NORTHBRIDGE — Abigail Rorer’s considerable talents are in full view inside Alternatives’ Heritage Gallery.

Rorer, a 59-year-old Petersham resident, specializes in printmaking and has also illustrated and published several books. Her exhibit, “Works of Nature: Engravings and Limited Edition Books” is on display at the Heritage Gallery through January.

“Alternatives is thrilled to have Abigail Rorer showing her work,” said Tom Saupe, Alternatives’ director of community outreach. “The diversity of her subject matter and the extraordinary technical expertise makes for an entertaining exhibit. When Alternatives first started thinking about the gallery, Abigail was on my short list of people to invite for an exhibition.

Saupe and his wife have been collecting Rorer’s work for years and, because they live nearby, have gotten to know her. “She is a very busy woman,” Saupe said. “Her prints and work as an illustrator are known internationally and we were glad that she was able to find some time to put together this exhibition.”

According to Saupe, Rorer’s life on a farm has heavily influenced her work. “She is drawn to, and very close to, the nature surrounding her,” he said. “A number of her prints have their genesis in a response to something she has encountered on a walk or a text that relates to a natural subject that piques her interest.”

As a printmaker, Rorer now works exclusively with relief engraving. She has in the past also worked in etching and at times with other types of engraving.

Rorer’s engraving is done on Corian blocks, a material commonly used for kitchen countertops. The process is almost identical to that of wood engraving and is completed by what is known as letterpress printing.

A 1971 graduate of the Rhode Island School of “The Milliners Step Out” is one of Abigail Rorer’s prints on display at Alternatives’ Heritage Gallery. Design, Rorer owns The Lone Oak Press and is the publisher of several books including her latest, “Mimpish Squinnies: Reginald Farrer’s Short Guide to Worthless Plants.” She has also published “Of Woodland Pools, Spring-holes & Ditches: Excerpts From the Journal of Henry David Thoreau Wherein He Observes and Reflects Upon the Nature of Vernal Pools.”

Rorer also illustrates books for other publishers. Her latest commission was for the Folio Society in England — illustrating Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.”

A video presentation showing how Rorer creates her intricate prints is featured as part of the Alternatives exhibit. She uses acrylic ink, a quill pen, and initially draws with pencil on the Corian block. She then tones the block with ink.

“That’s so when I engrave I can see what I am doing,” Rorer explains in the video. “I make it dark enough so that the white lines show up fairly easily.”

After the blocks are allowed to dry overnight, the engraving process begins. Rorer wears reading glasses with a jeweler’s magnifying glass attached while she is engraving with a variety of blades.

“The most difficult part of doing an engraving is finishing an engraving,” she says, explaining that it can take 15 to 20 proofs “before I get it exactly where I want it.”

Rorer uses an older-style printing press with lock-in blocks, spreading ink on a roller to achieve the right look.

“You have to get just the right thickness and a nice even spread,” she says. “It should sound like velvet.”

A specialized soft paper, imported from Germany, is used to catch all of the engraving’s details.

Rorer’s prints displayed at the Heritage Gallery are for sale, as are several of her unframed works and books. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The Heritage Gallery is located at Alternatives’ Whitin Mill Complex, 50 Douglas Road, in Whitinsville.