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”.