Having finished a few very decent mezzotint plates, the next task was getting some good size prints available to my audience. Mezzotints have a lot to offer in terms of tone and detail, but they are impossible to do in any size close to my aspirations of matching the charcoal drawings. I had to address this issue thusly, and came up with the idea of making large woodcuts, although they would not be made from wooden plates per se. I find MDF to be a very consistent and reliable material for relief printing. Obviously lacking the grain and natural texture you would expect from a solid piece of, say pinewood. Still, the smooth but dense quality and the modest cost makes up for this. There are other ways to get texture, and this will soon be evident in the final result.

I post some images from the process, and hope to be back with the finished pieces, in an edition of 50, very soon.