Printing the grapevine print

With wineries all around, seeing the beauty of it all, it only stands to reason to also translate it into images. I intend - over time - to make more woodcuts with viticulture as a theme. This series of pictures shows some of the stages how to create a woodcut print.

The woodcut was made with eight printing surfaces carved in six blocks. By turning a block 180 degrees it can be carved again including registration to save timber when only small parts of the image need to be printed. First block printed is a background gradation to suggest fallen leaves on the ground achieved by applying different pigment mixtures in different amounts in different layers and brushed onto the block in only one single direction. The glistening shine can be seen on the block in the photo. I also illustrated a mistake in the registration and how to fix it as well as a small change in one of the blocks by inserting a new piece of wood and recarving it. Also a few photos illustrating the mixing of the dry pigments with a bit of alcohol and water and mixing them to obtain the desired colour. I use white paper under the glass which makes that easy. Note the amount of newsprint laying around to keep the paper moist in between printing.

all pictures copyright © to acw ten broek