Wood block prints from the 1700's.
Woodcut printing
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that the artist cuts away carry no ink, while characters or images at surface level carry the ink to produce the print. The block is cut along the wood grain (unlike wood engineering, where the block is cut in the end-grain). The surface is covered with ink by rolling over the surface with an ink-covered roller (brayer), leaving ink upon the flat surface but not in the non-printing areas.
From Wikipedia.
Jon Crabb on the witch craze of early modern Europe, and how the concurrent rise of the mass-produced woodcut helped forge the archetype of the broom-riding crone — complete with cauldron and cats — so familiar today. Please visit this link for Jon Crabb's fabulous informative article on woodcut prints and witchcraft!
https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/woodcuts-and-witches
Witchcraft: a white-faced witch meeting a black-faced witch with a great beast. Woodcut, 1720. - 1720 - United Kingdom - CC BY. For more images on Witches and witchcraft please visit https://www.europeana.eu/en |
Because some folklore stories can be quite scary and disturbing with some adult content I would always advise visiting, reading and viewing links before showing or reading to younger children.