Tiger Woodblock Carving

The 2018 woodblock carving contest approaches, but this year instead of being held in October-November, the competition is in July ... of all things. Who can carve when the spring sun revolves into a bright shiny globe for warming the earth in the summer months?! I had to force myself to get this woodblock done. The only reason I didn't throw in the towel is that the opportunity only comes once a year, and I should never live with the regrets of having missed a meaningful opportunity and an artistic challenge ... and so I carved.

After many, many hours of careful designing, I had my picture
and then just had to transfer it to the woodblock. 

The tiger and its reflection in a pool

Once I had it drawn, I carefully shaded all the areas I wanted to be in well-defined bas relief.

With the faces transferred, I am ready to begin the first cuts.

If anyone says carving is not a messy activity, trust me, they LIE!

Oh yes, a very messy activity. At one point, me, my chair and my picture were very covered!
BTW, just got this chair and wow is it saving my back!!!

Those whiskers just about drove me nuts, esp because something just doesn't seem right about them.

Something felt missing to be an authentic reflection, so added a couple of ripple-rings.
Now the idea of a reflection makes more sense.

Just need a few more hours ...

And the finished woodblock!

And then the part I dislike the most about carving ... inking the block.
It didn't come out dark enough. I'll have to buy another scroll.

The whole process took about 37 hours to carve, and untold hours to design. Quite proud of it, but still feel that something just isn't quite right about those blasted whiskers.

Seal Carving

Korea National Museum sponsored a seal carving class for foreigners to familiarize foreigners with the long-term cultural practice of using a seal instead of a signature to show authority, status, power, wealth, and so much more. Even now seals are used in bankbooks, to sign contracts, and for professional and financial reasons, not to mention their heavy use in most art forms. 

I'd already taken the seal-carving class from Korea National Museum but thought I would join again, because artists need many seals to sign off on their work, and in particular calligraphers need three seals: 

• the mood seal to express sentiment, season, or mood of a work's creation (can be either yin or yang design)
• the name seal in yin design
• the 호 or nickname/artist name seal in yang design

name seal, yin design
(must be stamped first or above the yang design nickname/artist name seal)

Since I had commissioned a mood seal to be carved in Chinese character with the meaning "the overflowing of creativity", and had already designed my yin name seal, I still needed the yang nickname/artist name seal ... so I joined the class.

My Korean name Min Se-ra, given to me long long ago but never really used, is the name that I can pick out of any conversation and answer to. I identify with it and claim it as my artist name so today I completed my set ... Now I just need time to write calligraphy, or paint pictures (although for painting using one seal is quite appropriate).

penname/artist name, yang design
(the yin and the yang design of real and artist name balance each other;
yin supersedes yang and is always stamped first)

A design, date or mood etching is always put in the thumb position on the body of the seal, so the person using it can easily pick it up and know he/she will always stamp with it in the proper upright position.

This gold pigment was rubbed into the side etching to give it a professional high-class appearance.

In our class a Vietnamese woman was particularly talented with brush and calligraphy ink. We were all told to write a postcard and stamp it with our new seal, but this lady went all out with her simple yes graceful pictures of bamboo and traditional Vietnamese settings, which she stamped and gave to whoever wanted one. She was very controlled with her brush.

Bird Woodblock Carving

Made my second weekend-long visit to the Gopanhwa (Ancient Asian Woodblock Prints) Museum and Temple-stay. In the program are three hands-on activities using woodblocks: woodblock printing on a t-shirt, carving one's own woodblock, and then embossing booklet covers plus printing inner pages with one's own woodblock and other woodblocks before sewing the booklet together. The highlight experiential activity for me is the carving of the woodblock. I don't know what kind of celestial bird this represents but the design is kind of cute -- not my design, by the way, just a small woodblock at the museum that appeared more interesting than the fish and the butterfly for beginners. As for the wild edges, that was accidental. I was under time constraints so didn't put much thought into carving the edges well and am actually impressed with the wild electrical force emanating from the bird. 

4 3/4" x 6 1/4" woodblock

My First Woodblock Carving

After a weekend templestay-visit to the Museum of Ancient Asian Woodblock Prints in Wonju, Korea, my friends and I were walking out the door when Director Han (owner, director, curator of the museum) challenged me to participate in the woodblock carving contest currently being held. All submissions would be judged under the three categories of experience: highly experienced/professional, students of art, and amateur—definitely my category. My three friends and I had been given a hands-on woodblock carving experience during our visit to give us understanding of the precision and detail needed in carving the perfectly precise Buddhist sutras and pictures. Therefore, I had enough knowledge to create a woodblock carving on my own. 

I had exactly 13 days to get material, choose or make a design, carve it and mail it in! I love challenges, and I love art, so ... challenge accepted! 

Sunday, Nov 20: accepted the challenge!

Monday, Nov 21: bought supplies

Tuesday, Nov 22: thinking and thinking on what to carve ... tiger? horses? cranes?

Wed & Thurs, Nov 23-24: scoured the Internet for pictures on crane and lily pad inspirations and from multiple pictures, designed my composition (exhausting! carving was easier than designing! carving is mindless and somehow rhythmic and cathartic, but designing is demanding!)

Friday, Nov 25: traced my design on the board (the fragile fibers of the board get damaged by repeated erasing so best to design then transfer); carved 2 hours

Saturday, Nov 26: -------
Sunday, Nov 27: carved 12 hours!

Monday, Nov 28: carved about 7 hours
Tuesday, Nov 29: carved 6 hours — finished! inked the woodblock carving

Felt the time pressure and got a bit hasty — nicked a chunk off the leg of one of the cranes;
to the observing eye made a couple other small but noticeable mistakes .... aaaiigo!

Now the test, ink the woodblock to see if the carving is good or not!

My ink-spreader was a brush, not a very good tool for laying ink evenly, but then I have no intention of carving much so didn't purchase the expensive roller tool. And my tool for smoothing the paper is just the edge of a cardboard box. The way I see it, my job in the competition is (thankfully) not inking, but carving. Amateur-me blobs up one area and wipes another free of ink. Nope, won't be sending one of my inkings to the competition!

Aaaigo! Can't get a good copy. My board is slightly curved, and I'm an untalented inking "artist".

The best ink job I achieved. Good enough to send my mom an idea of my work.
Director Han will just get the woodblock. I figure he'll want to test out the quality of reproduction
for judges and himself anyway. 

Wednesday, Nov 30: mailed the woodblock carving to meet the Saturday, Dec 3 deadline

Wednesday, Dec 14: Announcements were published with the names of all the winners for each of the categories. I didn't place at all, not even an honorable mention, but I'm certainly proud of my small piece — about 9 1/2" x 15. It was very satisfying to create something so unique and unusual and to try a totally new art form.

Rather doubt I'll do much with woodblock carving in the future. My index finger is still a bit numb (two weeks later), and my neck and back have been grumpy since the intense few days hunched over paper then wood. Well, maybe I was just too intense with the whole project. The quiet time of carving after work hours was very cathartic, but this is not an art form that makes my heart sing. That said, I just might join the woodblock carving competition again next year. Another challenge to mark my growth in art!

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Imagine my surprise when I went to the awards ceremony at the Gopanhwa Museum of Ancient Asian Woodblock Prints and discovered that I did indeed get an honorable mention! Wow! I was totally stunned!