The new samples arrived and I spent a couple days in the basement playing with various tools and techniques to put this stuff through its paces. I thought it had a pretty good gait, as it turns out. I scheduled this post a few days after testing the material and writing my results up, to give my testers a chance to do their own trials without seeing what my opinion was.
Here's the actual block, glued to a piece of acrylic so that I could print it easily, without getting stray ink from my fingers all over the paper. This sample block was about 1/8" thick. I did not mount it to carve, but I'm good at making messes with ink, so printing was another matter entirely.
I sanded the block to prep it before using the heat transfer method with a toner-based copy of the art work. I used Staedtler and Speedball gouges, modified and unmodified and a Testor's hobby knife, though the gouges worked better in this application. My next test will be with knives and text, just to see how it compares to PZ and OZ for detail and carvability when doing letters.
Here's the final print, on white index paper with Brilliance Coffee Bean ink. I was pretty pleased with how it came out and happy with the level of detail the block allowed me to get. I'm going to be really interested in what my merry band of testers thinks of this stuff.
By the way, this is Ollie - he's a friend's new puppy and I think he's way too cute.
2 comments:
Well that image would make mashed potatoes look like a good medium! WOW! That is really encouraging. You did a marvelous job of course. This material obviously can hold a fine line well. Thanks for your tireless work!
Thanks, jackbear! Oh, yes, it holds a very fine line. I'll be interested to see what you think when you get your hands on it. :)
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