vacuum, with no smudging from having to peel the print away from the underside of the screen after each pull.
The results were even better than I hoped. Sometimes I had to just wait half a second for the paper to drop back to the bed before lifting the screen and doing the ‘flood’ stroke, but overall a perfect result. It will be interesting to see if larger areas of flat colour will be just as successfully screen printed without a vacuum.
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And so a few sheets of 300gsm paper for each image were proofed with three carefully planned colours of transparent screen ink, which also overprinted each other in places to produce extra tones.

The next and final stage was the most interesting. Would the screen printed tints register with the lino block through the XCut? Would the colours work? Was it all worth it when I already have perfectly good and efficient kit that will do all of this with no problem??!
Two different but more subtle dark browns of Caligo Safewash were mixed for the key blocks and a mask cut to keep the margins clean (note the use of vinyl tape on the ‘forme’ made to fix the block’s position. This makes for easier clean up). The same lay edge goes into the card stops and away it went through the press.

And so…I can just about say that this experiment was a success! The combination of method and dual registration worked just fine - at least at this scale. I will now cut a few hundred bits of paper to size; seal up all the final ink mixes; and prepare for mass public production over Easter! 

In my blog entry of 11th January I outlined my first experiences with the little XCut Xpress. As I said then I was keen to really test the little press’s ability to produce more complex work. What follows is a description of the making of a two block reduction linocut which was designed to require accurate register, evenness of pressure over its full width and maximum length and consistency across an edition.
 
I had already made one adaption, which was to make a longer print bed for it from a cut down commercial chopping board; giving me a bed of 600 x 220 x 13 mm.  This enabled me to plan a print area of about 40 x 15 cm whilst still having room for a supporting frame or ‘forme’, made of pieces of the same 4mm hardboard my lino is mounted on to, and allowing room to attach the Ternes Burton registration pins.
 
A picture paints a you know what, so I thought I'd describe the process in captioned pics:

I use commercial flooring lino - 'Marmoleum' - glued firmly to a backing board and sanded smooth and flat.

I stain the surface with acrylic ink so I can see where I'm carving - at least in the first stages. The two blocks planned for this print were cut exactly - and I mean exactly the same size.

A plan of sorts is of course vital: a basic 'map' outline composition plus some very careful listing of proposed printing orders and colours. These always change as I go along ..... like all the best laid plans!

I transferred the 'map' to the first of the two blocks using carbon paper.

Then the fun bit begins!

A very tight fitting 'forme' - made of the same 4mm board that the lino is glued to - is made up by taping pieces of it to the press bed.

The carved block to be printed then fits exactly in to the forme and the lino itself then sticks up just enough to be inked.

The paper - in this case, my usual beautiful 300gsm Somerset - is cut to size. I usually allow an extra 20% more than the hoped for edition size to allow for proof sheets and mistakes. In this case I doubled the amount. Good thing too as it turned out!
The Ternes Burton tabs are the attached to each sheet. (I will do another blog post on the use of these if anyone is interested) 

I use Caligo Safewash inks at the moment; nearly always with extender added. The yellow - being the palest - is planned to be the first colour down in the reduction.

And so the little XPress goes into action! A thin 'blanket' made from a piece of felt fabric is all it needs to take up any slight texture and detail on the block and help drive the paper and block evenly through the rollers. I also used a flip over thin paper mask to avoid any unnecessary ink getting on to the background of the image.

I found that this particular block was printing patchily in one area. This was remedied by some 'make ready' packing placed under the block to level the pressure and so ensure consistency (as long as I inked each print exactly the same!)  throughout the planned number of sheets.

Some of the block was cut away and the next colour (a transparent brown) printed. At this stage I should have realised that the XCut has quite a nip and  this long narrow piece of paper - despite the accuracy at the 'near end' of the TB pin system - was being slightly twisted out of register at the 'far end' on some prints!

At this stage I also took a  print in a dense black, placed the second block in to the forme and ran the wet black proof through the press; thus giving me an exact 'offset' in register image to carve the second set of colours when I reached that stage.

And so the normal reduction process on the first block continued: Cut away the paler brown....print the next darker brown.

The last colour on this block was a straight black. I printed this in two goes: a masked background for the main image, then I removed the main image entirely by peeling the lino off the support block altogether and printed the border - again masked to keep the background clean - separately. The little press did just struggle to print solid on the very corners of the border. I could have just tweaked the pressure down a bit, using the all important dial that this press has, but decided instead to just to use the old wooden spoon on some of the corners.

Having, by now, realised that just two TB pins on the short edge of this print were inadequate to avoid some sheets twisting out of register on the 'far' end; for the second block I decided to use a conventional card stop plus a little bit of tape on this furthest edge to maintain positional consistency.

The second reduction consisted of two tones of blue and a final brown; all very transparent. It should be noted too that when printing these transparent layers, very careful consideration has to be given to the amount of ink rolled out each time on the slab. For these I only added a very small amount every other print, to avoid over inking and maintain consistency of colour.

A footnote to this project. Having, through my own lack of foresight, ended up with a number of prints unacceptably out of register at one end; I decided to cut out the really very successful little hen bird at the other end and mount her on to separate small sheets to make additional little 'prints'.

Conclusion:
This XCut Xpress is a wonderfully useful, compact, well made bit of kit. Very limited in print size potential of course, (I'm harbouring a secret desire to make a super long bed and print a meter wide print) but after this, I'm looking forward even more to demonstrating what it plus a bit of flooring and some ink can do! 

​The print I am currently working on has not only taken an inordinate amount of time to progress because of various delays and distractions, but it is turning out to be quite a technically challenging and complex piece too. Which is the opposite of what I said I would be doing with linocut! However the test of the ‘Ternes Burton’ registration pins with a largish print on a roller press is proving worthwhile. So a full report on this in the future.
So – to keep the discipline of regular blog posts, I thought I would share this and perhaps see what special and favourite (old?) tools other printmakers own and cherish.
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I have owned this 8”roller (brayer) for something like 35 years. Its constituent parts are however, much older. The handle and spindle were rescued from a pile of ‘junk’. They were bent and caked in old ink and muck and the old roller itself long perished and hard. The ‘new’ roller itself was made for me by a clever printing technician friend Roy Caplin (god rest his crazy soul!) who cut it down from an old ‘Heidleberg’ letterpress machine roller. It is a firm, incredibly durable rubber compound that is soft enough to pick up ink beautifully but not too soft to push ink into parts of fine detail that should not get ink. It is not entirely suitable for every task’ and I have other nice rollers, but this is my favourite by far.
Thanks Roy!

After some years operating my website I have finally decided to have a go at writing this blog. I often wonder whether the effort of putting a blog together is worth it….well we’ll see!
 
I begin with a record of some experiments I’ve been doing with a little press – the XCut Xpress; made by a company called Docrafts as a die cutting and embossing press for card making etc. They seem to be available all around the world; although they also appear to be getting in short supply in some places as more and more printmakers realise the potential use as a small, relatively cheap printing press.
I got mine here https://goo.gl/AtYh6z

I have two beautiful old presses in my studio which print linocuts perfectly. But I can never resist a little technical development and experimentation with a new idea. There are a few of these little roller presses around; all designed for embossing and cutting shapes for craft card making etc. This one seemed very sturdy and also has an all-important pressure adjustment knob. Although I have to say that on the first XCut I brought home, this knob was seized tight, so I had to drive 30 miles to return it for exchange. What also appealed to me about this particular little machine was that it folds up to handily transport it. My idea was therefore to use it as a little demo machine at shows and talks etc.
The Xcut comes with three base boards; one 1.5mm metal, a 3mm plastic and a 12mm plastic. The thicker plastic looked like it would work well as a printmaking bed, so I popped an old small lino block on to it (I pre-mount my lino on to 6mm MDF board before carving) and rigged up ‘forme’ to lock it in place and support the paper from strips of the same MDF’ just as I do on the big presses. I a cut a piece of ordinary felt to use as a packing/driving blanket, found some off cuts of my usual 300 gsm Somerset paper and guessed the pressure setting; which turned out to be almost at the maximum gap on the Up/Down dial adjustment.
I was really surprised and pleased with the initial results. Really no problem at all with the evenness of pressure and the ease of gearing of the little handle. The only limitation was the lack of press height i.e. the gap between the rollers, which is only about 21 mm (type height is 23.4 mm) and therefore ease of pressure adjustment if I used 6mm MDF. Bearing in mind too, that my lino is Marmoleum commercial flooring lino, which when sanded flat is quite a bit thinner than the usual (and I think expensive) grey art lino. I also disliked the cramped space to work on the 300 x 200mm base boards provided.
​See a video of this first attempt here
So the next experiment was to make a longer bed and use a thinner mount and forme for the lino.
I could have made a bed from 10 mm MDF but I thought this might bend and would quickly get dirty and tatty. I liked the 12 mm polyethylene board supplied and realised that a large commercial food cutting board I found on Amazon https://goo.gl/b7NdGI would make me two 600 x 220 mm beds. OK another 28 quid, but if a job’s worth doing….
This time too I decided to test the press’s ability to print in register using the ‘Ternes Burton’ Pin system (more on these later). So I took an old used linocut plate off its 6mm block and remounted it on 4mm hardboard (Masonite). Again I made a forme support of the same hardboard and attached TB register pins. This enabled me to print with the dial set at about number 9 (offering some leeway) on the same 300 gsm paper.
I duly ran off half a dozen perfect prints in the first colour with no problems; removed the block from the forme, cut some more; replaced the block and printed the second colour. Spot on register and even printing - even slightly wet on wet using Caligo Safewash inks. (See pictures below or a video here)

So… conclusions?
I believe this little press will revolutionise small scale home and hobby printmaking. It is very limited in the size of image and paper it can accommodate of course, but I know others are already using it to successfully print etchings, drypoints, collagraphs etc. As I write, I hear suppliers are running out of them as word has spread on social media. I hope the manufacturer/distributer Docrafts have the sense to develop and encourage this market and at least make a longer bed available.
Personally I will certainly be using mine to demonstrate at shows and galleries as often as I can. I have a ‘residency’ planned at one of my galleries at Easter this year (more on this later too) and I will be producing something for that to show its potential. Indeed, if I had the enthusiasm for it, there would no doubt be a big demand for short courses/workshops on how to use it.