Relief Printing
Woodcut printing, also known as relief printing, dates back over 1,000 years ago to ancient China's Han Dynasty before 220 BCE. Books and their illustrations would be printed this way for hundreds of years throughout the world.
An image is first drawn onto a block of wood/linoleum. Small chisels and knives are then used to carve away the areas surrounding the details of the image. Once the carving is complete, thick printing ink is carefully rolled onto the surface of the block. The inked block is then pressed onto a sheet of rice paper, utilizing a bamboo disc baren to ensure even distribution of the ink and consistent pressure. The rice paper is then carefully peeled back and off the block to reveal the newly printed image.
Intaglio Etching
These prints are embossed from a sheet of metal that had a hand drawn design encised and inked into its surface. Dampened paper is then pressed over the inked metal sheet using a hand cranked printing press. This printing process is called Intaglio Printing and originated in Germany over 500 years ago.
First, a metal sheet is degreased and painted with an acid resistant liquid coating. Once dry, a design is hand drawn using a needle pointed drawing tool. The finished design is etched into the metal’s surface by submerging the metal sheet in acid and or etchants depending on the type of metal. Once cleaned of etchants and coatings, specialty printing ink is hand applied to the metal sheet. The surface is polished while carefully leaving the ink in the newly etched lines of the design. Dampened cotton fiber paper is placed over the metal sheet and is run through a hand cranked printing press with steel rollers and layers of felts under heavy pressure. The printing press embosses the metal sheet and the drawing to the paper. On the paper's surface, you can feel the layered ink and the edges of where the metal sheet was pressed into the paper.
You can see this process and many others on my Instagram: @bsimas.prints