Any workspace can be a hectic environment for those who don’t understand the flow and the rhythm. Over the months we have developed a strong rhythm and system of organization. The creation of block print art, requires as much dedicated to the carving and detailed work, as to the smaller tasks. A lot of time is spent going back over the carvings with a marker (as seen in some of the pictures below) to darker the raised areas, the areas that ink will apply too. These simple tasks, thought may seem mundane and unimportant are as important as the carving, without ensuring where the ink will sit, the block may be ruined.
After the block has been cut initially with an exacto – knife, they need to be deepened and leveled. The deeper and smoother the cuts the less likely that the ink will attach to unwanted areas. In smaller areas a Dremel is used (tipped with a small textured bit that spins rapidly) it allows to smooth big areas quicker and fits into smaller spaces.
The work may seem simplistic to those who haven’t tried, but after spending time in the studio the work is a lot more complicated than it first seems. After the hard work and tedious amounts of time that go into the creation of a single block, the ability to create a print, is an amazing feeling. There is still a long amount of work left in the process to the final product, but to see visual results of that magnitude is an amazing feat.
