Tools of the Trade: Thermal Printer

After coming to terms with the demise of Gocco, I decided to save my pennies up and invest in a thermal imager from Welsh Products! These machines have been around for decades and are still used for creating thermal silkscreens, tattoo stencils, and transparencies. I first started experimenting with screenprinting with screens created with a Thermalfax machine back in art school. I am excited to incorporate this printing technique into my bookmaking and artmaking processes!


With the thermal imager, you can expose a thermal mesh screen by running the screen and a carbon photocopy through the imager. The resulting screen can then be stretched across a plastic frame and printed with screenprinting ink and a squeegee. (That's the process in a nutshell.)

Be sure to check out this blog post on Vitreosity, if you're interested in more of the ins and outs of various thermal screenprinting process and equipment. It's chockful of information and how-to videos (including my Gocco video!).


Here are some notebooks I made with covers printed with thermal screens. If you're interested, they're for sale in my shop.


My latest project in-progress. These will soon become notebooks.

A Great Tutorial: How to Blockprint

Hello, world! I wanted to share this excellent blockprinting tutorial with you. Last week I led a craft night project at the Etsy Labs was carving your own stamp, and this tutorial is one of the resources I recommended on the handout.

There are many wonderful resources out there on blockprinting, and I have to say that this one created by LizzyHouse is one of my favorites. I was seem to return to this tutorial and recommend it to others. It's very detailed, full of great tips, and interspersed with lovely, clear photos. If this doesn't make you reach for your carving tools (or dash to the art store to get some), I don't know what will! Check out the tutorial here and be sure to scroll to the bottom to download the PDF.

Here are a few further resources that I'd recommend as well:

Books:
Linoleum Block Printing by Francis J. Kafka

Lotta Prints: How to Print Anything, from Potatoes to Linoleum by Lotta Jansdotter

Lino-Cuts by Claude Flight

Hand Block Printing on Fabrics by T.J. Corbin

The Craft of Woodcuts by John R. Biggs

Groups:
Printsy (Etsy's printmaking team)

Block Prints Flickr group

Suppliers:
New York Central (my favorite!)

Daniel Smith

Dick Blick

Also, be sure to support your local art supply store!