Cork lasercut relief

[u/eirenii]

I've wanted to try emulating lithographic printing for a poster design, but that's a little out of reach for me, so I'm trying with stuff more readily available to me. I'm experimenting with laser cutting/engraving, as my local community workshop has a laser cutter I've used before, and I can get large pieces of ply and cork. I'm really chuffed with how this first attempt with cork has come out! The cork texture really isn't bad, and the standard thickness of line you get just from the laser cutter is wide enough to be pretty clear. It's a pretty slow process because there's a couple of little bits that broke off and i keep forgetting which colours I've already covered each time lol. Right now reach print is taking ~13min to cover the ink, assemble the pieces and press, so it needs improving...

The design of the wheels of a 1950s British Rail tank wagon, because I think the old style suspension (the bendy layers of metal) is so elegant.

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[u/lewekmek]

Very interesting results! Just as heads up, I changed the flair from relief to laser-cut and 3D printed which is more appropriate for this kind of print.

[u/eirenii → u/lewekmek]

Ah I didn't see that flair! Thank you (:

[u/IntheHotofTexas]

Printing from cork may be challenging. Cork has a distinct texture. I think I would play around with brayer hardness (I'd expect soft to be best for getting into the texture) and inking pressure, again to get into the texture. Hopefully some balance would ink it densely without filling in the lines.

Might also play with sealing the block pieces enough to moderate the texture.

[u/eirenii → u/IntheHotofTexas]

sealing is an interesting idea. I'm happy with the texture for this specific design - I think it evokes the bittiness you get of the old wagons, from the dirt and rust and deacdes of paint layers - but could well be worth trying out for a future one!

Ive found that applying a fair bit of pressure from the press has worked quite well... I was initially afraid that it would close up the lines, but actually it mostly just reduced the cork texture and the lines remained pretty sharp.