First proof

Here's the block inked up and locked onto the press bed.

The first proof. I need to do a fair bit of tidying up, removing especially the spots in the sky area and tonal adjusting generally. The edges need to be more irregular so I'll fade off the squareness a bit down that left hand edge. The forgeround lady's cap needs lightening somehow. The shadow under the wave is too regular and needs adjusting.

I'll leave it for the rest of the day and think about it.

Almost there!

 As you can see, I made good progress yesterday and just have a small area of wave to engrave, along with a cozzie and a few tweaks here and there. If I get on ok today I may be able to run off a first proof to see how the print looks.

A Watery Rave? (ouch!)

A bigger view of the block this time if you click on it, so you can get a feel for the cuts. I'm loving the swish and foam of the water but having to take the cutting cautiously as I don't want to lose the light and texture.

Give us a wave!

Here's the block as it is so far sitting on it's leather sandbag alongside one of my favourite tools, the spitsticker. I've made a start on the wave and am enjoying depicting the textures and movement of frothing water.

Cutting the sky

Coming along now, the worst bit is gouging the larger areas of white. The best bit is 'discovering' nice textures and ways to depict areas like sky and water. I'm enjoying this immensely. :-)

Go for it, Mildred!

And a detail shot of the work being done on the wave and sky in the top right.

More coming soon....

Engrave the wave!

Yesterday's work saw the ladies progress further. I still want to put a pattern on the lady in front's costume and a few other bits but now I'm going to engrave the wave (I like that phrase!). Wish me luck!

By the way, the size of this block is 3" x 5" (75mm x 136mm)

Snicketty-snick...

Progress made today on the ladies...