Wood Engraving
Courses & Workshops 2026
May 17th / June 14th / October 11th / November 22nd
An Introduction To Wood Engraving
Tuition & Workshops in the heart of the Welsh Borders
Your Tutor
Richard is a confident and enthusiastic teacher. His engravings have been exhibited with the Royal Society of Painter - Printmakers, The Society of Wood Engravers & The Royal West of England Academy amongst others. He has previously taught masterclasses at Hereford College of Arts to the Illustration and fine art students.
The Workshop
These are one day workshops held at my gallery in the Welsh border town of Presteigne.
10.30am -4.30pm
All materials are provided including wood blocks, ink, paper, engraving tools and magnifiers at your work station. The only thing you need to bring is acceptance that your first engraving may not be the masterpiece you first intended! Groups are limited to five so expect lots of one to one help and tuition over the course of the day as well as lunch and an endless supply of tea, coffee and cake.
What will I learn?
Richard will take you through the whole process from design to engraving to printing. Expect to have finished and printed a small engraving by the end of the day and to leave with the skills to pursue this remarkable technique at home. During the workshop we will print a small edition of your engraving with my father’s Nipping Press, I’ll also teach hand burnishing to enable you to print at home.
Not quite ready to sign up or the dates don’t work? Register your interest and I’ll let you know of forthcoming workshops and course
Sunday June 14th 2026 - Wood Engraving - an Introduction £110
A one day introductory course to wood engraving. The course is aimed at beginners or those wanting to brush up retired skills. No previous experience is neccesary. The course takes place at The Gallery, Presteigne, Powys. 10.30am-4.30pm. The group is small, limited to five participants. All tools and materials supplied including magnifiers. Lunch provided, Tea, coffee and cake on tap…
Payment options - To make life easy for all please choose if you would like to pay in full at time of booking to secure your place on the course alternatively choose to pay a deposit (non refundable I’m afraid!) to reserve a place and I will invoice you for the oustanding balance.
Please read workshop info & T&C’s below.
Upcoming Workshop
June 14th 2026
Spitsticker
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Tint
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Graver
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Burin
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Scorper
Spitsticker 〰️ Tint 〰️ Graver 〰️ Burin 〰️ Scorper
boxwood
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Ink
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Arkansas Stone
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Albion
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paper
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boxwood 〰️ Ink 〰️ Arkansas Stone 〰️ Albion 〰️ paper 〰️
Upcoming One Day Workshops, May - November 2026 - £110
Sunday November 22nd 2026 - Wood Engraving - an Introduction Christmas Edition! £110
A one day introductory course to the wood engraving with festive twist! Create an engraving that can be printed on your own unique cards for close friends and family or gifted as an editioned print with festive theme. The course is aimed at beginners or those wanting to brush up retired skills. No previous experience is neccesary. The course takes place at The Gallery, Presteigne, Powys. 10.30am-4.30pm. The group is small, limited to five participants. All tools and materials supplied including magnifiers. Lunch provided, Tea, coffee and cake on tap…
Payment options - To make life easy for all please choose if you would like to pay in full at time of booking to secure your place on the course alternatively choose to pay a deposit (non refundable I’m afraid!) to reserve a place and I will invoice you for the oustanding balance.
Please read workshop info & T&C’s below.
Sunday June 14th 2026 - Wood Engraving - an Introduction £110
A one day introductory course to wood engraving. The course is aimed at beginners or those wanting to brush up retired skills. No previous experience is neccesary. The course takes place at The Gallery, Presteigne, Powys. 10.30am-4.30pm. The group is small, limited to five participants. All tools and materials supplied including magnifiers. Lunch provided, Tea, coffee and cake on tap…
Payment options - To make life easy for all please choose if you would like to pay in full at time of booking to secure your place on the course alternatively choose to pay a deposit (non refundable I’m afraid!) to reserve a place and I will invoice you for the oustanding balance.
Please read workshop info & T&C’s below.
Sunday January 24th 2027 - Wood Engraving - an Introduction Christmas Edition! £110
A one day introductory course to the wood engraving with festive twist! Create an engraving that can be printed on your own unique cards for close friends and family or gifted as an editioned print with festive theme. The course is aimed at beginners or those wanting to brush up retired skills. No previous experience is neccesary. The course takes place at The Gallery, Presteigne, Powys. 10.30am-4.30pm. The group is small, limited to five participants. All tools and materials supplied including magnifiers. Lunch provided, Tea, coffee and cake on tap…
Payment options - To make life easy for all please choose if you would like to pay in full at time of booking to secure your place on the course alternatively choose to pay a deposit (non refundable I’m afraid!) to reserve a place and I will invoice you for the oustanding balance.
Please read workshop info & T&C’s below.
Sunday October 11th 2026 - Wood Engraving - an Introduction £110
A one day introductory course to wood engraving. The course is aimed at beginners or those wanting to brush up retired skills. No previous experience is neccesary. The course takes place at The Gallery, Presteigne, Powys. 10.30am-4.30pm. The group is small, limited to five participants. All tools and materials supplied including magnifiers. Lunch provided, Tea, coffee and cake on tap…
Payment options - To make life easy for all please choose if you would like to pay in full at time of booking to secure your place on the course alternatively choose to pay a deposit (non refundable I’m afraid!) to reserve a place and I will invoice you for the oustanding balance.
Please read workshop info & T&C’s below.
Individual Tuition
Tailored tuition at my studio and a chance to use the 1864 Hopkinson and Cope Albion. These sessions are primarily for beginner and intermediate engravers who would like the chance to hone their skills and work on the press to refine their printing techniques and/or editioning an existing engraving.
Please contact me by email in the first instance to discuss
rate £25/per hour (minimum 2hrs)
Best
Seller
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All tools and equipment, paper, ink and a block to engrave
A light lunch
Tea, coffee and cake on tap
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10.30 - Introduction to Wood Engraving, meet and greet, design principles
11.00 - Mark making and tools including practice on Plastigrave before we move onto wood
11.30 Engrave!
1.30-2pm - Lunch
2-4.30pm - proofing and printing
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Yes! It means you already understand the basic principles of design that you are ‘drawing with light’ and that the image will be printed in reverse, however the hold of the tool is very different when engraving. The tool is held almost parallel to the block, making the finest of engraved lines. The tools for wood engraving are different to the traditional U & V shaped tools for linocut and woodcut - think of them as ‘micro’ chisels so the mark making is a more refined technique than the large scale cutting away of material with Lino.
You will be supported both as a group and individually with tuition, some take to it like a duck to water others less so! Don’t worry, overcome the fear and be amazed at what can be achieved with a sharp tool and a chunk of wood…
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Different engravers work at different levels of detail. If you can read a newspaper with your glasses then there is nothing to stop you! I provide magnifiers and lights for each participant to help and reduce eye strain.
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Every engraver has a slightly different way of holding the tools and occasionally myself and the student have had to think slightly outside the box to adapt around hand mobility issues as you do need fine motor control. If you are concerned then drop me an email and we’ll have a chat
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You can choose to pay in full at time of booking or pay a non-refundable fee of £25 to reserve a place on the course - I will then invoice you for the outstanding balance
Full payment of the course fee is required to secure a place. A reserved place is not secure until full payment has been received.
If for any reason you are unable to attend, I will refund monies paid minus a £25 admin fee, as long as you cancel your place more than 1 month before the course start date.
(Sometimes life gets in the way of best laid plans and If you need to cancel do reach out to me and we’ll see if we can find an alternative date if places are available.)