KERFLOOEY!

Well, this was a learning experience from step one. I'm not upset that it all went south on me. Obviously, one wants one's efforts to be rewarded, and it would have been fantastic if the print had been perfect. But here are the things that went wrong:

• The First block, Light Gray, was somehow more than a quarter inch out of register with the other colors
• The Red block and Dark Red block were reversed
• The blue and green blocks were somehow carved without allowing them to trap the colors in the structure
• The very open grain of the plywood allowed for poor coverage

I originally planned to shim some blocks to make them fall into register with the others, but the green, and probably the blue, would have had to be recut. But regardless of that, I just couldn't reconcile myself with the poor coverage. I've never had to deal with the issue much, because reduction prints cover up most poor coverage from the first blocks.
     So, the big news is that, as of immediately, I'm going back to poplar, solid half-inch blocks. The best part of it is that if another job goes kerflooey, I can burn the blocks.

     So, here's how the proof ended up (detail):