Chrysanthemum Woodblock Coasters

Here is the third in my series of artistic coasters.  This one features a woodblock into which I carved a chrysanthemum for printmaking. It’s made many beautiful prints.  With woodblocks you can make maybe 100 prints before the wood begins to shrink, swell and split. I always retire mine before that happens because the blocks themselves are such a thing of beauty.  So... by creating these coasters, it’s a way of sharing the beauty! They’re on my site, for $8.00 a pop! 

colorcatstudios101.etsy.com

You can see by these last photos that they’re super glossy and reflective.  LOVE! 

It deepens the colors and they are just gorgeous.

Carved Woodblock

This is a woodblock I carved into a chrysanthemum.  I used it to make prints and suppose I made about 100 before I retired it.  As for ME, I want to retire my printing blocks before they start to crack and split as I consider them things of beauty in themselves. You can never get them entirely clean after each use, and I consider the leftover paint hiding in the cracks part of our history together, this block and me.  

Although technically it’s a tool, I consider it a piece of art in its own right and love it for itself.  It really is a beautiful thing, isn’t it? I have it resting on a shelf to happy it up for me each morning.  Here’s a side view, with the little indentations carved for handles.