Wood Carving

Natural Dyed Wool

I am very fortunate to live near the Wexford Heritage Park which runs all kinds of courses. I have attended a few and found them interesting and helpful in my learning. I did a basket weaving course where I made a basket at one which I now use to collect found items and plants for use in my crafts. I learned about dyeing wool and natural fabrics at another class using plants and flowers. I bought some natural dyes online and I have also used plants and vegetables from my garden to dye fabrics and threads.
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The latest class was in wood carving which I found very interesting having tried Lino printing. Due to current Covid rules there were only three of us in the class and the tutor so lots of extra attention. 
We choose our designs and transferred them to soft wood for carving.
We worked on some test pieces first to get used to the tools and cutting curves, they were a bit tricky.
Once we transferred our designs to the wood using carbon paper,  we craved them out.
we made some test prints to check out cuts and marks on the wood. This allowed us to alter areas on our wood carving that we were not happy with.
Printing ink was placed on a piece of glass and then went over with a roller. The cut print on wood was then covered with plenty of ink and a piece of Japanese paper was carefully placed on top. A baron was used to press the paper into the design, gently but firmly. A baron is a round flat piece of bamboo with more bamboo around it to allow you to hold it in your hand and rub down your paper on to your wood carved block. The paper was then peeled slowly from the wood print block. And hey presto we had a pint. We made lots of prints on flat sheets, on crumbled paper, on fabrics and even just took prints from part of the wood carving.
It was very enjoyable and something which adds to my learning and my craft knowledge. I would say to give it a try as I am sure you would find it interesting and a great addition to your skills.
I have added some photos above of my process and work..enjoy.

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