Mariaelisa Leborini is a renowned artist, she uses tools to express the charm and temperament of the subject engraved on the flat or hard end of the wood block. The ‘Burin’ Mariaelisa uses for engraving and the chisels she uses for cutting are simple, ancient tools that transmit as if by magic the idea, thought and imagination of the artist. The procedure is apparently simple: inking and deep line engraving, but only an expert knows which type of wood will best express the final desired effect. The engraver will select the surface or line block to create expanses of white and black or refined and precious chiaroscuro. Mariaelisa’s hands demonstrate how the work is developed, narrating a charmingly magical story with natural skill and seemingly great simplicity. But we can see from this brief journey into engraving that the problems to be faced and the choices to be made are many and that in addition to the complex sequence of movements comprising the technique, the artist’s imagination is essential to creating the final effect. At the beginning of this “art lesson” it seemed we could grasp the technique quickly and try some amusing engravings of our own; we observed how the Burin cuts, defines, completes and modifies the dead fibres of the wood, exploiting the suppleness of the block to create a tree, a flower, a bee, a face: we saw that for hand printing, the block is inked with the roller. The paper is laid on it and the back of the paper rubbed smoothly with a slat to transfer the design from the block to paper. But as in all moments of creation some moments of the mystery remain. We have seen through the hands of Mariaelisa Leboroni the steps in creating an original wooden graving but we have also seen in those hands something unique, precious, and skillful.