WOODCUT TECHNIQUES

XYLOGRAPHY is the oldest graphic technique used to reproduce copies of drawings and inscriptions. Once the design has been traced or transferred onto a wooden tablet, the matrix, special tools are used to remove the parts that do not form part of the image, leaving the figures and their outlines in relief; for this reason, it is also known as the relief technique. The sheet of paper is placed on the duly inked matrix and, through pressure, the image is imprinted on it, mirroring the carved image. For best results, use wood with a compact grain and no long fibres. The most suitable woods are fruit woods, such as cherry and pear, or very hard woods such as rowan and boxwood. There are two woodcut techniques that differ in terms of the tools used. WOODCUT ENGRAVING is the oldest technique (dating back to the 11th-12th centuries in Europe) and is performed exclusively with the use of gouges and knives on grain-grain matrices: wooden tablets cut according to planes parallel to the trunk, so that the fibres (the grain) run lengthwise. Woodcut printing on wood grain allows the use of large pieces of wood and, consequently, a free and instinctive carving technique. The same technique is used to carve matrices in linoleum (linoleography) or other plastic materials. The other technique is WOODCUT ENGRAVING (invented by the Englishman Thomas Bewick in 1775) and is performed on end grain wood. The matrix is obtained by cutting the trunk not longitudinally but transversely to its height, obtaining a very compact and homogeneous surface, given that end grain has truncated fibres. An end grain matrix is engraved with the points and burins used for direct intaglio engraving, allowing for a precise and very fine mark.

Creation of the relief design on the wooden board

Recently, plastic or synthetic resin matrices have also been used for woodcut engraving. Polychrome woodcut, which appeared as early as the end of the 15th century to reproduce the effect of monochrome watercolour woodcuts, uses additional matrices to create coloured backgrounds or parts thereof. In the early 16th century, two other special techniques were introduced: one Dutch, camaieu, invented by Jost de Negker around 1510; the other Italian, chiaroscuro, which Ugo da Carpi adopted in 1516. These two processes, which are often confused, are completely different. Camaieu requires at least two blocks: one on which the hatching of the design is engraved, which can also be printed on its own, and the other which forms the flat background colours with possibly small decorations or landscape additions. In chiaroscuro woodcut, on the other hand, there are flat-engraved matrices, which form the colours of the design. The first, lighter one is overlaid with a darker one, which accentuates certain parts and enhances the tonal values of the design, then possibly a third, even darker one, and so on. One block for each colour is used to obtain multiple tones through superimposition: two blocks produce three different tones; three blocks produce seven tones, and so on. It is therefore clear that in a camaieu, the first wood engraved with hatching would be sufficient on its own to produce the design, while in Italian chiaroscuro it is essential to print multiple woods.