So I took an illustration, inverted it and 3D engraved it on medium basswood settings (on a random piece of non PG basswood).
I was thinking it might work as a woodblock printing test.
Unfortunately, no. The lines are way too fine for that at this scale. So I figure “maybe I’ll paint it white, then roll black over the whole thing, getting a positive’. I had a can of white primer laying around so I said “let’s see what happens”. I got a couple of light sprays in and just stopped because I thought it looked really cool. This is what I got:
It definitely requires more than a rubber stamp that would be more familiar. They’re actually usually a piece of wood, then piece of cushion, then rubber design so they’re even springier. There’s no give with a woodblock and very little with lino.
The back of an old wooden spoon works pretty well for burnishing the paper on the block.
looking at the closeup I see a lot of places there because of kerf the edge barely makes it. With a bit of sanding on a very flat surface and not hard enough to break a wall. and at the finest grit (2000?) you would have a polished single surface that my guess would print better than a variable height surface. Alternatively, or perhaps as well, a thin rubber sheet behind the paper might make up for such diversity.
