woodblock attempts... day ?

1 The original idea sketch...

2 Sketched onto a piece of trace...

What started out as a project during a week off at the end of March got put on hold  but I have finally found the time (and materials) to further work on the woodblock print attempt during this week off. The first 6 images are from March, the last two from yesterday.

I was not happy with the paper (too small and too smooth) and the inconsistency of the ink in my previous printing, but some experimenting (and googling) using a block I carved on similar wood 15 years ago revealed quite dramatically that dampening the paper works quite nicely, and I feel like a whole new world has opened up. The resulting prints from yesterday are still not perfect but a great improvement to the previous version.

3 Working out black and white. and texture...

I have now washed the block to clear off some caked ink, as I am still not happy with the amount of detail that has been lost. I will probably carve some modifications and run a few more prints soon...

4 Carving...

5 and test printing along the way...

6 An early version at the end of March... too blotchy!

7 A test print using an old block and dampened paper (left).

8 Printing on proper Stonehenge paper... still not perfect but much better.