Testing new punches, awls and chisel for a woodcut

I am under way on my second test, creating a woodcut print from no traditional tools, meaning v-gauge or u-gauge chisels. I spent about 7-8 hours on a 42cm tall x 36cm wide woodcut using my new circle punches, chisels, and awls. I started this time by mapping the woodcut into a grid, transferring the design, and then proceeding similar to the manor of Chuck Close, but different in approach. I did concentrate on each individual square, but that only assisted me in lining up the circles I was punching. After a while I felt I needed to choose several different patterns made with the punches to show different tonal variations, I also plan to use this printmaking plate as 1 of 2 plates. I do not plan on making a duplicate of Chuck's work, he does a fantastic job at what he does. The second plate will be cut on plywood, and I will use the whiteline method. Since each plate will be printed differently, I have yet to come up with a propper method for registration.Right now I am only focused on "doing" art and not "making" art. It is during these periods that I am able to experiment more, because I have no expectation of what the end result will look like. normally I would be deeply concerned at this point and have to print a test, so I cheated.
Here is "How to cheat on a woodcut test print." Below you see 3 images of the same woodcut: Image 1 on the left is a close up of the woodcut in progress. You can see some of the unique marks I am able to get from using the circle punches, and the awls, as well as using these in combination; The second image is considered complete, or as far as I am willing to work on the plate for now; The third image is the cheating part. I took a photo of my work and opened it with Microsoft Paint, and chose "image" and then clicked on "invert colors." This sort of gives me an idea how the plate will look inked up and ready to print,....sort of.



At the very least I am able to continue on to cutting a second block. The final photo shows further manipulation of the photo and gives me an idea regarding the graduated color, and it will be possible to replicate this if desireded during the final printing phase.


The Second Block will be cut using the White-Line Printmaking technique. Both plates will be printed to complete one print. I will have to work out the technical factors of registration, since the first block cut with the punches will be inked with a brayer to cover the entire surface, and the second plate will be printed in a step by step fashion as illustrated in the white-line link above.
I look forward to printing these into complete works, and have already made plans to print these as monotypes, using different ground(or first plate) colors to set the tone for the white line printing that will be printed over the top.