The world of printing has always been both fascinating and intimidating to me, with its specific vocabulary, techniques, heavy machinery and artist community. I recently started venturing in the world of printing with monoprinting, and wanted to explore other printing techniques like lino cutting. You might also be interested in : Watercolor pencils monoprints The great thing about lino cutting is that you don’t need that much supplies to get started and see good results. What I really like about lino printing is that it is situated somewhere in between sculpture with the carving of the lino, drawing and painting. An awesome complete mixed media experience! I would not say that it is easy to get a satisfying result fast as a beginner; The printing process is anything but straightforward as every ink seems to react differently with each kind of paper. But if you would like to give lino printing a try, here is how you can get started, and see if like me, you get addicted to it 🙂 Carving surfaces: I tried traditional linoleum, Speedball Speedy-Cut, and Jack Richeson & Co Clear Carve Linoleum , Speedball Speedy carve blocks and Black Easy Cut Blocks I did find the clear linoleum too hard and difficult to carve and the Speedy cut too fragile and soft. The traditional linoleum worked well enough but I found that it would crumble a bit too easily when trying to carve small details. The Jack Richeson Easy-to-Cut Unmounted Linoleum worked the best for me as they were hard enough to keep the carving detailed but not as hard as the traditional lino. Carving on The Jack Richeson Easy-to-Cut Unmounted Linoleum worked the best for me. I am also experimenting with alternative surfaces like MDF and shower pan liner and will write a post about my findings soon. Trying to carve on shower pan liner mounted on MDF Clear linoleum is a bit harder to carve and it is more difficult to see your marks. Speedball speedy carve is soft but not as soft as Speedy cut. It is a good material for beginners and if you want to carve without using too much force. The softness of the material makes it a bit more challenging to carve details and fine lines. Transferring your drawing onto your block I tried different techniques and what worked best for me was using Sally’s graphite transfer paper. Of course you could also draw directly onto your block, I found that sharpie markers were working well for drawing patterns, you can also use charcoal or any kind of ink or fluid acrylic. Cutting tools: You can start with a Speedball set like the Speedball Lino Set No. 1. If you get more serious about lino prints, then you can invest into better carving tools sets, but a Speedball set is more than sufficient for beginners. I found that it helped if you have a sharpening toll like a whetstone and sharpen the cutters once in a while. You might also consider a protecting glove for your non dominant hand as it is quite easy in a moment of inattention to slip over the linoleum surface and hurt the hand holding the linoleum block. The rule is to never leave your non- dominant hand in front of the carving tool. That is not always easy to remember but after hurting myself once, I seem to remember better ! Inks Inks will react differently with different kinds of paper. So far I tried Speedball Water-Based Block Printing Inks , Gamblin Artist’s Colors Relief Ink and Caligo Safe Wash Relief Ink . My favourite was the Caligo ink because it combines the good results of oil based inks but is easy to wash like the water based inks. The Gamblin ink is giving me good results but the drying time is a bit longer, and there is a strong odor, a bit like when painting with oils that you might not like. Cleaning is also a bit more difficult than with water based inks, but if you don’t mind the extra cleaning effort, the texture of oil based inks is great and you get a beautiful, even dark black on your prints. With the Gamblin oil, I am cleaning everything with mineral baby oil, then wipe as much paint as I can with paper towels and then rinse in soap. What I noticed is that the oil based inks (Gamblin and Caligo) are working better on paper surfaces that are very smooth like marker paper, yupo, smooth drawing papers, bristol paper… and the water based ink (Speedball) works better on papers that are more absorbant, with a bit more tooth like mixed media paper, Mulberry paper and all the Japanese papers. The Speedball ink is drying very fast, even in our wet Vancouver climate and I found that I would get way better results if I was mixing it with a bit of retarder. I like to use the water based Speedball ink for quick tests and experimentation, but definitely found that I am having better results with the oil based inks for my final prints. Paper Mulberry paper is a paper made in Thailand from the inner fiber of the mulberry. As I was getting frustrated with my printing efforts, this was the first paper to give me good results when printing by hand. The paper is thin and translucent but still quite strong. There is a whole range of thin Japanese paper that will also work very well when hand printing. This kind of paper is a bit too thin to use with a press although some artists manage to make it work taking certain precautions. Bristol paper is one of my favourite papers to use so far as it works well with a mini press but also when printing by hand. It is thick enough to make a print look good but not too thick as to render the printing difficult. In another post I will talk more in detail about the printing process. Here are some of the […]
Inspiring creativity with Latina style and sparkle - crafts, DIY, recipes, and storytelling by Kathy Cano-Murillo, The Crafty Chica!
I've compared a selection of lino cutting tools available in the UK. I've chosen 3 types of linocut tools for beginners and one professional linocut tools set: Essdee lino cutting tools, Japanese lino cutting tools, Abig lino cutting tools, Pfeil lino cutting tools.
Lino Printing - Create a jigsaw cut Hosted By Safi Butler. Event starts on Monday, 12 June 2023 and happening at 62 St Augustines St, Norwich, EN. Register or Buy Tickets, Price information.
I think I am officially addicted to lino printing ! As surfaces to carve can become quite costly and as I am thinking of working on bigger scale prints., I have been looking for alternative materials to use for carving and printing. You might also be interested in : Getting started with Linocut printing How to hand print linocuts I did a bit of research and found artists that were successfully carving on marmoleum (a flooring linoleum), plywood, MDF and pan shower lining. I did not try Marmoleum and plywood yet but tried MDF. Plywood This artist Søren Bjælde makes wonderful prints from plywood with many plates and colors, you can watch videos on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCObvZ8ukdlii4k-62Ju7Zxg MDF MDF is a very pleasant surface to carve but I wasn’t happy with the precision of lines I could get, even after brushing a few layers of shellac. I also tried coating the MDF with GAC 100 but found that it was becoming a bit too hard and slippery to carve. Lines were not precise enough for what I want to do when printing with MDF Pan Shower liner I also tried pan shower liner mounted on board, and so far this is my favourite alternative to linoleum or vinyl plates. Pan shower liner is made of PVC, so a material quite similar to the vinyl plates you can buy in art supplies store. You can find shower pan liner at home hardware stores. Pan shower liner is easy to cut with scissors. The liner is only 4 mm thick so not thick enough to use by itself, so you have to mount it on board. I mounted it the same way I am mounting watercolor paper on board. You might also be interested in : Mounting watercolor paper on board This is the pan shower liner once mounted on board. Once mounted on a hard surface like MDF, the pan shower liner is very easy to cut and makes very clean lines. Pan shower liner is very easy to carve. My only disappointment, with pan shower liner is that the plastic smell is pretty strong, to the point of being too much if you leave the whole liner out in your studio. It is manageable if you work on a small surface. While carving you will probably expose some of the MDF underneath, I recommend you apply a layer of GAC 100 before printing to seal the wood. Here is a video of me hand printing a large 24 x 24 inches tree cookie from a carving that was done on pan shower liner mounted on MDF. I used Arches watercolor paper and Caligo safe wash ink for this print. Have you tried alternative materials to linoleum or vinyl ? Do you want to share your results? (You can post pictures in the comments)
The design for this lino originated from my love for animals, nature and patterns. Animals and flowers come together beautifully in this design. The color blue can be compared to pantone reflex blu…
I've compared a selection of lino cutting tools available in the UK. I've chosen 3 types of linocut tools for beginners and one professional linocut tools set: Essdee lino cutting tools, Japanese lino cutting tools, Abig lino cutting tools, Pfeil lino cutting tools.
Next promoted dates: Sunday 10th November 2024 - fully booked. *Saturday 23rd November 2024 - 4 places available. Join Liz Wellby at The Slipper...
Add a touch of realism to your vector art with this set of 24 lino cut Brushes! To use the brushes simply draw a line with any of Illustrator’s drawing tools then apply the brush by clicking on an icon from the brushes tab. The color and width can be changed to suit your needs. The preview was drawn using the brushes. Compatible with Illustrator CS1+ Easy to use – comes with instructions Take a look at some of my other vector brushes
Vanessa Lubach studied illustration at Brighton, graduated in 1990 and has been illustrating, printm...
Envelope Book: This instructable was created as an entry in the Esty and Instructables collaboratory Sew Useful contest. This book is constructed with twelve vintage envelopes instead of paper. That might not sound like a lot, but you need to remember you'll be f…
I have just finished carving 5 out of 6 linos which are for wine lables at the Jack Russel Wine Company. I am really loving making the artwork for this project. Lino cut is about much more than jus…
Next promoted dates: Sunday 10th November 2024 - fully booked. *Saturday 23rd November 2024 - 4 places available. Join Liz Wellby at The Slipper...
This is a wee Scottish Landscape Triptych Lino print. This set of three prints represent different elements of my local landscape. Each print is about 4cm X 18cm, on paper that is about 4.5 X 20-21cm The size of this wee print also makes it a perfect bookmark if you are a book addict like me! it is an original signed, limited-edition lino print that has been designed, carved into a piece of lino and printed onto snowdon paper. It will be packaged with a piece of recycled card backing to hopefully prevent bending or damage. Please note that each print is completely individual so speckling/placement/look will differ in each print. Each one is unique All original artwork is copyright Fiona Black and cannot be reproduced without permission. Sale of artwork does not transfer copyright to the buyer.
This step-by-step block printing lesson teaches how to do linocut and foam printing with your students complete with block printing supplies and videos.
OWL CHRISTMAS CARD LIGHTHOUSE
For our next project, we will create a 2-color print from a single piece of linoleum. Artist Andrea Lauren has some great examples of multicolor prints: Project Requirements: 10 prints in a variety…
The Drawing Schools provide a stimulating and safe environment for all boys who wish to...
Lino printing with a Sizzix machine. Tips and inspiration for using a Sizzix machine to print with linoleum.
Learn how to print even, consistent lino block prints at home with these inexpensive and easy methods. Learn beginner printmaking tips and trips to start printing like an art pro!
There are a large variety of different lino cutting tools with different shapes and sizes. The most common lino tools are V Tools and U Tools. U Tools carve softer lines with a curved end point and an even width but it can be harder to get control over the placement of your edges. V …
In this post I will explain the basic steps of making linocuts at home without a press. I love the craft of linoleum printing and I hope you will tempted to try it as well.
