Woodcut Print: Jaco and Enzo

My second carved woodblock and second printed edition, made over the course of a December spent at home. This project was a birthday gift for my mom and featured our two family dogs—one currently living, the other deceased. As I had left most of my carving and printing tools in my dorm, I was forced to make some compromises and work with the materials at hand or available at a local crafts store. Instead of printing paper, I used a thicker, more coarsely textured variety. For inks, I leaned into the watercolor aesthetic and went with standard elementary school-style set and made a thickening paste of activated starch and water on the stove to blend with the watercolors and give them more body. For the printing process, instead of a press or baren, I had to reach for a spoon—which worked remarkably well, although the detail wasn't as fine as it might have been with other tools. The ink ended a bit blotchy in some areas and dry in others, but on the whole, I really liked the style and texture that came out of it. All the squares were then given risers, arranged in a grid, and framed.