Tag Archives: woodcuts

And Breathe!

So, after two and a half months of research, preparation, creative blocks, blood, sweat and a lot of hard work, I finally finished carving my very large block of wood and did the first print. And breathe! The block has been sealed with three coats of shellac and methylated spirits (mixed 50:50) and I amContinue reading “And Breathe!”

Drawing Blood!

I draw lots of things. Today I drew blood! I’m back to reality after our short break to Italy and cracking on with carving my large woodcut (80 x 120 cms), a commission from Sky Arts TV channel. One of the occupational hazards of carving blocks for relief printing is the razor sharp tools thatContinue reading “Drawing Blood!”

It’s All A Bit Zen.

  The carving begins! The final drawing has been transferred in reverse onto the MDF block in compressed charcoal. Then I redrew everything with a brush and walnut ink. And now I’m cutting. After all the rush and stress of the past few weeks, it feels a bit Zen to quietly carve into the wood,Continue reading “It’s All A Bit Zen.”

Getting On With It

I’m on the last leg now with “Here Be Dragons”, my commission for Sky Arts, getting my final design transferred into a large sheet of MDF. I’m back in my studio at home, with Helen Finney’s portrait of me looking down as I work.   I transferred it using detail paper, that had a tracingContinue reading “Getting On With It”

Still Slogging Away….

  Still slogging away. I have redrawn this yet again and now I think I’m finally happy with the way the textual imagery flows. This is the third version that I have worked up, and I did it lightly in graphite first.     Then I covered it with detail paper (tracing) and copied itContinue reading “Still Slogging Away….”

Back To The Drawing Board

Literally, back to the drawing board. I worked up a full scale drawing yesterday, ready to transfer to a block for cutting. But I’m not happy with it. There’s so much text to fit into the space and I think it’s too busy and cramped so today, back to basics, redrawing each word so theContinue reading “Back To The Drawing Board”

And Nearer ……

Moving into the final stages of my commission from Sky Arts ART50 now, drawing up the design to full scale before transferring it onto a wood block for cutting …..          

Phew! Cracked It!

Finally, all the teccie, geeky stuff has been sorted. I did a third test block, carving a fraction of my final design onto a shard of MDF, coating it three times with a 50:50 mix of shellac and methylated spirits, inking it up with Cranfield Caligo Safewash Relief ink and printing it, using a JapaneseContinue reading “Phew! Cracked It!”

Yesterday’s Package

Yesterday’s package was tins of new ink! Caligo / Cranfield Safe Wash litho / relief ink in black, for my test blocks. And here’s the second of my test blocks cut into MDF. The first, last week, gave unsatisfactory results but one of my WordPress chums, Siver Black, gave me a tip, to apply threeContinue reading “Yesterday’s Package”