16th Century printmaking

When you buy an etching press it often comes with three wool blankets, just like Rembrandt would have used. As printmakers we like to honour traditions, and we keep on printing with the 3 different types of blankets stacked in the time honoured way.

When I was researching the background for this post I discovered some really interesting posts about re-creating traditional printmaking techniques; for more info have a look at this blog 

What are press blankets made of?

Traditional press blankets are made from wool. The type of fabric is known as ‘swanskin’. This is a white woven fabric with a soft brushed or felted surface. I guess it is the white equivalent of ‘moleskin’ which similar but black.

Some press blankets are pure felt, the woollen fibres are not woven, just felted together.

I use both woven and felted blankets and prefer the felted ones as I think they don’t move around so much in use. With the woven blankets I seem to be constantly putting them straight as they migrate sideways.

Does anyone else find this, or is it just me?

How to use press blankets

On the bed of the press on top of the registration sheet, lies your inked up plate, this is covered with some dampened printing paper. Then an extra sheet of paper (I use plain newsprint). On top of this;

Blanket no 1; the thin one, also known as ‘the catcher’ this gives a smooth surface behind the paper and will catch any size that squeezes out from the paper.

Blanket no 2; the fluffy one aka ‘the cushion’ providing a good layer of padding.

Blanket no 3; the coarser one, aka ‘the pusher’ which provides grip for the smooth press roller.

How to Look after press blankets

Pure wool press blankets are very expensive; if you look after them they will last you many years.

However some terrible crimes against blankets take place in print studios…….

Printing an inky plate on the blankets

I blame my students for this; get too excited and you forget to lay the printing paper on top of the plate, so it prints directly on the blanket.

Experimental and mono-printing, printing multiple layers, using shaped plates etc. are some of the methods which also risk printing ink on the blankets. When printing onto textiles it is particularly easy to get ink on the blankets as it can squeeze through the fabric.

Remedy; get in the habit of laying a piece of clean newsprint on top of your printing paper, to protect the blankets.

Glue squeezes out

With collagraphs we often run plates through press to make sure all is glued down well. PVA accidents happen and wet PVA  squeezes out, sets in blanket and goes hard. Hard lumpy blankets won’t do you any favours.

Remedy; wrap suspicious plates in clingfilm or plastic before running through the press.

Wool moths attack

Eating holes, removal of felt in patches, uneven surfaces in the blanket, these little blighters get everywhere. We seem to have a plague in York.

I wrapped and taped the blankets carefully for storage but they still got in. Luckily most of the damage was at the edges. You can see where they have eaten the fluffy felt away revealing the weave, in some places they have gone right through.

The remedy is to keep your blankets well aired and store in the light, but if they are used regularly, and not packed away you should be ok.

Oil from press mechanism soaks edges

Give your press love by oiling the mechanism, but don’t forget to remove the blankets first.

Remember to wipe it up before replacing the blankets.

Mechanism traps and rips blankets

Cut your blankets to size with a margin round the press bed; keep them straight. Crooked blankets get caught in moving parts and become mangled or torn.

Rusty equipment marks press blankets

Rust printing is fun, but not on press blankets.

Steel rollers will rust, particularly if left tight on damp wool blankets. There is no excuse for this slovenly behaviour!

Remove and air your blankets after printing, and release the rollers so they are not in tight contact with anything potentially damp.

Sharp edges cut blankets

There’s no photo because I haven’t committed this crime myself. Collagraph plates tend to be softer so it’s not a problem, but metal etching plates need their edges filing to avoid sharp edges which can cut slices in the blankets.

Inky fingers get everywhere

You know this, I know this – what can you do? Fingerprints are part of the atmosphere in the studio anyway.

Have wipes handy to clean up regularly – use ‘paper fingers’, wear gloves for inking up, and remove them before using the press…

When it gets too bad you can always wash your blankets.

Washing press blankets

Writing this post made me realise how mucky my press blankets are, after about 15 years of use they had never seen soap and water – until now. People say you can wash them but I’ve always been nervous of doing this due to previous traumatic wool wash experineces. However in the interests of practical research I thought it was time for a wash. I did them on a 30 degree wool wash with no spin and used liquid soap for delicates.

It was fine! they are still a bit inky but the general air of grime has gone. For now anyway.

Take a leap forward – be curious about press blankets

One of the key things about taking a curious approach is thinking afresh about what you want to achieve and opening up your mind to different possibilities rather than just doing what you have been told, by someone who was told to do it like that by someone who always did it like that etc.

This may come as a bit of a shock to some but I am going to suggest that 3 wool blankets are not always necessary. 

“But we love the blankets!” all the dance like ritual of arranging them, folding them back, stretching them out, smoothing them flat, lining them up. How can you print intaglio without blankets?

Don’t get rid of your blankets – this is just another option you could try……

Collagraph plates are not etchings

Collagraph plates are generally made from a variety of materials, card, plastic, and found materials. Compared to metal etching plates they are less robust, and don’t need such high pressure to print well, so you have license to experiment with blankets.

Foam rubber – at least 2” thick

When I started out with collagraph printmaking I learnt the technique with Peter Wray. There was not a felted wool blanket in sight – we used 2-inch polyurethane foam. (the sort used for cushions and upholstery) This provides great cushioning for heavily textured plates. It is relatively cheap and doesn’t need maintenance.

The downsides are that if it comes out of the rollers or goes crooked it is a fiddle to get it back in, and as it is quite stiff and springy you can’t fold it back over the rollers.

If I ever see flat sheets of foam in packaging, I always grab them – it is useful to have different thickness of foam for padding.

Other types of foam are available

Sound insulation and Yoga mats

After the recent building work, we had leftover sound insulation – this is very rubbery squashy foam, needless to say it is now squirreled away in the studio waiting to perform on the press

The texture is a bit similar to yoga mats, and if you have bits of yoga mat left over from your yoga mat printing experiments, I’d certainly give them a try as press blankets. Just make sure they don’t have a surface texture imprinted on them as this can transfer through the paper to your prints.

Funky foam

Kids craft materials are often a great source of printmaking materials and I have used funky foam sheets as (short lived) press blankets with the Xcut Xpress and other tiny presses on community projects.

Cheap, easy to cut, flexible and several layers can get pretty squashy.

Lucky finds

Last time I was in the scrapstore I found a stack of huge thin rubber sheets (used to cover desks I think, but no one seemed to know) about 3mm thick and fairly dense but flexible, this has multiple uses in the studio, to print from or to use as padding in the press and elsewhere. Make sure a regular visit to your local scrapstore is in your diary!

Table protectors

These are vinyl fabric with synthetic padding on the back. Used to cover that mahogany table top and protect it from scratches, they also double as press blankets. Especially good for relief printing, they are strong and stable, but not as flexible as foam sheets.

Neoprene

This is my favourite. I started using it after I bought a bargain wetsuit in a charity shop. I think it must have been age 12, not size 12; I couldn’t even get into the leg part of it, so I cut it up and used it as press blankets! The patches were quite small, the biggest one came from the stomach. and these have been used many times for printing small plates.

Local areas of pressure

Neoprene patches are also really useful to add a bit of extra pressure on particular areas of the collagraph plate.

Sometimes however much you adjust the press there are still areas of the print where the ink won’t reach – if it is a small part lay an extra layer of neoprene over it to add some more squashy pressure to the problem area.

You don’t need to cut up a wetsuit – sheets and offcuts of neoprene in different thicknesses are available to buy on line.

So that’s it for my rough guide to press blankets.

There are lots of reasons, both emotional and practical for taking a traditional approach, and swanskin blankets do become old friends after years of faithful service. However the cheap and cheerful foam options may come in handy for some projects, and could save you a bit of money too. Please let me know if you have discovered any other alternative blanket materials – share a comment below.