I know there is a place for both types of engraving, and engravings can be a combination of the two, but based on my last two engravings, I think I will be doing much more white line engravings than black line in the future.
This hibiscus is 2 3/4″ x 2 3/4″. It was carved on degame.
Black line hibiscus engraving
This is a one-day wonder. I started drawing on the block of castello boxwood around noon and finished the engraving by five o’clock. The print is 2 3/4″ x 4 3/4″.
Night Blooming Day Lily
Last year I was given a gloriosa daisy that produced dozens if not hundreds of flowers and only grew to be about ten inches tall, so I bought a packet of gloriosa daisy seeds and ended up with about fifty new plants that are now blooming. But they are not ten inches tall. The daisies that are not two to three feet tall are closer to four feet tall, and I planted them in an area where I wanted and needed short plants. Oh well. They are pretty spectacular, and the flowers vary from reddish brown to almost pure yellow.
This engraving is approximately 3″ x 3″
Gloriosa daisy
Dahlia in Black and White
2 3/4″ x 4 3/4″ print pulled from a castello boxwood block.
It’s a good thing I like castello boxwood since I just bought a 3″ x 8″ x 5′ plank that I plan on cutting up into one inch slices in four or five years after it has had a chance to sweat out its extra moisture and become stable enough to use without cracking. This also means I plan on being around and still carving in four or five or six or ten years.
This is a wood engraving pulled from a block carved from castello boxwood. The block is one that I cut from a plank I have had aging for the last four years. And I now I just purchased a new 5′ x 2.5″ x 8″ plank. As a result, when my old boxwood is used up in four or five or six years, this one will be sufficiently dry and ready to cut into one inch slabs for engraving.
This print is 2 7/8″ square. As you can see, I still have some clean-up to do on the white areas.
In my ongoing quest to carve a wide range of woods, I purchased some 1/8″ silver maple. Although the carving went well, and I will use it again, it will not replace either pear or black cherry as a preferred carving wood. Silver maple seemed to have about the same hardness as black cherry, and it does hold a line well, but it didn’t seem to be any easier to carve than the black cherry I have been using. My perception is that the wood is brittler, but as of now I have only used silver maple to carve this one piece. There is a wide range of colors to the wood, and I wonder if there is an equal variation in how hard the wood is and what the carving characteristics are. Does anyone know if the color reflects the hardness and carving characteristics?
