Recreating Antique Block Prints Using Maker Technology

In 2015, LTS staff members collaborated on a project to physically recreate woodblock prints from rare books. A woodcut print from a Special Collections manuscript from 1514 was photographed; the image was then edited using specialized software and then engraved in wood using a laser cutter.  Students made paper and then printed broadsides in the Book Arts Lab, setting the type for the letterpress and using the laser cut woodblock.

This video documents the process:

LTS Staff: Jordan Tynes, Katherine McCanless Ruffin, Ruth Rogers
Keywords: Special Collections, Book Arts, Engineering, Lasercutting, Makerspace