Living Prints® Woodcut On-line

Preview work-in-progress

Cutting in this old style, 17th-Century manner is slow. Your curiosity builds. How will it look? Will the lines be wide or thin? The urge to print gets stronger, but you cannot print yet because any time you print the block it will obliterate the parts of the drawing you have not yet cut into the wood. Of course, this is only because the old technique is holding me back. Modern, expressive kinds of woodcut do not have this inhibiting influence.

I had to trace the image first. The lines of my tracing show easily--especially when I rub off the thin paper. If I inked the block now to get a preview, the lines would disappear. The intricate details are the most difficult to cut, and the work of cutting can be boring. I have to stop after an hour. Besides, it is close work. I use a magnifier and a lamp close to the work, but nevertheless you can strain your eyes if you work too long. It's good to take a break and see how the work is progressing on paper.

There are ways to get a preview without eliminating the line of the tracing, and make the work more rewarding. With a preview you not only see what you've accomplished (on paper) but also helps show if your technique is working for the effect you want. In the picture below you see one method of getting a preview--the graphite rubbing technique.

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  With a half-inch wide stick of drawing graphite, you can rub the design through a thin piece of paper. Typing paper will do. Rubbing is a familiar technique for getting designs from stone carvings and flat designs in metal. It's a highly developed craft in its own right. In woodcuts it is one way to get a preview of the work in progress.

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©1999 Bill H. Ritchie, Jr. ritchie@seanet.com