Brass Rubbings

[Irish]

I had the weekend off from work and wanted to get into something fun and fast. Now for me that excludes wood carving as I have never been a 'fast' carver. So instead I grabbed a couple of linolium blocks that have been stored away in my studio for just for ever.

Linolium can easily be carved with our wood carving tools. You'll need a small v-gouge, veining gouge, a bench knife and perhaps a small round gouge. Oh, and of course your sharpening stones and hone.

There are two types of linolium blocks, neither are very expensive. I get mine through www.dickblick.com a large art supply store. One style of block has a rubber like surface that is mounted on foam board. The surface cuts easily and without any chipping or tearing. It does have one small problem for me because it has such a white color to it I find it hard to see how deeply I have carved. In the images below the purple coloring is from a sharpy that I used to draw the design. I then cleaned the cut board with a wipie that turned the sharpie ink to purple ...

The second style of block is the old fashion gray linolium mounted on particle board that we all remember from high school art. That's my favorite. It's a little harder to cut but so easy to see the depth. The hardness of the old styled block is great for what we are about to do.

Tape your pattern to the block then slide a piece of carbon paper underneath. Trace the outlines. Use your v-gouge along the outlines to encise the design. Then use the veining tool and small round gouge to clean out the unwanted (not to be printed) areas. The bench knife is perfect for little chip cut corner areas.

Once it's cut you can, of course, use printer's ink and a brayer to print an image from the block ... but what I wanted was something a little different ... a brass rubbing!

Brass rubbings are done from the British coffins of the 14th and 15th century. The coffin lids were bass relief carved with a stylized portrait of the person who belonged to the coffin. A piece of parchment paper is laid over the lid, secured tightly in place, then chalk is rubbed over the paper. The chalk grabs on the high areas of the carving giving the artist a copy of the bass relief carving. Linolium blocks can do the very same thing!

So once the block was carved I taped velum paper to the block, tightly. In one of the samples below I rubbed the block with a soft graphite pencil to create a gray toned rubbing. The second rubbing I did with artist quality colored pencils, Prismacolors. I used a variety of dark browns, blues and deep greens then a light rubbing of black over everything.

Now, here's why I am posting this to our Tips and Tricks area. (Took you forever to get to your point, Susan ...) If you show your carvings at craft fairs, art in the park shows, or even Renanniance festivals these linolium blocks are a great attractor for your booth. Make up a series of blocks, a few small ones maybe 5" x 7" and a few detailed large ones maybe 12" x 14". Have a supply of colored pencils and graphite pencils ready. Then cut the velum or parchment paper to the size of your different blocks. Print your name, studio name, address and phone number on the bottom of the velum ... advertising that they are going to take home with them! Put them out on the front of your selling table and let the kids (and the adults) do stone rubbings that they can take home with them.

Let the kids do the small ones for free ... Mom and Dad will love you for it. You can charge a fee for the large blocks, anywhere from $5 to $20 depending on the detail of your carving work and the size of the block area. And, you can get inexpensive precut matte boards from www.dickblick.com to mount the finished rubbings in for them to take home.

Try it! You'll discover that your booth will always have a crowd around it and crowds mean an extra chance to sell your carvings.
As my weekend is up and I must be back at work I don't know when I'll get the second block finished. Hopefully one evening this week as they are quick to carve. I'll post it when done.
Susan

Monumental Brass Society
http://www.mbs-brasses.co.uk/

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Neat stuff Susan! Haven't thought about lino cuts for years! thanks (nice work too by the way!)

[AlArchie]

Just a quick semantic question.....are those BRASS rubbings or BASS rubbings? If Brass, where does the term brass come from?

Great idea for the shows! Think Imight use that one.

Al

[Irish]

Thanks Hi-Ho! It's fun sometimes to return to old hobbies and crafts

Hey Al,

Yes and Yes! They are brass rubbings because many of the coffin had carved or incised brass metal lids. The wealthier a person was or the higher status they had often determined what materials the coffin was made of. Some coffins were also stone.

And, yes, they are bass relief carvings. Bass relief is a very simple incising technique of carving , also call scraffito. You only carve along the outlines of the design and remove any background area. But the actual design is not carved in any dimensional work. So you end up with a flat carving.

So they are brass bass relief rubbings ... say that one three times fast.

Check out the link at the bottom of my posting if you want to discover more about brass rubbings.

Susan

[wade clark]

These are great fun! Some of my earliest carvings (1970's) were printing blocks like this but done in wood. I did landscapes with flowers, ponds, ridges, trees, moon... and used printers inks in assorted colors, painting each area of the carving its' own color, then laying paper over it and rolling a rolling pin over it to transfer the ink, making a colorful print. Then I'd wash it off and change the colors, and do it again. They were beautiful and made great gifts! Never even thought of trying to get money for them. I had no idea what I was doing or what it was called, but I was having fun!
Wade

[Irish]

Wade, do you still have any blocks hanging around that you could scan and share ????

Opps - forgot a couple little things.

1. When the rubbing is done give it a light coat of matte spray to set the graphite, chalk or colored pencil. I like Blue Label fixative for this step.

2. DON'T put the customers finished matted rubbing is a bag to take home. You want them to carry it around the show so that everyone else can see it and wonder where they got it from ...

Susan

[wade clark]

Hi Susan,
No, I don't. Too much water under the bridge. The problem with "...been everywhere..." is "...left everything there...." Seen 48 states and a few countries and posessions, but often traveled with what would fit in a van or a backpack. At 56, I'm finally sprouting roots, I think....!
Wade

[squbrigg]

As usual Susan, beautiful work. How do you get your designs so even? I always end up with some "ribbons" thicker or thinner than others. Even drawing them. Love your designs and I am enjoying carving plenty of them.

Bob

[Irish]

I got a chance to finish the one block yesterday so here's what they look like inked.

Bob, none of my lines are even, it's an optical illustion because the images have been reduced to such a small size.

Susan

[Callynne]

Susan, those are terrific!! Brings back memories of high school, I did one then....Mr. Magoo....in a Santa hat and whiskers...of course! I'd never have thought to do another one, especially ones as neat as yours! Thanks for the inspiration and sharing! Deborah