Block Prints: How To Make Them, by William S. Rice

An accomplished member of the early 20th-century Arts and Crafts movement, William S. Rice was also a dedicated teacher. By the time he published Block Prints: How To Make Them in 1941, he was an instructor at the University of California, having just retired from a 40-year career teaching art in California’s public secondary schools. Rice began making block prints as early as 1915 in the attic studio of his East Oakland bungalow. As he would go on to describe in his extremely practical guide to block printing, an artist could get started with basic tools, wood or linoleum blocks, inks, and paper, even repurposing household items to their advantage. Now back in print after a long absence, Block Prints: How To Make Them is an eminently readable guide that remains as functional as the day it was made. Written for the novice, Rice’s every instruction is provided with a dose of steadying encouragement. The modern crafter or art student will find useful guidance in the contributions of Martin Krause, author of this new edition’s introduction. His footnotes added throughout provide context to the original edition, translate terminology that might be unfamiliar, and provide updates where needed.

William S. Rice

William Seltzer Rice (American, 1873–1963) found endless inspiration in nature, creating a vast number of watercolors, drawings, photographs, and prints. He moved to his adopted home of Northern California in 1900, just before the region’s Arts and Crafts movement ignited. A prolific watercolorist, Rice taught at various San Francisco Bay Area schools, including the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland—a center for the movement. He became devoted to block printing for its suitability to the Arts and Crafts ethos of making artwork available to a wide audience at modest cost. Being a skilled craftsman as well as an artist, Rice designed, carved, and printed the blocks all himself. Today his masterful artwork can be found in public and private collections worldwide.