Table of Contents
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Name: Michael Assis
Date and Time:
Location: Making and Knowing Lab, Columbia University
Subject: Linocut Design and preparation
Materials:
Linoleum Block
Ruler
Pencil
Process:
5x7 inch Linocut blocks have been provided to us.
I began by sketching a 1 cm wide border inside the block with a pencil. This was advised by the project managers, since in the inking and printing process, the border provides support for an even print.
I then chose a design to copy to the lino block by hand:
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I proceeded by sketching the design on the linoblock with a pencil within the borders sketched earlier.
I made a number of decisions in order to accommodate my design for a linocut print. The first was to forgo shadowing, and the second was to invert the blacks and the white in the image.
Name: Michael Assis
Date and Time:
Location: Making and Knowing Lab, Columbia University
Subject: Cutting the Lino Block
Materials:
Lino Block
Lino Cutter #1
Lino Cutter #5
Process:
I began by using the wider lino cutter in order to cut straight lines around the borders sketched earlier.
I needed to trace the pencil lines with a marker since it was hard for me to follow them easily in the lighting i was working with.
This was harder than I thought it would be. To maintain a straight line required slow and steady movement with the linocutter into along the lines, with occasional jiggling of the tool in order to move forward in areas of more resistance.
After this I took a finer linocutter and cut fine lines around the outlines of my design. Both inside and out.
I then proceeded with the thicker linocutter to cut out everything between the design and the border.
I recieved a woodblock in order to sketch a design on it in pencil.
I then covered the block with a piece of paper and took it back home in my backpack.
Name: Michael Assis
Date and Time:
Location: Home
Subject: Cutting the Linocut and gridding the woodblock
Materials:
Lino Block
Lino Cutter #1
Woodblock
Ruler
Pencil
Process:
I uncovered the linocut and found wear to the edges:
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The worn edges made me realize how brittle the material is, and that it should be handled with more care than I supposed. This affected my handling of the copper plate, zinc plate, and woodblock later on as well.
I continued to work the fine detail of my deisgn with the #1 linocutter.
This was a time consuming work that took approximately 2 hours.
The amount of material extracted during this process was much less than i expected.
Cutting the fine details was tricky, and required a lot of percision and a very slow pace. Some slipping of the linocutter occured that scraped parts I did not want to scrape.
Upon woring the material, some of the edges and square angles began to crumble and chip off from underneath, requiring very delicate handling.
There was a great deal of free interpertation reagrding the shadowing.
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After finishing my linocut, I proceeded to sketch a predetermined design on my woodblock.
Using a ruler, I worked out the dimentions and measurements of the design that was given. Lines were made by measuring and marking points of both ends of the lines and then using a ruler to draw a line between them. Circles were made using a quarter and a dime.
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Name: (Michael Assis
Date and Time: 2018.10.15, 12:00 pm
Location: Making and Knowing Lab, Columbia University
Subject: Polishing a copper plate
Tools:
4x6” Copper Plate
Goddard’s Brass & Copper Polish
Newsprint
Process:
Before engraving, it was necessary to polish the copper plate.
The plate was nearly non-reflective as imperfections on the surface of the plate were visible.
I used Brass and Copper polish and newsprint to polish the plate
I wonder what early modern engravers would have used to polish plates.
The smell of the Brass and Copper polish was difficult to bear, and upon extracting some on the copper plate from the bottle, my eyes immediately began to tear.
Doing this on a regular basis without a mask could possibly be detrimental to one’s health.
Working in small circular motions, I rubbed the surface with a newsprint as hard and thoroughly as I could. After only a few minutes, my hand began to feel sore. I continued until the polish was almost gone from the plate.
In order to get a good polish, the measure of which was ‘to see my eyelashes’ on the copper plate, I had to repeat this three times. At the end, the surface reflected myself like a mirror.
I then repeated this for the other side of the plate as well.
A few additional thoughts came to mind during this process:
The process of printing, or even engraving, begins much before the design is even sketched out. Polishing the copper plate is a necessary step in the process, and even cutting the copper plate to the correct dimensions. The process goes all the way back to sourcing the copper and manipulating it into a plate, establishing a network of skilled labourers with very specific knowledge and working processes that goes into the making of one engraving.
My arm being sore so quickly was a clear sign that I wasn’t used to doing this kind of work. This made me reflect about the division of labor inside and outside of a workshop. The roles of workshop workers, from the apprentice to the master, could very well vary and rely on physical attributes and predispositions no less than mental ones. This is not to say that there is no thought that goes into physically demanding processes - to know the best motions to polish a plate, how much polish to use, and when it is polished enough, requires specific knowledge that is tacit and physical, and intellectual.
Name: Michael Assis
Date and Time: 2018.10.16, 11:00 am
Location: Making and Knowing Lab, Columbia University
Subject: Engraving a copper plate
Materials:
Polished Copper Plate
Burin
Etching needle
Ruler
Process:
First I gridded the copper plate based on measurements from a predetermined design given to us. The process was the same as the woodblock (see above) with points marked according to measurements, and then a ruler used to draw lines between those points.
To do this, I use an etching needle and a ruler. It required just the weight of the needle itself, with no more pressure applied, to achieve a light mark on the copper plate for the grid. When it felt as though there is resistance when moving the etching needle, that was because too much pressure was applied and the needle dug into the plat too much.
The physical interaction with the copper plate and the etching needle for the first time allowed me to realize the how soft copper is, compared to what I had previously thought.
Moving the etching needle lightly on the copper plate also revealed that no material is being subtracted from the plate in this process. This is part of the properties of a metal.
To begin engraving, I needed to learn how to hold the burin. This is much less straight forward as I thought. Multiple demonstrations did not help, and only after 5 attempts that were corrected by my intructor (Ad Steijnman), did I put the burin to the copper plate.
I touched the burin to the plate at a 45 degree angle, pushed slightly into the plate, and then moved the burin to nearly 145 degrees and started pushing forward. The burin was supposed to move forward like a knife on butter, but encountered much resistance while moving the burin forward. I tried to correct my handling of the burin, and play with the degrees relative to the plate, but nothing helped.
My instructor tried to use the burin on the copper plate as well, and encountered much resistance as well. He determined the burin’s edge had a flaw in it and gave me a different burin.
Using this burin, and already getting a grasp of how to hold it in the previous few attemps, it really was like sliding a knife on butter. A copper coil came out at the end of the line. It was surprisingly easy to keep a straight line - Much more than with the linocut.
It is evident that different materials react differently, and lend themselves to different kinds of lines, shapes and designs.
After a few lines, the position of my fingers as per my intructor’s instructions felt awkward, and I moved my fingers around a bit to find a more comfortable position that did not compromise the process of engraving. Straight lines, butter-like movement and a continuous curl of copper were a measure of this.
Skipping of the burin on the copper occurs a number of times when trying to work fast. To avoid this, the key was to work slowly and play around with the angle of the burin as I engraved.
It was difficult at times to hold the plate in place.
When making curved lines, the process was similar but I did find it was easier if I moved the plate around a bit as well.
When making circular lines, the key was to turn around the plate in addition to the burin.
Name: Michael Assis
Date and Time: 2018.10.16, 1:00 pm
Location: Making and Knowing Lab, Columbia University
Subject: Polishing a Zinc Plate
Materials:
Zinc Plate
Goddard’s Brass & Copper Polish
Newsprint
Process:
The procedure was the same as for the copper plate (See above).
This was done only to the zinc side of the plate
Name: Michael Assis
Date and Time: 2018.10.18, 10:00 am
Location: Making and Knowing Lab, Columbia University
Subject: Cutting a Woodblock
Materials:
Woodblock
Woodcut Knife
Carbon paper
Wax paper
Design on paper
Masking tape
pencil
Process:
This is the design I choose for my woodblock:
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I printed out the design on a peice of paper, not exceeding the size of the woodblock itself.
I put a semi-clear peice of wax paper on top of the design, fixed it to position with masking tape so it will not move, and traced the lines with a pencil.
The shading lines I did not transfer. There was a process of interpertation in the copying of the design, since in order to not copy every line, I decided myself which lines were critical for the transfer of the design and which weren’t. I resolved to add most of the lines that were not outlines, myself, in order to expedite the process.
This might very well be the same reasoning behind discrepencies between many early modern woodcuts. Many examples of this exist.
I flipped the waxpaper design (turned it over) and placed it on a peice of transfer paper with the carbon side facing down. I secured it using masking tape.
I then took these and secured them to the block with the carbon facing the wood.
I proceeded to trace the lines. The carbon paper transfered the lines to the woodblock.
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My design had a frame. I took the knife and cut a 45 degree angle groove away from the line of the frame.
This required about 5-6 incisions per line in order to get a sufficient depth for the cut.
I proceeded to incise all of the outlines, and incise lines at the top of the design to resemble the original.
I then cut a 45 degree angle cut a few millimeters outside of line cut for the border, thus creating deep V-shaped grooves.
It found it easier to cut across the grain rather than with it. This might be because the grain lines forced me to use more pressure in order to avoid the knife from shifting with them.
This was very labor intesive, and required a great deal of force to be applied with my hand. After I finished cutting the frame outline my hand was so sore, I had to stop.
Name: Michael Assis
Date and Time: 2018.10.18, 12:00 פm
Location: Making and Knowing Lab, Columbia University
Subject: Applying etching ground to Zinc Plate
Materials:
Hotplate
Beeswax
Zinc Plate
Water
Acetone
Pliers
Feather
I applied acetone to the surface of the zinc plate and then washed it with water.
After it dried, I grabbed the plate with a pair of pliers and held it about a centimeter over a hotplate.
Then I tested to see if it is hot enough to melt the beeswax by tapping and sliding the beeswax on the ground. Once I got a sufficient coat of beeswax on the ground, I spread it around with a feather using the curvature of the feather facing away from the sweeping direction.
Since the beeswax was clear, it was difficult to see if it is sufficiently coating the zinc plate.
I rested the plate on a piece of paper and used the lump of beeswax to cover the exposed area I used to hold the plate with the pliers with by scraping it a bit until some wax melted on it.
Upon cooling off, the beexwax was more visible. There were obvious streaks in the wax layer caused by the feather. I need to repeat the process by heating the plate and applying more wax.
After it had cooled off, there was still a bit off streaking and spotting in the wax layer. I determined these as something I could live with.
After the plate cooled, I wrapped the copper plate, the woodblock and the zinc plate individually in paper and took it home.
Transportation was carried out with care in order to not scratch the beeswax surface.
Name: Michael Assis
Date and Time: 2018.10.18, 12:00 pm
Location: Home
Subject: Transferring a design on the Zinc Plate
Materials:
ZInc Plate
Wax Paper
Carbon transfer paper
Etching needle
Design on paper
Transfering the design the to zinc plate was the same as with the woodblock. (See above):
My girlfriend made the designs on paper:
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I began to trace the carbon outline with an etching needle
It was hard to see what lines I had already done, and also was hard to judge how deep I went with the etching needle. I a lot of the times i didn’t know if i was getting the needle completely on the zinc plate and getting the needle is getting completely through the beeswax
The process was very much like drawing with a paper clip on metal. It was uncomfortable to hold the needle.
When the etching needle touched the zinc plate, it sometime felt very uncomfortable to drag - a bit like fingernails on a chalkboard.
Since I was working with a needle, to fill the thicker lines, I needed to either make a lot of hatchings, or decide on just an outline with an empty fill (See “Ex” on both designs).
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Name: Michael Assis
Date and Time: 2018.10.18, 4:00 pm
Location: Home
Subject: Engraving a design on the Copper plate
Materials:
Copper Plate
Wax Paper
Carbon transfer paper
Burin
Design on paper
Process:
The design I chose was originally an etching, so many compromises needed to be made while translating it to an more simple engraving.
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The process of transfering the design was the same as woodblock and etching (See above).
I decided to transfer the outlines of the design to convey the interior. This was a process of deciding what lines in the etching are more important than the others, and translating it to an outline. Fine details were not transferred.
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I began by using a burin to engrave the outermost vertical line on the right side of the plate. My fingers’ position of the burin began to smear the carbon of the other lines on the plate, and I had to adjust my finger positioning to a less comfortable grip, but that won’t compromise the design transferred to the plate.
I only had one plate to use, so mistakes were unacceptable. The process therefore was very slow and calculated. Even so, sometimes the burin would skip out of the intended path resulting in an unwanted engraved line on the plate. It was also hard to stay along the lines when making curved lines.
Working in the silence of my home, the burin along the copper made an audible noise when extracting material into a coil.
I felt that as I am working I am getting to know the material, the tools, and how they interact, much better. The final lines of the engraving were much more accurate than the first, and incurred much less slippage and skipping of the burin.
The final product was far less accurate than I would have liked it to be since straight and smooth long lines were hard to achieve.
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Name: (Also the name of your working partner)
Date and Time: 2018.10.22, 11:30 am
Location: Making and Knowing Lab, Columbia University
Subject: Etching
~10% acid bath solution (M&K; see here)
Vegetable oil
Dish soap
Masking tape
water
1200-grade sandpaper
Process:
I had decided to not tape the edges of my plate to see what happens to them as the acid bites into them.
I taped a ‘handle’ with masking tape on to the back of the plate:
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I place the plate inside an ~10% acid bath solution
What kind of acid solutions were they using in the early modern era? How would they procure them or make them? Would every workshop have their own formula? What were the tools they were using to not get hurt in the process?
Every minute, I brushed the top of the plate with a feather, while still in the acid bath, to remove excess residue from the plate.
This was a very delicate process in order to not harm the beeswax coating.
After 5 minutes, I took the plate out of the acid bath and rinsed it in a bath of water.
I then let it dry and checked the depth of the grooves with an etching needle.
I decided the grooves were not deep enough, and placed the plate in the acid bath for another 5 minutes, repeating the steps in the previous bath soak.
Noticeable red residue appeared.
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After it had dried, I heated the plate on a hotplate until the wax had melted, and then brushed the melted wax off of the plate.
I then rubbed it with vegetable oil to remove any excess material, and then washed it with soap and water.
The next step was using a bevel tool in order to bevel the edges of this plate and the copper plate. I secured the plate to the table and proceeded to cut off the edges with the tool. It was hard to use the tool, and required a lot of finesse. It was also very physically demanding.
Some might have a natural predisposition to this, some less, begging questions about work division in the early modern workshop.
Mishandling the bevel tool, or being too cavalier with it, cause it to incise an unwanted few lines on my copper plate. After this I put the tool down and worked much more of my plate with the tool I used to clip off the coils of the engraving.
The copper was much tougher to bevel than the zinc, and required much more force.
I then proceeded to sand the copper plate under water with a sanding paper, and then polished the plate as previously polished.
During the sanding process, I tried to eliminate the line that I acidentaly made with the bevel tool, but with no success.
I used the sandpaper to round out the edges of the plate as well.
Name: Michael Assis
Date and Time: 2018.10.23, 10:00 am
Location: Teachers College Printing Shop
Subject: Intaglio Printing
Process:
INKING:
First, blots of ink were put on the plate using a spatula and then a uniform coat of ink was spread on the plate using a peice of cardboard.
The viscosity and color of the ink made it clear how percise and unique each ink recipe much be. Question that arose immediately were whether printing workshops were making their own inks,, if not, who was and as an extension to that question - what were their guild affiliations. Those who were making the inks needed to know what ink would be good for what process in order to make them in the right consistancy, therefore necessitating a knowledge of the materials and process of inking a plate.
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This was rubbed in to the plate using a cloth and circular motions.
Then the ink was reduced by trasferring it to paper throughout multiple applications.
Finally using a peice of paper I removed the excess ink on the surface of the plate using gentle circular motions so as not to remove ink from inside the grooves.
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Printing:
The plate was placed on a peice of paper on the intaglio press. A sheet of damp printing paper was placed on top of it. I put another sheet of paper on top of that, and then covered it with the cloth that was affixed to the press, making sure there is was lying flat.
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The press was not adjuted well enough, and there was not enough pressure following the first run of the plate. To check what had transferred the paper was carefully lifted on one corner, so as not to unalign the rest of the paper.
We decided to adjust the pressure, and run the plate again. This was again not enough following a check similar to the previous.
We decided to run the plate a third time.
Due to running it through the press three times, and checking it twice, the printing paper must have moved slightly each time. The result was a tripling of the lines:
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To redo the copper intaglio engraving print on damp watercolor paper, the ink needed to be removed from the plate with Soysolv, then washed with soap and water, and then dried. Afterwards the same process from inking and printing followed.
As I got to get a better handle on the materials and tools, the second inking was wiped off better. As a result, there was less ‘tone’ on the print.
The result on a properly adjusted press revealed many deficiencies in the engraving itself, such as non uniform and skipping lines.
THE SAME PROCESS FOLLOWED FOR THE ETCHING.
The etching print was done on a paper that was too wet. As a result, the water repelled the ink and the print was very faded.
Name: Michael Assis
Date and Time: 2018.10.23, 12:00 pm
Location: Teachers College Printing Shop
Subject: Relief Printing
Process:
A coat of ink was put on a plate and then picked up with a roller.
The ink was applied evenly with a roller to the raised surface of the block.
The inked block was placed on a paper and then on the press. Printing paper was put on top of the block, and then another peice of paper. On top of those a peice of cloth was put carfully so as not to move the paper on the woodblock.
As I ran the woodblock through the press, there was no resistance. The press was apparently not adjusted to the height of the woodblock. The result on the paper was just due to transfer of ink from laying down the paper firmly on the woodblock:
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After the press was adjusted, the same process was repeated without washing the previous ink off of the surface of the block.
This time there was a tactile recoil from the machine as the woodblock passed through it.
I was incredibly surprised by how thin incisions with a knife on a woodblock, almost invisible to the unsuspecting eye, had come out so clearly in the print:
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The same process followed for linocut.
The cleaning process of the woodblock and linocut under the water with the sponge had damaged one of the crumbling and detaching corners of my design on the linocut, as I had mentioned earlier fearing.
The penciled marks on the other hand held up significantly well both on the woodcut and on the linocut.
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Name: Michael Assis
Date and Time: 2018.10.26, 12:00 pm
Location: Making and Knowing Lab, Columbia University
Subject: Reflections
Questions and more:
As the process come to its conclusions, a significant number of questions have already been risen throughout the process regarding the early modern period. These involve the division of labor inside and outside of the studio and workshop; the types of materials used and the ways in which materials were made and procured; How did the properties of different materials and tools affect the final products; The types of tools available to the practitioner and the interactions between the body and the tools; Where does the process begin and where does it end? Could we possibly shift to think about networks of operators that all have influence on one another instead of a single master?; What were the processes of troubleshooting problems and understanding processes in pretexts of pre-modern science?; Injuries were most likely a common thing in the workshop - how were they incurred, and how were they treated (both medically and as workers)?; What were the quantities of output that were expected from a practitioner?; The relationships between designing and interpreting designs or translating them - even across the same media, and even when designed for a specific media; What did it mean to copy someone’s work, especially in the age of printing?; How clear cut were the distinctions between intellectual and physical work? What do these definitions entail?
Name: (Also the name of your working partner)
Date and Time: 2018.10.15, 12:00 pm
Location: Making and Knowing Lab, Columbia University
Subject: Polishing a copper plate
Name: (Also the name of your working partner)
Date and Time: 2018.10.15, 12:00 pm
Location: Making and Knowing Lab, Columbia University
Subject: Polishing a copper plate
Name: (Also the name of your working partner)
Date and Time: 2018.10.15, 12:00 pm
Location: Making and Knowing Lab, Columbia University
Subject: Polishing a copper plate
Name: (Also the name of your working partner)
Date and Time: 2018.10.15, 12:00 pm
Location: Making and Knowing Lab, Columbia University
Subject: Polishing a copper plate
Name: (Also the name of your working partner)
Date and Time: 2018.10.15, 12:00 pm
Location: Making and Knowing Lab, Columbia University
Subject: Polishing a copper plate
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