Acorn Linocut - Part 1

I have been dreaming about giant linocut acorns for a while now so I decided it was finally time to attempt one.  I usually have an assortment of pods, seeds, and random plant parts sitting under my computer monitor and I stare at them all the time.  I think the acorn caps below have been sitting there for at least a year and it was finally time to make use of them.

I started this project by photographing the acorns and then composing them exactly how I want them in Photoshop. I then printed the photo and did a large sketch exactly the size I wanted to do the carving. Below is a short video of the sketch as it came along. (Sorry about the quality, I am just learning this video stuff!)

After finishing the sketch I then transferred the design to my plates. I originally wanted to make a SUPER GIANT print, but decided I'd better start with a size where I can buy the paper locally. So I went downtown to Suder's and bought a roll of mulberry paper and a sheet of their largest Stonehenge (38''x50''). I then had to decide what material to use for my plates. I wanted to use safety-kut because I have some arm issues and it is nice and soft to carve. But the down side was I would have to tile two sheets together to make the print (they sell a 26x30 "Monster" sheet). The other option was to carve out of wood or linoleum, but then I would have to buy real tools that can cut those materials. In the end I decided to go with the safety kut and hoped that fixing the seem wouldn't be too un-seemly. 

Below is a video of some photos of the carving process.

To see the inking process and final print, click here!