I often participate in printmaking’s great tradition of print exchanges. This image is for one such exchange organized by the Wood Engravers’ Network and Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, called Seize the Carp! This long-term collaboration is in the spirit of carpe diem – seize the day – for wood engravers. This block will soon go to the Hamilton Wood Type Museum for their collection, joining the other 5 or so carp-related engravings. The hope is that they will be used by visitors to create fun and unique posters or other letterpress art to celebrate Carp Fest held in Two Rivers, Wisconsin every year. Once these prints are gone, they are really gone!

In deciding on the composition of this print, I thought of the Carp Fest and decided to include a small boat with an angler, fishing for that winning carp! The water element was great fun to play around with—bubbles, ripples and waves—plus the fish scales.

Come see the block and print at the 2018 Kentucky Crafted Market! I’ll have these for sale as well as my other prints, books and small boxes! The KY Crafted Market is Friday March 2, 5-8 p.m., Saturday March 3, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday March 4, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Please join me – I’d love to see you!

The drawing on the block—a quarter round piece of Maple end grain – the same wood that Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum uses to create its wood type.

Making good engraving progress here. The white in the block is powdered calcium carbonate (chalk used in gymnastics and mountain climbing) that helps me see the engraved marks better.

After several proofs and more engraving, I’m finally ready to print these!

The post A Big Carp in a Small Pond – Seize the Carp! appeared first on Starpointe Studio.