Design and transfer to woodblock
I start out with a design fairly well developed in my head, rarely use preliminary sketches, although sometimes I doodle at work and call that a preliminary sketch. Most of the time, I dream up the design and think about it for a while (from 10 minutes to 8 days, approximately exactly). I get my ideas from—well, go to the studio page that has the ideas in it and find out.
I will say that since I started doing woodcuts I began thinking "in woodcut." So when I see a mountain scene and it has fairly well defined contrasting large areas of interesting shapes and shadows, I picture myself cutting that image. I hardly "see" anything now that I think is interesting without picturing a woodcut print from it. So be careful, this stuff is addictive.
 

Inspiration:  This is the "wallpaper" directly above my cutting bench; I read art magazines with an x-acto knife	Started as a cork board, ran out of cork, soon the whole wall will be covered!

Transferring design to block is accomplished several ways:

•  Most of the time I draw right on the block since I most often use the reduction method. If I need a key block or will use other blocks for color printing, I make my design on tracing paper with as many carbons as I will need blocks (you do remember carbon paper, don't you?). I then paste the paper to the block(s). This is done easiest with wheat paste or similar harmless stuff; brush on the block, not on the paper, place the block on the paper and hold that position for an hour (just kidding). You may, however, want to smooth the paper on the block WITHOUT STRETCHING it with a gently flatly used baren.
•  Another method I have used successfully is the traditional key-block method, where all the lines of the design are carved first on one block. The block is then printed on transfer paper (acetate, glassine work equally well), the key-block is removed, a fresh block is placed in exactly the same place, the paper is lowered and a print is transferred from paper to block. This description hardly does any of these methods justice. If you go to the books section of this web page, you will find sources for much more detailed explanations.
•  I use permanent "Sharpie" markers if I am doing a reduction block so that the key lines of the image remain in the block through the first states. The marker actually stains the wood many layers deep so the design will remain in place even when the ink is cleaned with solvents.
•  A fast becoming favorite approach is to make an ink design with sumi ink and brushes right on the block without preparatory drawing. The result is very fresh and spontaneous, and the woodblock process preserves the freshness.

Cutting the block

The magic begins with cutting. Designs take on their own personality once the wood and the knife meet. Chisel marks become movement, lines become alive, flat areas are full of wood-life. You will want to print the cleared areas to capture the chisel wounds, redo the printing areas and the design will change a thousand times with a thousand cuts.
I usually cut without the preliminary guidance of the traditional Japanese knives (blasphemous in traditional circles!). The reason is twofold: First, I like the marks that the chisels make, often I leave them shallow enough so that ink will get on them and they will print. The marks give the print life and movement and print less precisely than the perfectly cut lines so that a wider variety of "marks" are printed. Second, I tend to be meticulous (some say anal) in drawing and wanted to get away from that in woodcuts, so I let the chisels make their characteristic marks and modify my designs as they wish. The resulting prints tend to be more "woodcutty" this way.
To illustrate what I mean, compare a traditional Japanese print side to side with a German Expressionist print and you will understand.
In cutting, I use a bench hook that I have nailed to my workbench to keep the block from getting away, as well as a piece of rug-stay under the block; I usually stand when I work. I oil the block with linseed oil before beginning to cut, let it dry, then cut my designs. I use a graphics brush to brush away cuttings and splinters.
 

Top left corner shows the "stops" of the bench hook. I simply nailed down two boards at right angles to the cutting bench top	One way to register: I place the paper against the moulding stops glued perpendicular to edge of printing board. To obtain even margins, I paste foamboard strips down on the board and place woodblock against them. Much more on registration here.

Once you get used to working with the chisels rather than the knife, great control is achieved easily with practice. However, the chisels have to be kept extremely sharp in order not to splinter the wood (which prints a nice effect by the way).
Tips on cutting?

• Practice.
• Don't acquire the bad habit of brushing off splinters with the back of your hand, do it once while cutting on oak and you will know why (have tweezers handy).
• Practice.
• Cut away from you unless you cut towards you.
• Practice.
• Teach your left hand how to cut if you are right handed and vice versa, this will save you a lot of block-twirling and builds brain cells.
• Keep your knives sharp. Keep your knives sharp. Keep your knives sharp.

Proofing and Printing

It is wise to proof as you go. Several ways are successful for proofing, the easiest is to place a piece of carbon paper, carbon side up, against newsprint or cheap paper. Then rub the block with your favorite implement and you will get a good proof. Study these proofs carefully for details, areas, lines, etc. Closer to the finished cut, I proof by inking the block and printing on newsprint. Lately I have begun to print on the good paper even for proofs, just to get the true effect of the finished print.
Let me say that, in my opinion, one of the magic things about printmaking is that the process modifies the final result. This used to frustrate students who had in mind a very precise picture of what they wanted their prints to look like. I think accepting the process is part of printmaking, knowing that the block and the ink will have their own say on what the final print looks like. Printmaking is full of wonderful surprises, expecting from it to be precise like a pencil drawing is an insult to the process.

Once I am satisfied with a proof (I take one or two per block at most), it's time to print.
Paper is cut to size, newsprint is cut to size. Sometimes and depending on the type of paper, the whole stack is dampened either for a few hours (summer in Las Vegas) or overnight (winter in Las Vegas). I dampen by spraying with a water bottle about every other sheet if thin paper, every sheet if thick-meaty paper, then stacking the whole thing between blotters and weighed down by a board, placed on another board.
Once the paper is soft and ever so slightly damp, printing begins. If you are slow, have large areas to print, want every print to be perfect, then you need to leave the paper between the boards so that it will stay soft. I started out printing runs of 5, then 10, and so on; right now I can undertake editions of 50 without being scared or running out of steam.
Whatever ink I am using is rolled out on the marble slab or glass slab to a very thin and even sheet. Printing is a matter of rolling out the ink on the block until it is loaded with ink. It helps me to look at the block at a very sharp angle so that I can actually see where the ink is evenly rolled out. I tend to use quite a bit of ink, but not to the point where it clogs details. Then I place paper on the block, making sure the margins and non-printing areas are clean. A slight caress with my hand assures that the paper sticks to the ink and won't move while I print.
Obtaining a good even print is hard work and takes some muscle. In the future, a press will definitely be a possibility. Right now, I actually enjoy the exercise, although I could dispense with the sore wrist. I make sure as I go along that I am not moving the paper from the registration marks and that I am getting all the areas printed evenly. Don't be afraid of lifting the paper and gently placing it down again. A sheet of glassine on the back of thinner paper assures that I don't tear it, thicker paper can stand the punishment and you can see the design from the back in the form a burnished mark.
 

3 stages of Safe Place, these are newsprint proofs	42 completed prints drying on cardboard and sweater rack (right side of pic) 42x3=126 times I lovingly went over every inch of this print Japanese printmakers often do 20 block prints in editions of 200-500!

I place the printed paper on stackable sweater racks, hang them on a clothes line, or place them on cardboard on the floor. Oil ink usually dries within a couple of days unless I get my additives mixed up or don't use drier on a very transparent ink, in which case it takes much longer (even in the desert).
Music helps the whole process, as does coffee, lemonade, rests, and a tiny TV if football season.

Registering
I use three basic methods of registering.

• If I know I will be printing a reduction block on thick paper which may or may not stretch the same on every occasion, I use the classic t-register marks in the center of one of the short sides of the block (as in lithography). In this case, even though the edges may misregister, the center of the image is always perfect.
• For most smaller blocks, I place the block in a "printing board" I have made. This board is about 20 x 30 inches (I have a smaller one also) and has 1.5 inch straight molding glued to the edge of one corner and halfway down the long side. The molding is glued so that it forms a stop at the corner and it is perpendicular to the flat side of the wood. The paper is placed against this corner and long-side for perfect registration every time. To get a margin, I paste foam board flat against my registration molding of the exact width of the margins I want. The reason for registering outside the block, is that the cherry blocks are often small and this allows larger designs since the kento registration marks are not carved on the block.
• The third method is the classic kento registration marks right on the block, carved one at the corner, and one on the long side of the block. The paper is registered right on the block of wood, placed against the marks. I use this method when margins are desired on a larger block, especially pine board or birch plywood.
• MUCH MORE ON REGISTRATION WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

After Printing
After the print is finished (all the states have been printed), more work begins! I usually inspect them, stack them with glassine to protect them, sign and edition them, give a few of them away, take slides for my records and to send to exhibitions, put them up on my web page, enter them in my database for good record-keeping, mat a few of them to take to shows, frame one or two, place the rest in a drawer and start a new one.
This, the shortest paragraph, takes the longest and is also the part I don't get such a kick out of. I would rather just start a new print and have an alter ego do that other stuff, however preservation of prints and good record-keeping are essential, I think, to being an artist.