Tan Material Sample Results - Round #2

What, if anything, did you to do prep the block before transferring your image?

One acetone scrub, two sanding and one did nothing.

What type of transfer did you use?

Did it take a transfer well?

Is the transfer clear and high contrast, showing detail well?

Does the transfer stay on the material without smearing or sliding?

One pre-treated half with wintergreen oil and then transferred with wintergreen oil and yellow Stazon stain as a fixative. The image remained crisp throughout the carve.  

One tried both wintergreen oil and laser/parchment and both worked well, but needed StazOn to keep the transfer from smearing. 

One used a label-back sheet and StazOn mustard to fix the transfer.

One used inkjet on label paper and had to wait for the ink to dry to keep it from smearing. 

Many thanks to Linden Leaf, who tackled an image from one of my favorite artists that was full of fine, curved lines and tons of detail. 

What tool(s) did you use?

Staedtler and Speedball modified and unmodified gouges #1 V and #5 U, X-acto knives, needles, a Meeden #1 parting chisel and a sewing needle.

Using properly sharpened tools, does the cut path have clean edges? 

Is the consistency of the block smooth or grainy?

All in this group found cutting clean and the material consistent and smooth. 

Many thanks to RavenWolf who tried a number of different tools on this varied image and thought the gouge worked best and needles and knives not so well for her.  

Does the gouge or knife slip during shallow cuts or when ending cuts?
Does the material release easily from the block as you finish each cut? 

One had a little trouble with slipping during shallow cuts, but thought it released easily at the end of each cut.
One had no problem with slipping using an x-acto knife 90% of the time, but thought the material required clean dissections to remove pieces (noting that this required cuts to be deliberate and left fewer opportunities for error).
One found it much easier to move the gouge through than the gray sample, but still had issues with knives and needles, noting the pieces held on rather than pop out like PZ used to.
One thought the material was awesomely smooth and that the gouge almost glided through the material without slipping, that corners were crisp, but that slivers had to be helped out sometimes.
 

Many thanks to Team Awesome Pants who usually keeps pink stuff in the refrigerator to keep it from getting too mushy while carving and noted that this material worked better at room temperature. She's voting for a production run. :)

How would you rate the level of pressure it takes to move the tool through the material? 

Pressure came in at about the same as OZ Kut, with one particularly noting that even though this was the firmest material she had used and she was afraid it might be an issue and cause hand and wrist fatigue, but she found it quite refreshing to use and didn't want to stop carving. 

Rate the ability to make fine straight lines.

Both straight and curved lines rated well with this group, with a couple noting the ability to shave small pieces off and make corrections, even without material on the other side of the line to support it. 

Can you imagine this block at about .25 inches thick? If so, do you think it would be firm enough to hold fine details, or squishy such that stray background marks would show if the stamp were not mounted?

This did not seem to be a concern for this group, probably because the block was thick enough to show its lack of squish, where the gray sample was too thin to tell for sure. 

Many thanks to West Dover Quidditch Team, who did a frozen material test, leaving Speedy Carve, OZ Kut and the tan sample in the freezer overnight and tested their ability to print while frozen. The softer Speedy Carve worked best in this application, with OZ Kut and the tan material coming out about the same. 

Did you try tools with different levels of sharpness and did it make a difference if you did? 

One said dull tools didn't seem to matter, one said blades were changed at about the same rate as OZ and one said it seemed to dull her tools more quickly than other media.
 

What type of ink(s) did you try?

Once again, a large range! 

Does the carving hold the ink smoothly and evenly?
Do large positive spaces hold and transfer ink well?

Some issues with printing this time were due to the slight curve of the block, but most got good coverage, with one noting it took more deliberate pressure than softer blocks. One said it held ink smoothly and evenly and one said ink didn't want to stick, noting that she had not sanded or prepped the block before transfer in any way and this might have contributed to the inking problem. One said that not all inks worked evenly and StazOn worked best.

Thank you so much to my fantastic testers - they come up with creative hoops to put the material through that I had never thought of. You can't have too much data. :)