wood engraving prints

for the first section of the list project i made some little japanese bound books with prints on the front. my words were chokkan, moyogi, ishi seki, hokidachi, sabamiki, kengai, and kabudachi... which are all forms of bonsai trees like "informal upright" etc

the books are 5cm square each, and although i don't really like these anymore i'm still pleased to have learned how to do a new print technique through making them.

here's my first attempt, you can see from the general fucked-ness that getting the hang of the wood engraving tools took me a while! (about half an hour lulz)
here's my 5 woodblocks i used for my actual prints, you can't see the images all that clearly because i cleaned the ink off them with white spirits so i didn't have to worry about getting it all over everything carrying them around after doing my prints.
but here's one of them close up, the ink caught in the grooves so y'all can see what it's like.
and here's 5 little finished books. joyyyy.

i don't really like them anymore, but oh well.

i especially don't like the one on the far right, i disliked that one from the start really! i might leave it out of my final piece when i hand it in. stupid hokidachi, nobody likes you. go away.