The one big idea: mirroring
Block prints come out reversed. The canvas here always shows the final print as it will appear on paper. The Guide PDF is automatically mirrored so that when you build the plate from the guide, ink it, and pull a print, you get exactly what you designed. You never have to flip anything in your head. The Plate view toggle up top shows the mirrored build if you want to sanity-check it.
Layers are ink passes
Each layer is one color pass, like block printing or riso. Build layer 1 on the plate, print your edition, clear the plate, build layer 2, print again on the same sheets. Registration crosshairs on the guide help you line up passes. Pieces on different layers may overlap; the preview blends them like transparent ink.
Tracing a reference image
Import reference loads a photo or sketch under the grid at 50% opacity, in Paper view only, so you can eyeball where pieces should go. Drag the opacity slider anytime, or press I to flip it on and off. Fit keeps the image's proportions inside the plate; Fill crops it to cover the whole square. The reference is a guide only: it never appears in the PNG mockup or the Guide PDF, and it switches off automatically in Plate view since that view is for building, not tracing.
Pieces
1×1 square, 1×1 quarter circle, 1×1 half circle, 1×1 round, and the 2×2 macaroni curve. Rotate with R. The macaroni leaves its inner corner cell open, so a quarter tile rotated into that corner nests inside the curve, which is how the flowers in classic tile prints are made.
Printing the guide
The guide is true size: the grid is 256 mm, matching a 10 in plate. Print at 100% scale on tabloid or A3. On letter paper, print fit-to-page and use it as a coordinate map instead; the col and row numbers on the edges match either way.
Keyboard
1–5 pieces R rotate B place E erase V pick
[ ] switch layer Cmd+Z undo Shift+Cmd+Z redo
Alt+click picks a piece Shift+erase clears across all layers
Made by Sarah Lawrence.