I originally posted these instructions on how to do lino cutting on the now deceased Purple Bear's Web intending them to be usable, involving and fun. They proved to be all that and very popular all over the world. I have yet to add the accompanying construction drawings.
One of the easiest, most satisfying and fun ways to get ideas out of your head and printed onto almost anything in a repeatable way that there is... Lino cut printing.
Basics
If you ever had a go at potato printing you will already understand the principle behind making and printing a lino cut.
Take a piece of lino; draw or trace an existing drawing onto it, cut away the bits you want to leave as white (or whatever the colour of your paper is), cover the bits you left behind with ink, turn the whole thing over and press hard - that’s all folks.
Mirror image
The first thing to be aware of is that you will have to draw/cut your picture onto the lino as a mirror image because when you cover it with ink and turn it over to print, your picture will reverse itself - this is especially important if you include words in your picture or even just for good balance - if you have carefully left open space on the right of your picture because it looks good that way only to find the space appears on the left when you print it then **$!!+##~** is the word you will be looking for.
To Draw or Not To Draw
You can, but you don’t have to, draw your picture first on paper if it suits your mood.
Or you could draw your picture straight onto the lino then cut if that suits your mood.
Or, if you want to, you can cut your picture straight into the lino with no pencils in sight, if that suits your mood.
It’s not even mood that will determine your choice of technique but something less changeable, your temperament. Go with one or try each out, whichever way of working you chose will tend to produce differences in style and line. Be aware. Enjoy.
Materials and Tools for cutting
* Piece of lino
* Pencil - medium’ish for me
* Permanent pen with a reasonably fine tip
* Existing drawing or great idea that’s been stuck in your head for a while
* Tracing paper or carbon paper - maybe
(grease proof paper in that messy kitchen drawer somewhere!)
* A V-tool
* A gouge
and once you get practiced maybe -
* A knife with a sturdy, short, sharp blade, probably long handled, probably not the folding sort.
Here we go ~ Drawing
Chose your piece of lino: size, shape (yes hexagonal is good) and thickness. The stuff from a craft or art shop will be best, it’s what is called ‘battleship’ thickness, yes that’s exactly why, and is easiest to hold, manoeuvre and cut.
Once you get into lino cutting you will find that glueing the lino onto a ‘same shaped’ piece of wood (mdf is good) will keep the lino flat, give a good feel and aid printing and safe storage after use, but for now lets find a place to cut - a workshop bench or a piece of board on top of that antique table.
Draw straight onto the surface or trace/carbon an existing drawing onto the surface of the lino, remembering it needs to be mirror image. That is onto the smooth side not the side covered in hessian of course, with apologies if you have been sucking eggs for ages and are related to me on the distaff side but...
Be bold both with your choice of subject and your lines. Boldness and broad lines work best, fiddly fine detail will be lost.
When you are happy (of course you don’t need to wait 5 or 6 years, silly!) draw over your pencil lines with the permanent pen. This is needed because as you shuffle and struggle and cut away lino you will rub out the pencil.
Here we go ~ Cutting
Lino is easiest to cut, and will blunt your blade least, when warm and soft. So put it on a radiator or on top of the kettle or warm it with a hair dryer for 5 minutes, repeating throughout the cutting process as needed.
Start using the V tool to cut the basic outlines and lines of your drawing. Hold the mushroom handle in the palm of your hand as you would a table fork. Cut away from you with a firm sinuous restrained push motion. Don’t try and cut too deeply, you can always cut again.
Cut away from your other hand too, these tools are sharp like you wouldn’t believe and will cut a deep vee shaped gouge in the ball of your thumb much more easily than into lino! Sherlock Holmes can spot an unaware, apprentice lino cutter just by those v shaped scars! Stay in the present, don’t drift.
When the outline are getting there, cut away any large areas or wider lines with a gouge tool. Embellish as required. Don’t be restrained by lines, try little ‘nibbles’, single vee shaped cuts or make areas of texture by not gouging out all the lino.
That’s about it for the cutting.
Before you go for perfection though, put down the gouge, clean up and print your lino.
Only when you see the print will you be able to decide whether or not further cutting is needed. Repeat the print/clean/re-cut cycle as often as you want.
Materials and tools for printing
* Roller
* Paper
* Piece of flat glass
* Palette knife
* Ink
* Large wooden spoon - maybe - although I prefer the foot method for most test prints and in general
Here we go ~ Inking
Put some newspaper or similar on to that antique table then the sheet of glass.
Ink. You will have looked for ‘block printing’ or ’relief printing’ ink. It will probably be white spirit or turpentine based so have some of that plus old cloths or kitchen towel handy for cleaning hands and cleaning up. (since writing this things have changed in the name of health & safety! most block printing ink is now water based.)
Squeeze some ink onto the glass.
More than you think but less than a lot.
Black on its own gives a good feel for your first try but of course mix up any colour you want. Mix and spread the ink fairly evenly over the glass with your palette knife. Roll your roller in different directions through the ink until it is evenly coated onto the roller and leaving a clean ‘edge’ of glass for handling.
Roll the inked roller over your lino being sure to keep the roller flat and making sure to ink right up to the edges. This will transfer ink in an even layer from the glass to the lino surface. Do this 2 or 3 times as needed. Know when the right amount of ink is on your lino by looking; just right is what you are aiming for, grooves full of ink is too much, clean lino in patches is too little.
Here we go ~ Printing
Way 1.
Place the paper carefully onto your inked lino. Once in place do not try to move it ‘just a bit’! Where you put it is where it stays until you remove it completely. Place a thin piece of smooth paper over the first piece and begin burnishing. To burnish is to gently rub across your piece of paper with the back of the large wooden spoon. Use smooth, large, even pressure movements. Press down all the time. Don’t forget the edges. Be methodical. When ready/bored, gently lift up one edge of your paper being careful to not remove it entirely and check the image. If satisfied remove and allow to dry. If not satisfied, replace and continue burnishing.
Way 2.
Alternative printing method for lino cuts mounted on mdf or the like:
* Place your paper/tee shirt or whatever down on the floor on top of a piece of plain mdf bigger than the paper or lino.
* Carefully pick up the inked lino cut by the wooden edges, don’t get ink on your hands.
* Align above your paper/tee shirt until happy with the position
* Gently allow ONE edge down into firm contact with paper
* Let the rest of the inked lino cut ‘hinge’ down, release and take a breath
* In your stocking/socked feet carefully step onto the back of the lino cut and with a kneading action, rather like a content cat on a warm lap, press down all over the back of the cut, paying particular attention to the edges.
* Enjoy, move around, sip tea or gin.
* When you think it is ready lift and check as in Way 1. Remove and place the print/tee shirt somewhere safe to dry
Block printing ink will take about a couple of days to dry well. We have though put tee shirts on straight away, carefully, in our delight and enthusiasm with little or no damage.
I have seen lino cuts being printed on 100 year old printing presses and under the rollers of industrial road rollers. Anything is possible. Enjoy but BE CAREFUL.
