Still taking pictures of the breakwater in Newcastle I was amazed to see rocks heavily pock-marked by wind erosion. Well, I assume that’s what’s caused these amazing indentations in the rocks.

Source photo:

Using Sharpie pen and paper I drew my version of part of a rock, scanned it into the computer, resized it and dropped it into my stencil cutting software. I then cut the design on my Cricut Maker 3, firstly using 100 micron transparency film, and repeating the process using 250 micron acetate.

Using thin transparency film allowed me to create a very fine stencil and outer mask to use for printing, while the thicker acetate provided a robust material to use for blind embossing.

This particular print ended up much more complex than I anticipated. It took several trials and involved me cutting another set of paper partial-masks to cover certain areas I wanted to keep blank. So, whilst it looks very ‘minimal’ there are 4 layers of printing, using 2 masks and a stencil as well as the blind embossing on the right hand side of the photo.

This one was all about accurate registration, patience and a bit of luck!

Finished print:

300gsm Hahnemuhle warm white paper, oil-based printing ink, stencils & masks