Engineering an Art Form

The purpose of this project was to use engineering software to design and cut wood blocks for use in relief printing. Historically, the process of cutting away “white space” on wood blocks was done by hand. Instead this project was designed using three-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) software and transformed into computerized numerical control (CNC) machine processes using computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software. Two key blocks were designed, with one accompanied by two support blocks. All four blocks were cut from medium density fiberboard (MDF) in the Prototyping and Fabrication Service Center in Howe 1380. The next step was to apply ink to what remained of the original wood surface and use a printing press to transfer the ink to paper. A series of prints were made from the blocks, experimenting with different ink color, orientation, and block combinations.