Woodblock Printing History

Every day people read newspapers, magazines, books, comics, etc. and a vast majority of them never stop to think of how these objects are designed and made.

The ways of print production have greatly improved over the years and is still evolving today.

Printing in a simple description is the duplication of images and text. The art of printmaking can be said to date all the way back to before 3000 BC with the Mesopotamians who created a cylindrical seal that could be used to imprint its images onto clay tablets by rolling it across the clay with a little pressure. Skipping along years and years ahead, wax seals to represent a family, guild, church, or nobility were used to seal letters using a carved stamp and imprinting it on hot wax applied to the folded parchment. Some time around 200 CE, in China; woodblock printing became the main method of printmaking and continued so until the 19th century. Woodblock printing works just as a stamp does, except it is made of wood, unlike the rubber stamps we use today. Woodblock printing was a very popular art form in Japan, however, was not held as high and prestigious as painting. One of the most recognizable pieces is from a set of 36 views of Mt. Fuji called: “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Hokusai.

Some time between 1041 and 1048, Bi Sheng created the very first device capable of moving type in China. This movable type method used single letterforms to recreate a document in a less painstakingly manner. In 1450, a German printer, by the name of Johannes Gutenberg, created an improved mechanical printing press. Gutenberg’s printing press made printing multiple books easier with its ability to mass-produce. Gutenberg, whom had been a goldsmith for some time, took what he knew an...

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...eryone is familiar with since just about everyone has one in their homes nowadays. Inkjet printers are the common household printer and the largest form of printing today. Inkjet printers replicate an image on paper by shooting droplets of ink onto paper. Most early inkjet printers only used two ink cartridges, one for black and one for color, but today a majority of inkjet printers use 4 cartridges; CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black). Then there are printers that are more intended for printing photos that can take up to 8 cartridges which include greys and lighter colors. From inkjet we move to laser printing, which is a digital process. Unlike inkjet printing which uses ink cartridges Laser uses larger cartridges called toner.

Printmaking has come so far and continues to evolve over time. Who knows what new methods we could be using 20 years from now.