Transferring

The final image has been mirrored, printed, and is ready for transfer.  It was too large for one 11"x17" page, so I had to tape two pages together.

I remembered to flip it the second time.

This is a down and dirty, old-fashioned image transfer.  You've probably done something like this in 3rd grade art class.  So here we go...

Step 1: Using a graphite stick (or a pencil if you've got a lot of time), and color over the entire back side of the image.

There's no need to go much beyond where your image is, just make sure to get a full, solid cover of graphite as below.

It was a nice day, so I did this on my fire escape.  

Step 2: Flip the print out over and align to the edge of the wood block.  Use tape to hold it in place.  When printing with two blocks, it is very important to make sure the images are transferred into the same position on each separate block, so give yourself some crop marks or a hairline along the outside so you can line it up easily (mine has a very light box in the background).

Step 3: Take a pen or pencil and trace around the outline of the drawing.

You don't even need to press super hard

The lines will transfer onto the woodblock as below.  It's helpful to keep checking to make sure all the lines are being traced.  Just lightly draw over it, right onto the wood.

A little peek

Keep going until the whole thing is traced onto the block.  Next up is carving!  I'll be posting pics as I go.