On the blocks!

Here we go! Flipped image sketched in charcoal

After sketching in pencil on the blocks, I reinforced and tweaked the image with one of my favorite drawing utensils: a willow charcoal stick. Makes for messy fingers but you can "erase" with the back of the hand, even on wood, and if you touch your nose while you are drawing, you end up looking like quite the (charcoal nosed) artist.

Anyhow, there it is, looking more and more like a true puzzle. Each piece is about 5-6 x 5-8 inches, some are irregular. There are about 106 pieces, ready for all the participants to fill with wonder. Next step is to ink the design with sumi to make the final adjustments, the drawing permanent and the individual blocks defined. Shouldn't take a half-day.

After a good sanding and staining with walnut ink on both sides to make carving easier, the puzzle-piece cutting begins, that all should take about two days at most. I bought a piece of thick styrofoam to support the wood and avoid all that twirling, thank you Doug Haug for reminding me of that jig-saw technique. More pictures as I chop chop.

I finally finished another two projects so my attention is fully on this task until the blocks fly out the door, so to speak.