I made a small test plate to see how the wood, the ink, and the paper I bought are working for printing. I ended up using a eucalyptus plywood, which is cheap, soft, and readily available at local carpentry shops. It's a bit brittle, but with a little care it works just fine. I have some other kinds of wood, but the grain is quite prominent in them and I think a finer grain probably works better. The ink I bought at Grafex S.A. in Asunción and it works beautifully straight out of the can. I tried various papers I bought at Copel, the only larger paper supplier in Paraguay apparently. They all worked well, and now I have to make the grand decision between various white tones and the gms (weight), which will be of no great consequence in the end. For clean up I simply used vegetable oil on the brayers and also some vinager for the ink slab/floor tile to degrease it.
I took over my mom's kitchen table the other day and printed my small sample plate. I probably should have toned my plate before cutting it. I got a bit carried away, cut away too much and my sample plate will have to serve as bad example as to what happens when you don't leave enough solid surface to hold ink. The image turned out a bit skimpy. Oh well. I'm glad all the materials worked out just fine. I can place all my orders now and get ready for the workshop in 2 weeks.
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