Making a Relief Print - continued 4

I prefer to complete all of the detailed work of carving on both sides of all of the lines first.  Later, I change blades to the U shape, and go after the larger spaces that need to be removed.

Early stages of the carving process - notice the majority of the material removed is on either side of the soft graphite lines.  At the top of the image are four of the five blade shapes mentioned earlier.  The fifth blade, the shallow V, is on the blade handle.  Also notice the size of the pieces that have been removed on the right hand side of the block.  The carving process requires patience and persistence.

Over time I have made more and more effort not to have large, open spaces around any of the outside edges in my drawings.  Even though these areas are carved away, they tend to pick up ink, and thus print, in places that you want to be blank.  In the event that I do have larger, open area on the outside edges, I usually remove all of the material so that there is nothing to pick up any stray ink.

Iris block nearing the completion of carving.  Click on the image to enlarge. 

For example, I am concerned about the area in the upper left hand corner of this block.  No matter how many trenches I carve away, as long as any of the softcut material remains, there is the potential for the highest peaks of these trenches to pick up ink and print.

This block is ready for DRAFT #1 print - let's see how it prints!