ISTAKES
in cutting can be corrected, or changes made in a block by
'plugging.' A hole is bored in the block over the part to be
corrected or changed, and a plug of the same kind of wood, and of the
corresponding shape of the hole, is tightly fitted into it. Both hole
and plug are slightly tapered.. Resin is applied to the plug before
it is gently hammered home. The projecting part is then carefully cut
down and finished flush with the surface of the block. It is a
ticklish job. If the area to be corrected is rather large, a skilled
person had better do it. If the area is small, say a line that had
been inadvertently severed, a hole somewhat larger than the line may
be bored about one-half an inch deep for the plug. Use a wide gouge
to cut off the projecting end, then scrape it flush with a sharp
steel scraper or a piece of broken window-glass. White lines can be
filled with a mixture of glue and woodscrapings, or the wood-flour
and LePage's cement mixture mentioned elsewhere.
Because of the likelihood of pushing a cutting tool so persuasively as to bite into a desired line or mass, a 'guard rail' at right angles to where these blows are likely to fall may be left standing until the danger is passed.
The old-fashioned letter-press can be utilized as a printing press, if nothing better offers. The block is apt to shift on the paper just as the platen strikes it, but by having blocks of almost the same thickness as the woodblock to be printed, at each corner of the bed, this trouble may be obviated. The letter-press is a makeshift, of course. Unless the bed and platen have been planed no underlaying nor overlaying can be done. The weakly printed areas would have to be brought out with the burnisher.
A machine that one can find no end of use for is the trimmer, or mounted shears. One with blades at least fifteen inches long will simplify much work in trimming prints, cutting mats, papers and cardboard for packing. Sometimes a trimmer can be bought secondhand at photographers or photo supply houses.
To transfer a dry impression to a woodblock, an old recipe calls for equal parts of concentrated potash and essence of lavender. The back of the print is moistened with this mixture, which causes the ink to separate readily from the paper. When nearly dry the print is placed above the block and burnished with moderate pressure. When working on a transferred impression it is advisable to keep all but the area being cut under cover of a sheet of paper.
Another way of getting a design or picture on a woodblock is by the aid of photography.
The scheme I have found most advantageous for an out-door sketch pad is to use two stiff cardboards hinged together with cloth or tough paper, of a size something like 12 x 15 inches. Sheets of paper 15 x 24 inches are folded in the middle and held within the folder by an elastic band. Two other slightly wider elastics are used to hold the pages to the covers. When sketching the covers are doubled back against each other, which makes for extra rigidity. When a sketch is finished it is turned over like a page in a book, and held back with one of the elastics. This scheme has the advantage of easy and cheap renewal of paper, and the sketches can be preserved properly with little danger of damage until one gets home. A drawing removed from an ordinary large sketch pad becomes a general nuisance outdoors when one is afoot. It is next to impossible to keep a loose one from harm under such circumstances, unless a portfolio is also taken along.
Write to the dealers mentioned at the back of this book for catalogs of their wares. Your local printer could tell you where to get some things. Various printer's journals may have something of interest - presses for sale, etc.
If you have neglected to clean the ink off the block (it can stand being uncleaned for twenty-four hours) and it has become so dry that the gasoline will not dissolve it, saturate the block with gasoline, and then put on a few drops of alcohol. It is advisable to saturate the block anyway, no matter how well one can afford to buy alcohol. Then brush the ink loose and flood with gasoline to prevent particles of ink from lodging in the finer interstices. It is imperative to make a thorough job of cleaning, otherwise in time the finer white lines become clogged and the prints will become increasingly darker. It is one of the disadvantages of printing an edition in repeated efforts. Acetone is another good solvent of dried ink.
Perhaps it will be as well not to get people in the habit of asking for the loan of woodblocks of those subjects which are in limited editions - either for making electrotypes therefrom or to print from. It will quite likely affect the sales of prints. Those people who want reproductions autographed may easily be held at a distance by the artist making known his rule of signing only proofs he has himself pulled.
There is a tool called the velo having a multiple of edges, in crosssection like a saw, which instead of producing a single white line at a stroke, produces a number of them. Unless exceptional care is taken to cut rather than to scratch the surface, the blocks on which it has been used are likely to prove troublesome when being printed. That holds good on all blocks that have been merely scratched instead of cut.
You had better keep a salt cellar on hand when reading art books - if you feel you must read them instead of studying the illustrations. Don't let any self-appointed art critic form opinions for you. Never listen to such unless he is saying nice things of you. The professional critic is all too often a sad person, a defeated artist; his function is not to educate the artist whatever else he may attempt on the public. And don't let anyone scare you, because you may be, from force of circumstances, an 'odd moment' artist.
