The Nest - Great Crested Grebe wood engraving

The Nest is an original wood engraving of a great crested grebe and chicks, engraved into a natural block of boxwood. Based on my own photographs.

The print was first printed on to Tosa Wash paper, a very thin but tough paper excellent at capturing detail. This was then mounted using traditional nori paste onto Somerset Satin 250gsm paper. Signed on the front. This is a limited edition of 20 prints. Please note this print is unmounted and unframed.

As prints are made individually by hand please expect slight variation in detail and colour density, which makes every print unique.

Paper size: 21 x 19cm (approx)

Wood engraving is a type of relief print, meaning the areas intended to stay white are carefull carved out with specialist tools known as 'gravers'. These are designed especially for wood engraving and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Wood engraving lends itself to fine detailed work and as a result the prints tend to be smaller than some other print mediums.

Boxwood is considered a premium wood for engraving due the dense nature of the fibres. The wooden block is first prepared by smoothing the end grain surface and dyeing it a darker colour so that the engraved lines can be seen more clearly.

This print started life as a pencil drawing and was then transferred to the prepared block. This provided a rough guide to follow during the engraving stage.

As prints are made individually by hand please expect slight variation in detail and colour density, which makes every print unique.