I always like to have a couple of new prints on the stall for Beverley Folk Festival; unfortunately unless I get my skates on, it may be restricted to this one addition ~ a woodcut this time, of a badger.
Whatever your thoughts on badgers and the recent culls there is no denying that they are beautiful creatures, and they have a fair amount of folklore attached to them ~ such as their ability to protect against witchcraft:
“A tuft of hair gotten from the head of a full-grown Brock
is powerful enough to ward off all manner of witchcraft;
these must be worn in a little bag made of cat’s skin – a black cat –
and tied about the neck when the moon be not more than seven days old,
and under that aspect when the planet Jupiter be mid-heaven at midnight.”
They can also bring good or bad luck, depending on whether it walks in front or behind you:
Should a badger cross the path
Which thou hast taken, then
Good luck is thine, so it be said
Beyond the luck of men.
But if it cross in front of thee,
Beyond where thou shalt tread,
And if by chance doth turn the mould,
Thou art numbered with the dead.
A 16th Century writer called Turberville stated that there were two types of badger in Britain: one breed was known as “badgerwhelps” and had taller legs, yellow ears and lived in sandy areas; the others were known as “badgerpigs”. These were less yellow, shorter, more fierce and had a terrible smell about them.
Anyway, all good inspiration for a woodcut.
Inking up the carved block
Inked and ready to print
The finished print, with the nice grain of the wood showing through.