Here’s a little reminder of the steps you took to create your prints!
Have a little think about what design you might like to make. Pinterest is always a good little spot for inspiration if you’re stuck on where to begin! Take some time to play around and sketch out a few ideas. Doodle and free yourself up a little - there's no pressure for this stage to be perfect, just have fun!
Choose one design and draw it a little neater. Get it as close as you can to what you hope the end product will look like - this will help you in the long run! But no need to be too precious over it, as you can edit along the way.
Once you’ve settled on a design and drawn it out, trace over the design so that you’re ready to transfer it over to your piece of lino. Tracing it and transferring it means that your design will be reflected onto the lino - so any words you might put on will print the right way round, even though they look backwards on the pencil transfer!
Flip your tracing paper over (pencil side down) and hold it steady against the lino. Taking a dull pencil, scribble all over the back of the design, making sure not to miss any areas. You can keep a finger on the corner and lift the tracing paper up to check before taking the paper off.
Check that you’re happy with the design and how it sits on the lino. Everything is changeable at this point, so if there are bits you’re not totally happy with, you can erase them and edit them, or go over them with a biro.
Now it’s time for the most fun bit - carving!
Get a little square of lino to practice cutting different types of marks with the blades available. This will help you to get used to the feel of the tool without feeling too precious about a design.
You’ll be cutting away anything that is ‘negative space’ - so any area that you don’t want to be inked. The bits you cut away will be left blank on the page.
Take your time in this process and really consider each section of your design and which blade will be most suitable for that section. The little ‘V’ shaped blade is really helpful to get those little details, whilst a flatter blade will get rid of lots of lino quickly.
You can place the index finger of your non-carving hand on the blade for areas of intricate details, to help give you control. And remember to never carve towards yourself or your non-carving hand as you hold the lino still in areas that need less control. We want you to create without injury!!
Once you’re happy with the design as far as you can tell, it’s time to ink up. This can really help you to see your design a bit better, and you can continue to make adjustments to little areas that you maybe missed before.
Put a small blob of ink onto your inking plate, and run the roller through, dragging the ink down. Roll back and forth until the whole roller is covered. You want the ink to sound a little like gentle velcro - this is a helpful sign to know that it’s the right consistency to print.
Run some test prints on a scrap of paper, making sure that there are no areas that you missed in carving. This will also help you to play around with the thickness of ink on the lino.
If you have lost all of the details of the lines carved, you may have layered up too much ink, and may need to wash it off and roll out the ink again until it sounds like velcro. Trial and error is the best way to learn, so don’t worry if it doesn’t come out perfectly!
Once you’re happy with everything, clean your hands and hold your lino ink side down in both of your hands. Control is everything here! Work out where you want the print to sit on the page, and carefully line up your lino with your card. Gently press down on the whole back surface of the lino. You may want to hold the lino steady to the page and flip it all over (back of the lino on the table, card on top) so that you can rub over the inside of the card to ensure even printing over the whole surface. Gently peel back the lino and you should now have a beautiful bespoke card! Well done!
Leave it to dry and start the inking process over each new card.
You may want to play around with mixing colours on your inking plate and experiment with rolling onto different areas of the lino.
Have fun with it all, and happy printing!
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Step-by-Step Video
Hobbycraft have created a short 4 minute video covering all of the steps outlined above. Sometimes it can be helpful to watch somebody creating to remind you of the process!
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Pinterest
Pinterest is a fantastic space for getting inspiration from a wealth of different people. We’ve created a lino board with some pieces of varying difficulty to get you started and to keep you developing.
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10 Top Tips
Linocut boy has created a fantastic blog full of helpful beginner’s tips for lino printing. Check out the rest of his blog for other techniques and fun ways to play around with your new skill!
The blocks we used in the workshop were found through this Etsy Shop, and the eco-friendly cards were sourced from The Paper Box
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Colour Blending
Linocut boy has created a brilliant step-by-step walk through in how to blend colours within your printing. It’s a really fun way to add some extra life and detail into your pieces.
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HandprintedUK
HandprintedUK are a great resource for all of your printing explorations and needs. Their blog is full of tips and projects, and their shop is really well stocked with fantastic tools and materials. They sell a great beginner’s kit for just £5.95 through the button below!
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Step-by-Step Images
HandprintedUK have produced an even more detailed run through of the process in this blog post. They give some great information on materials and some helpful tips along the way.