Linoleum Block Printing


I have done linoleum block printing before, but I was 13. I actually still have the print I made. I thought I had kept the block too, but who knows where that ended up at....now where did I put that...oh there it is:




It's a masterpiece, I know. 13 year old me was quite proud of this, so don't crush my spirit. :) Now that I've revealed my pack rat tendencies, on with the post.

I was reminded of block printing when I saw this project on Pinterest. I thought, hey, I can totally still do that and it will be just as awesome as last time (I hadn't dug the old print out yet when I thought that last bit). So I looked at the craft store and was a little surprised by the prices to buy the tools to get started...but thankfully Amazon saved the day. A starter kit costs about $20 bucks. Fortunately the linoleum is fairly cheap (especially if you're buying smaller pieces), so I picked some extras up at the craft store.



For this project you will need:
A linoleum block (or you can make one with carving linoleum and a scrap piece of wood like I did)
a design and a pencil
something to print on when you're finished
paint or printing ink
a brayer (optional, but handy even if you're printing with paint)

You can save about a buck by making your own block. I knew I had a bunch of scrap pieces of wood at home, so I went ahead and bought the linoleum sans block. I had a little crafty plaque and I glued a small piece of linoleum onto the block with some E6000 glue. I put a weight on it as it dried to try to keep it as flat as possible.




The hardest part of the whole project was coming up with something to carve. I wanted to do something simple since it was my first try at this in 20 years (gah, I'm getting old). So I chose a meeple. For those of you unfamiliar with meeples, they are wooden people-shaped playing pawns used in board games. They are most famously used in the game Carcassonne. If you have a specific design in mind, you can print out the design and outline over it heavily in pencil. You could also make your own design in pencil (in reverse) to transfer onto the linoleum. Flip the piece of paper over and center it on your block. Rub the back of the design with your pencil like shown below:



The thicker line on my block below is from the transfer, I then drew a ring around the meeple to add a little extra flare to the design. You can always draw directly onto the linoleum with a pencil or ballpoint pen if you want to be all free-form about it :).



Once you've sketched out your plan and determined what would be cut away (won't print) and what will stay (will print), you can begin carving. The starter kit comes with a large scoop, medium v-cutter, and a fine detail cutter. I started with the fine tool. I went over all of the lines carefully and then began cutting away with the larger tools. Be careful and patient while your cutting. It's easy to make a minor mistake, and no way to undo it. However, there are ways to cover up and compensate for mistakes by carving over or adjusting designs.




After the details are mostly cut, you can then take the largest tool after the parts of the block you know you want to get rid of. This scoop tool takes quite a bit of force to use on the regular linoleum, so be careful. I stabbed myself good in the finger and it bled for about an hour before it stopped. But, lesson learned--I was much more aware of where my hands were after that. You can also get bench hooks that would help keep your hands out of the way by providing a ledge to wedge your block up against when carving.


Once I was finished with the major cutting, I went in for some detail. I made sure my background cuts were neat and straight in case they showed up in my printing and I added a rustic swirl design inside my meeple. Some very patient and practiced artists can make amazing clean lines and incredibly detailed art on these blocks, I am not even remotely close to that point. So I kept it a bit rustic looking so the mistakes would fit in. :) If you want some better contrast for the detailed parts of your stamp--you can use a permanent marker (like a Sharpie) to color the linoleum so that you can see the cuts more easily. My design was pretty simple, so I didn't bother.


When you're satisfied with your block, you can decide how and what you are going to print on to. I chose to use craft paint and some cheap blank white cards that were cut in the shapes of tags. I figured I could use them as gift tags or cards or cut the design out and use it for whatever I like. It worked out pretty well, but I learned that unlike the printing ink, which is thick and a bit sticky and goes on well with the brayer, using a foam brush to put the paint on the block gets much more even coverage with paint. I then used the brayer to apply the paper to the block. If you want to use your block as a stamp, you'd have better luck with the softer varieties (like the speedy carve that was used in the inspiration link).




When it was all finished, I ended up with a rustic artsy meeple. The craft paint goes on thinner than the printing ink does, so it adds to that rustic flavor, I think (and is infinitely easier to clean up--just rinse your stamp block off under water). If you are hoping for a very crisp print, use the printing ink.

Not bad for my first stab (literally--ow) at block cutting in quite some time. Not too much better than the 13 year old print, though. I guess I have some more practicing to do.

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