Barry Moser on His Technique

The technique of engraving, as I practice it, is [described in] Wood Engraving.* Basically it is a relief print: what I cut away is white and what is left standing prints black. There is no gray. What appears to be gray is all a manipulation of the black and the white lines.

The tools are engraving tools: solid shafts of VERY sharp steel (in various point shapes). When the tool passes through the wood (or Resingrave, the substitute I use for the most part) the material passes up and over the point, curling out in front of the tool as a curlique burr. This is unlike a gouge, which passes under the cut and the material passes over the tool. The major issue is that the wood is end grain, not plank grain as with a wood cut. It is very hard and dense, as is the Resingrave, a cast polymer resin that acts like the very finest boxwood.

The prints are pulled directly from the engraved block. There are no other steps: I cut the block, the block is inked, and an impression is taken either by hand on by a printing press. The prints are original, not reproductions. The editions vary, but mostly I am pulling editions these days of between 35 and 50 impressions, sometimes smaller, sometime bigger. I pulled much larger editions earlier in my career, but have come to embrace the smaller edition, as have my collectors. I have not always been attentive to numbering the editions, especially when I pulled a hundred to 500 impressions, but I can attest to the edition size of all my prints.

Barry Moser

*Barry Moser. Wood Engraving: The Art of Wood Engraving and Relief Engraving. David R. Godine, Publisher, ISBN 1-56792-279-0 (Softcover, $24.95)