Warped Woodblock

I should have photographed the block in it's most warped state. 

It would rock on a table as a shallow bowl.

It never was the best piece of wood,

I was only testing out sharpness of my knives,

and I just got carried away.

A couple weeks ago I started my attempt to flatten the block.

It's cherry, about an inch thick. 

Yes, I'll take a photo of the block so you can see.

I should do that.

I put it in a plastic bag, put a towel over it, 

sprayed it on the side that was curling in....
you know, the inside of the bowl, 
with water and sealed the bag, 

and put two thick copper sheets,
 one really heavy big solid rubber block,

and about a 40+ pound anvil on top.

And, crossed my fingers.
The water will be absorbed by the block
and make it relax...
and slowly it will uncurl...flatten.
Hopefully the crack won't get bigger.

Yesterday I upwrapped it.

It was flat enough to print.

Not fun, but I got 8 beautiful prints!

I got some good first prints on Kitakata paper.

This year I discovered what Torinoko did with my blocks.

Luscious, is the only word I can use to describe what the prints are now.

You can see this and more

 at this years Fall Art Tour...I'm #stop25.