Got Wood 2: It Got Harder

After my successful first try, I was very excited to start on my second woodcut brief. This time, our design could be any size, but it had to have three or more colours, which meant that we had to carve multiple pieces of wood that would be layered on top of one another to create the full image. I decided to use a photo that I took in Atami for my print, as it contrasted to my first print with it's more geometric shapes and block colours. Given that this would be the most complicated print I've ever done, I thought that going with a more simple image would work in my favour, as I'd be less likely to mess up. I also decided to go with the same size as before because I thought it was effective at showing off the technique without being so big that it would be cumbersome.

After sketching out my image, I broke it down into four basic colours; brown, red, yellow and black. As the yellow and black were both relatively small parts, I put them on the same piece of wood, so I would then have to ink up the two parts separately. I was surprised with how quickly I cut it all up to be honest, I managed to carve all three in one morning, which is probably down to the more simple shapes that I was carving. Even though I wanted to have bold block colours, I wanted to wood background to actually look like wood and not just two brown blobs, so I got some rough sandpaper and essentially sanded the grain into the wood parts of the image. Neither my teacher nor I were really sure if it would actually come out at all, but we figured it was worth a try, as I could always carve into it more after the first print.

When it came to printing, I was surprised to find out that I would be printing all three layers in one go. In the past, when I've done two layered lino prints, I would print the first layer on all of my paper and then come back when they were dry to print the second layer. Maybe it's different when working with woodblock, but it meant that I got four prints done in one morning, which I was really chuffed with. I printed three on regular paper and one on a piece of paper that I had made in my paper making class the previous week. I cannot explain the stress the I experienced when I peeled back the paper each time to see if it had lined up well with the previous layer, but I was honestly very pleased with all four of my prints. And the wood grain texture came out in the end! It actually works really well because of how subtle it is, and it really adds some depth to the image as a whole.

All in all, I am super chuffed with these prints, and I am so pleased to be sharing them with all of you!