By Isabell Macrina
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Needham Free Public Library (NFPL) welcomed back Needham Poet Laureate Anne E. G. Nydam to host a class introducing people to a unique art skill that she pairs with her poetry, block printing!
Block printing is typically done with linoleum or wood, with designs carved into it to become stamps to make art prints with ink. Nydam takes a different, and safer, approach and showed the patrons how to create their own rubber block prints. With it you only need a rubber block, pencils, scrap paper, caring tools, ink plates, ink, and rollers. It sounds like a lot, but Nydam broke it down in an engaging, easy to understand way that inspired the crowd to create something new.
While art like sketching and painting focuses on creating something from nothing, carving a block print requires a bit of rewiring your way of thinking. Everywhere you carve down the rubber block will be white, while whatever you leave tall will stay dark (depending on ink colors chosen). You have to get used to thinking in a negative space, carving out your lines leads to white linework, while leaving it and carving around it gives dark lines but can be a lot more work.
The most important things to remember with this craft are to be safe, the carving tools can be sharp, and to have fun. The patrons had a blast coming up with designs to draw and transfer to their rubber blocks, and figuring out how they wanted it to come out in the stamp. Some used their drawn lines as a carving guide, creating a while outline on a colored background, while others carved out the background to make a singular subject front and center.
And the piece doesn’t have to end with the first test print. After rolling the ink on the plate, then to the block and seeing how it comes out on paper, you could go back and change the block itself to perfect the print. Cleaning lines and refining shapes is common, it is such a malleable medium.
Everyone’s art works turned out amazing even though it was their first times! Everyone went home with an interesting design and some test prints, and some used them to print cards for the holiday season! People left with a new interest and respect for the craft, all thanks to NFPL and Anne E.G. Nydam.
