Finally! Prepping the Beast

Real work begins!

There is MUCH to do now and will be so for the next few weeks.
I just finished clearing out the studio to make room for clean and efficient printing of 400+ woodcut prints. Clean press, blankets of various thicknesses and compositions ready, newsprint prepared, ink and knives hanging in my magnetic holders awaiting eagerly... I even bought new clothes-pins so that I could hang them all to dry without stopping much more than to wolf down my next Power-Bar.

Prep

But first, a few details yet to attend to. Blocks have to be inspected for potential printing problems, backgrounds carved a bit deeper in some cases, lines enlarged. Tough to tell who is going to give me grief during the printing process but mostly a matter of cleaning up the backgrounds.
Then I have to finish building a "chase" of sorts to keep the roller from hopping off the block. This time I am going to actually joint a full chase to fit the blocks, front-back-side-side. Since the paper is the same size as the block, I predict nothing but smooth printing without hops and slips. Okay!

After the chase is built, the puzzle pieces are glued down to their respective matboard backings. I use a foam roller to spread a mixture of white and wood glue evenly over the matboard and then just set in place the large skeleton block and all its puzzle pieces carefully, quickly!

Subs

This year we only had a single block Missing In Action. The process of replacing the block requires a tracing of the "hole", transfer to wood, cut the new block, tweak as necessary, design and carve. Simple, but takes about a day to do it. That is my task for today so I best get to it.
Sadly our first rescued feral cat passed last Friday so I immediately thought of a memorial for our Cricket (1998-2013), now frolicking in our garden forever free of earthly burdens.

Pictures of the cutting of a "sub" block:

Tracing of the missing block, I just slip the paper under the block and draw the outline

After cutting out my tracing, I placed on a block of cherry ply and draw the outline.
The thickness gauge made certain that the blocks were same width.

After clamping the block to my cutting bench, I saber saw the shape.

Perfect fit! Now design and carve, piece of cake!

Fantastic Garden Headquarters: http://puzzleprints.blogspot.com