Studio blog of Annie Bissett, an artist working with traditional Japanese woodblock printing (moku hanga)
08 September 2009
Carving Text
The text I'm carving is about the equivalent of 17 point Times Roman. I've worked out a three-stage carving process which you can see in the photo above. First I carve out all the "holes" -- the spaces in the letters o, d, g, etc. You can see this at the bottom of the photo. Then I use a very sharp straight knife, called a toh, to outline the letters (seen in the middle portion of the photo). And finally, I use the same knife plus a small u-gouge to clear away the wood around the letters, as at the top of the photo.
Naturally this is taking much longer than I expected, which I should have expected.
Labels:
early american,
Eliot Bible,
Puritans,
woodblock,
woodcut
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7 comments:
Wow. Can I relate to that last sentence. I had been wondering about the process of carving the lettering. Thanks for posting.
Thank you for taking us through how you're tackling this task - do you enjoy the systematic process? I know I would.
Celia
Ahh, yes, the world of the unexpected - it is my natural habitat. Next comes the unexpected consequences —
Amazing. 8-]
Oh Annie! I wondered how you would go beyond all those 0s and 1s you carved! Are you sure you're not a puritan, punishing yourself for all those sins? (joke)
Gosh, that's a LOT of work! I bet it'll look fantastic when printed. How did you transfer the words to the wood?
Thanks everyone.
Celia, I do enjoy the process especially, as you suggest, once I get a system going.
Sue, I used a paper (laser print output) hanshita. One reason I'm carving the way I'm carving is because the paper loosens once the cuts are made around the letters.
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