Winsome wilderness, cut by hand.
Linocuts, drypoints and painted prints of the Pacific Northwest, pulled one sheet at a time in Pepper's studio.
The shop is between print runs right now. New pieces go up as editions are finished and listed, so check back shortly. In the meantime, the process notes below show how the work is made.
Two rooms, one carved block.
Everything here starts as a design cut by hand into linoleum. What happens after the first pull decides which room it lives in.
From the studio
Printed by hand, one sheet at a time, in editions of a dozen or so. Each is signed and numbered in pencil, and no two are quite alike. When an edition sells out, it moves to the past editions, where you can still see it.
From the press
The same designs, reproduced on tees, posters, mugs and things for the house. Printed to order by a shop I trust, so they're always in stock and cost less.
How a block print is made
- 1 DrawThe design is sketched in reverse, since the block prints as a mirror image.
- 2 CarveEverything that should stay paper is cut away with gouges. What remains is the ink.
- 3 InkA brayer rolls a thin, even coat of oil-based ink across the raised surface.
- 4 PullPaper is laid over the block and burnished by hand. Lifting the sheet is the pull.
Hi, I'm Grace. I've gone by Pepper since I could crawl.
I make scenes of a winsome wilderness with block printing, drypoint etching and, lately, paint. The Pacific Northwest is in most of them: the shoreline, the lighthouses, the animals that turn up at the edge of the woods.
Everything in the studio room is printed by me, at my table, one sheet at a time. The press room lets those same designs live on things I couldn't make by hand.