Posted by Dave Bull at 3:49 PM, May 3, 2007
Over the next six weeks or so, I am going to show the complete process of how one of my woodblock prints is made. The print in question is the first one from my new 'My Solitudes' series - the River in Summer.
We're going to start here - with the basic outline drawing:
That doesn't look like much yet, but six weeks is a long time, and there are going to be a lot of steps along the way. Here's an outline of what to expect:
- This drawing will be pasted onto a plank of wood.
- I will then carve the design, taking away all the surrounding wood, and leaving just the lines standing.
- From that completed 'key block', I will pull a number of impressions on thin paper.
- Using one of those 'prints' for each colour that I wish to appear in the completed print, I will mark them up as a guide for how the colour blocks should be carved.
- Those sheets are then pasted down on fresh pieces of wood, and carved.
- Once the complete set of blocks is ready (around the beginning of June), I will start printing.
- The key block will be printed first, and then the colour blocks one by one (maybe around 30 of them) until the complete image comes together.
- To produce the 200 prints that I plan to make of this design, will take around a month of printing.
I hope you enjoy following along with me, as the print comes to life over the coming weeks ...
The thread continues in [River in Summer - 1] ..