The artist who recovers cut trunks by printing the soul of the trees on paper

His name can deceive: it’s called Stephen Kingjust like the famous American horror writer. But don’t expect disturbing stories from him. This Stephen comes from the North Carolina and, instead of writing novels, has been a carpenter for a lifetime.

His story takes an unusual turn in 2010, when he approaches an uncommon artistic technique: The relief printing of the trees. Fascinated by this method, he decides to deepen him until he becomes a real expert. Today it shares this form of art with the world, giving new life to wood.

The trunks it uses come exclusively from already cut trees. He wants to clarify it: he has never cut a tree to make his works, he limits himself to recovering them. From the woods to the laboratory the passage is short: here the trunks are left to season, and then be cut into transverse sections.

The upper part of each cut is then burned carefully. This process eliminates the early rings, more tender, and leaves only the late wood, more dense. At this point the press enters the scene: Stephen inks the surface and creates his works on handmade paper.

Each print is unique, signed and numbered. None is the same as the other: each tells a different story, impressed directly in the heart of the wood.

On his Instagram profile, Stephen does not limit himself to sharing images and videos of the printing process, but often also specifies from which trees the trunks used. For example, the relief print that you see below is made starting from an oriental red cedar.

Here, however, we can admire the beauty of the trunk of a white oak.

While this is an oriental red cedar …

Sources: Thebascom/Sapwoodworking