Relief Printing with Laser

Next week I'm teaching a workshop in Relief printing.

I will be showing some woodblocks, linocuts, and maybe some letterpress,

but I also had the luxury of making some samples using a laser cutter.

It was fun to see these two simple digital files transformed into 'woodcuts',

both as a cut-out shape and a relief surface for printing or embossing.

Samples of the laser cutter for a relief workshop;
Wood plate, embossed print, and basic black print

Sparrow, close-up of laser surface of woodcut.
Inside lines are etched to a depth of approx 1-2mm
Outside line is cut all the way through the plate to create a perfect fit!

Left: Two plates inked up separately, relief sparrow and background template
Right: Two plates re-assembled and printed together in one solid colour (enlarged)

These are just simple pattern and line samples,

but it also works for photos and scans of hand-drawn images..

Its a starting point to give the students some ideas and inspiration

to make the most of this technology with their own imagery

Perhaps I'll post again after the workshop with some examples of how they use it?!