Printing Pucklechurch - Pucelancyrcan

Many months ago now, on a wet and windy day, I was taken on a thorough tour of the village (and parish) of Pucklechurch in South Gloucestershire.  Starting next to the church and then working outwards, past houses old and new and out to the sites of the local mines, whilst finding out lots of the significant events and history of the area.

I'd been given a fantastic commission - to create an image that was part map, part history of the village, that could then be given to Pucklechurch's twin town Pringy in France to commemorate 25 years as twins!

Having attempted to absorb the entire history of the area, as well as remembering significant local buildings I then set to work, sketching a road layout and incorporating as many of the features that 'make' Pucklechurch (some historical events, some distinctive houses) as possible.

After a fair amount of head scratching and liberal use of tracing paper I settled on a layout that looked like Pucklechurch and had a good mix of historical and present day features.

Then to the real fun - carving this out of a sheet of lino, blade of grass by blade of grass...

Lino and wood printing blocks are often works of art in themselves, hand carved for many hours (as a mirror image of the final printed picture) and it is a nerve wracking moment when an ink roller laden with printing ink is first rolled over the lino block and the image is revealed as every raised area takes up the ink....but I think Pucklechurch is looking great here, even in reverse!

Then on to the job of printing all of the copies needed for this edition.  The carved lino block needs re-inking every time a print is taken and I printed this image using a boxwood burnishing tool rather than a press as it allows me so much more control over the pressure applied to the paper as the image is printed.

I've printed Pucelancyrcan/Pucklechurch as a limited edition of only 50 limited edition prints on Somerset Satin paper from St Cuthberts Mill in Wells.

Thanks to Gail Boyle for having the idea for such a great project!