When Bob and I visited Kauai last month, we stopped in a shop featuring Hawaiian artisans' work. I picked up a couple of print reproductions by Cindy Conklin (images below). Her original work was a scratchboard. The shop owner described a process of laying down a layer of white clay on a board, covering it with black ink, and then after the ink was dry, scratching it away to reveal the white clay. At the time I thought it sounded like making a linocut or block print. In fact, it's more like drawing. The difference is instead of using a pencil or marker to add black marks on white paper, you make white marks by scratching away black ink with a sharp tool.
Photographs of the purchased prints of Cindy Conklin's scratchboard art.
Scratchboard drawing (also called scratch art) is an artform that was completely unfamiliar to me. I did a little research and found there are a variety of methods and materials to practice with. It's relatively easy to create your own scratchboard and fashion your own tools or you can buy ready-made boards and specialized tools. There's even a kid-friendly version that uses crayons and tempera paint. Rather than recreate instructions for you, I've curated a few videos to help you learn about scratchboard and see the art making process. Even if you aren't inspired to pick up a new scratchboard practice, I think you'll enjoy watching others do the work.
Basic Scratchboard Techniques
This Scratchboard Basics video from Katie Nash Visual Art (2:47) does a great job of showing how to achieve gradients of light and dark in scratchboard as well as scratching techniques. You can also see how she draws a simple sphere and shadow in scratchboard.
The Full Scratchboard Tutorial
I really liked this video (Scratchboard Drawing for Beginners: Step by Step Techniques, Art Prof: Create & Critique, 18:42) because it gives comprehensive instruction about scratchboard art and shows the very talented artist's unique approach. It is a little longer and it has an ad in the middle.
Watch a Scratchboard Expert at Work
I came across Robert Bickel on YouTube. He's a fine artist who displays his work in oil, watercolor, pencil and scratchboard. This video (Scratchboard Art & Stuff: Dandelion, 6:29) shows how he created a beautiful rendering of a dandelion in scratchboard. He does a brief, humble introduction at the start of the video but then it's just background music and a focus on the board and his hands scratching out the image. It's worth a watch. I watched it at double speed and was completely mesmerized. (Robert has disabled video playback on sites other than his YouTube channel so you'll have to watch it there.)
Scratch Art Activity for Kids (of All Ages)
There are many YouTube tutorials about how to do scratch art with kids. Apparently it's a favorite childhood craft but I have no recollection of ever doing this! I may be ready to give it a try now. I chose to share this video (How to Make a Scratchboard from Kaitlyn Edington, 11:23) because she has embedded a bonus by showing how to draw a dog! Note that she demos how to do scratchboard in wet paint here (a little easier for kids, I guess but it seems like an extra messy approach). It's also still a workable option to let the paint dry and scratch away.
Make Your Own Scratchboard (If You're Really into DIY)
A scratchboard is essentially three layers: the base which can be wood, paper, MDF, or almost anything that will hold onto the top two layers; the middle layer that is revealed by scratching, typically a white kaolin clay (though color is fine, plaster can work, and sometimes people use foil in the middle); the top layer is India ink, usually black or very dark for the best contrast with the middle layer. While making your own scratchboard is not particularly difficult and might be more economical than buying, it can be a messy process and hard to get to a high-quality (smooth and even) surface. I'll share a few video links here in case you want to give it a try.
Homemade Clayboard, Steve Gathercole (11:14) The artist shows how to make the bottom two layers (clayboard) that you can then add ink to for scratching (or simply paint).
Easy Method to Make Scratchboard, Cinder Block Studios (8:54) This artist starts with purchased clayboard and adds two layers of ink in two colors.
How to Make a Scratchboard & Gesso, DIY Art Projects (12:33) The artist uses Plaster of Paris and glue to make the middle layer (he calls it gesso).
Make Your Own Scratchboard using Ceracolors, Alex Rydlinski (2:57) This artist shows an alternate method to typical scratchboard using paint a paper. (Ceracolors is a brand name. This is my favorite scratchboard DIY video of the four.)
Buy Your Scratchboard Materials
If scratchboard or scratch art has piqued your creative curiosity and you want to try it out without the full DIY experience, here's a collection of materials and kits you can find on Amazon (paid links). Full disclosure: I haven't tried my hand at scratchboard (I might get to the kid's version) so I have not personally used all of these products. I did pick up on Ampersand brand as a quality scratchboard product referenced in many videos that I watched. Also, I do use Speedball ink for block printing and Windsor & Newton India ink for painting and drawing—both can work for scratchboard.
Let me know if you give scratchboard a try!
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