Olansa Cuttings

Over the last few years I’ve taken a shine to the early European woodcuts shown in books about medieval travellers, merchants and technology. The other evening I had the idea of mixing these images: ships, cranes, towers, and so on, with a rather dull still life I was sketching at the time. Easier said than done. So I started out with this: one ship, one cup, planning and cutting in about half an hour. The haste shows, of course. But I might carry this on and do something a bit larger and better executed. I think a few bowls and cups with ships, a busy port city, and the odd mad mendicant or two, might do the trick. More as and when I get anything done.

And many thanks to Bareners who gave advice on how to get a denser result print from ply. This one used my nipping press and a sandwich of heavy MDF board plus a little soft backing cardboard to even things out. Getting there…