My pulse is a thread un-ending
This thread runs through my veins.
Red threads symbolically represent blood and veins. This print explores dual narratives: my connectivity with the creative process (art runs through my veins); and my commemoration of becoming a mother for the first time (the blood in my veins runs through my child).
Sketching out the concept
Crocheting the design
Digitizing and composing the sketches before transferring onto wood.
Carving the design
Carving the design
Carving the artwork by hand.
The woodcut process includes sketching out the design in pencil as well as on screen, working from life and from photos. The carving of the crochet yarn was based directly upon the crocheted piece. Then the design was transferred to the wood. The crochet design was carved using a ball-shaped engraving tip with my Dremmel tool. The hands are entirely carved by-hand using wood cut tools.
Completing the carving.
Revealing the full image by coating the woodblock in ink and pulling a test print.
The final inked woodcut before printing.
Throughout the carving process I would take several rubbings on scrap paper to get a sense for the final design--which is best revealed when inking the woodcut for the first time. All of the carved areas are reveal as "white" and the raised or uncut surfaces are then coated in ink. For the actual printing process, I hand-burnished each of the prints.
This woodcut print measures 12" x 24". The final products are printed on both Thai kozo paper and muslin fabric.
Printing without a press; notice how the ink transfers to the paper from the woodblock that it saturates the backside of the kozo paper.
Embroidering the "vein of thread" on a final print. Woodcut on muslin. 2020.
