After a long hiatus from printmaking, I was really missing this medium, so I decided to make prints that brought together my knowledge of forging techniques with my interests in slang terminology, folk etymologies, and other forms of truncated language.

The Branded Woodblock Prints began by forging, twisting, and manipulating steel round stock to create lines of text. Then the steel text was heated in a forge and branded into a wooden plate. Next, the plate was cleaned with a wire brush to remove ash residue. Finally, these works were inked up and printed by hand.

This work spawned many new ideas I want to explore further, so I am excited to see where this series takes me. Big thanks to my friend and colleague Joseph Lupo, coordinator of the printmaking program at West Virginia University, for his assistance in creating this work.