I’m back after a long hiatus, and plan on making postings of my work in progress more often. Currently I am engraving an end-grain maple block, the subject matter decaying Barometer Earthstar mushrooms seen walking on the Bearskin Trail in northern Wisconsin.
In progress, the final print most likely will be presented in a vertical orientation.
I’m currently laying a bed of pine needles under the mushrooms and twigs.
I had the honor of having my wood engraving “Sweetgrass” featured on the cover of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s “Braiding Sweetgrass”. It was a special anniversary hardcover edition published by Milkweed Editions in 2020.
My “Sweetgrass” engraving on Robin Wall Kimmerer’s special anniversary edition of her wonderful book.
Holding a type-high end-grain boxwood round with the engraved image after it was inked and printed.
The boxwood round with a wash of ink to darken it’s surface and the design drawn on with a Micron ink marker.
On the left, the engraving burins used to cut the lines into the block’s surface. What you engrave, prints white. I often use a magnifying glass and some 2.5 magnification eyeglasses.
Engraving in process.
I usually use a press to print the block onto the paper, but here, I inked the block, placed the paper on top and then used this burnisher to rub the back of the paper. You don’t need a press to print wood engravings, a spoon will do.
The engraving also appeared on the Japanese translation of “Braiding Sweetgrass”.
I engraved a Chris Daunt made boxwood round , images of flint-knapped rocks that I had photographed in Patagonia, Arizona, at Jeanne’s sister’s ranch. I wanted to work out some ideas I had for techniques to use on my larger “Storied Stone” wood engraving.
The engraved boxwood round.
The block surface seen with a raking light. When printed the engraved lines will appear white.
The first proof. Here the rocks are seen against a black background. After printing a few more proofs, I decided I was going to remove all the black background away to see how the rocks looked different on a white background (the paper color).
It takes a bit of an effort to clear large areas of a block.
When printed the rocks look different.
In progress, “Sacred Stone”.
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