My Very First Wood Cut!

I had gotten this piece of birch not too long ago with no idea of what I was going to do with it. All I knew was that I liked it, and I was sure I would find a use for it. Eventually I stumbled upon a post here on Steemit by marian0 titled "Carving a Woodpirit" and he gave me the idea to carve!

I started out by sanding the surface and then sketching directly onto the piece of wood in pencil.

After I had the pencil sketch how I wanted, I went overtop with a Sharpie pen so I could visualize more clearly how it would end up looking in the end.
And then I dove in with my tools and started carving! I outlined the edges first with the exacto-knife type blade, and then I would use the tools with the "V" and "U" shaped gouges and carve out the bulk with those.

I thought the prints turned out pretty decent, and the wood block itself also turned out looking pretty cool by itself!

Printing Process:

I used a pane of glass to dollop some printing ink onto and then began spreading it with the brayer. I rolled in all directions to make sure the ink was evenly spread over the brayer.

I then applied the ink to the wood block with the brayer, again going in all directions to ensure an even coat.

I carefully set the paper on top of the wood block and pressed down with a spoon to make sure it picked up all of the details.

Lastly I slowly peeled the paper up and boom, there I had a print!

Materials used:

• Piece of birch wood
• Pencil
• Sharpie pen (fine tip)
• 6 wood carving tools (I bought a cheap set from Hobby Lobby for about $5)
  • 2 angled blades
  • 2 small chisel types
  • "V" gouge
  • " U" gouge
• Printing Ink (Speedball Brand)
• Pane of glass (I used the glass out of a picture frame that I wasn't using) You could also substitute plexiglass
• Large Spoon (to press the paper to the wood cut)
• Multi Media Paper (Strathmore Brand) 9 in. x 11 in.