Lately I have begun to print on the good paper even for proofs, just to get the true effect of the finished print. Let me say that, in my opinion, one of the magic things about printmaking is that the process modifies the final result. This used to frustrate students who had in mind a very precise picture of what they wanted their prints to look like. I think accepting the process is part of printmaking, knowing that the block and the ink will have their own say on what the final print looks like. Printmaking is full of wonderful surprises, expecting from it to be precise like a pencil drawing is an insult to the process.
Paper is cut to size, newsprint is cut to size.
I dampen by spraying with a water bottle about every other sheet if thin paper, every sheet if thick-meaty paper, then stacking the whole thing between blotters and weighed down by a board, placed on another board. Once the paper is soft and ever so slightly damp, printing begins. If you are slow, have large areas to print, want every print to be perfect, then you need to leave the paper between the boards so that it will stay soft. Whatever ink I am using is rolled out on the marble slab or glass slab to a very thin and even sheet. Printing is a matter of rolling out the ink on the block until it is loaded with ink.