Over the past couple of days I have been lino printing. On Saturday I spent far too long in the London Graphics Centre looking at stuff and picking up the requisite bits and bobs. I have wanted to do it for ages. My Dad used to do it and one of his art college friends sends him lino prints that are hung up round the house.
You’ll forgive me for showing you only a portion of my print since I’m printing Christmas cards and odds on, if you’re reading this then you’re in the running to get one of these cards. So I’m trying not to spoil it too much.
On Saturday afternoon I spend some time trying to work out what would be suitable to print. I quickly narrowed in on something typographical and something Biblical. I got out my 6B pencil and my nice new Daler-Rowney pad and did some scribbling.
On Sunday afternoon, following a luxurious lie-in, I set about transferring my design to linoleum. Since my hand drawn letters are not terribly consistent I leant heavily on my trusty ‘pooter to let me lay it out nicely. I printed it at the right size in the middle of an A4 sheet and then set about going over it with my trusty 6B - desperately trying to stay inside the lines. Once that was done, I rubbed it onto the lino to transfer the design. It was a bit feint so under a bright light me and 6B made sure the design was clear. The scariest bit of ones first foray into lino printing is making the first cut. Rightly so. I stupidly dived straight in and cut the corner off the serif of the capital L. fortunately it adds a little character (the excuse of all artists). It took yonks to gouge out the design and I ended up being covered with lino swarf. I finished with enough time to hoover up my mess and make it to church.
Back from church - housemates in bed - I decided to try some test prints. I grabbed a flat bottomed pyrex dish from the kitchen, laid some newspaper on the desk and readied my roller. Just a little of the brilliantly named Speedball ink did the trick. Instinctively I rolled it out flat in the dish and transferred it to my block. Back to the sketch pad, I slapped it down and rolled it with a clean roller for a minute or so. The ink was really tacky as I had to peel the block off the paper. The first go was a bit patchy but still quite nice. I inked up again, this time trying to make sure it was thoroughly covered. The second attempt was still patchy in places but much bolder. Not wanting to waste my lovely pad, I printed on the back of an HSBC envelope and a Good Book Company invoice.
This evening I returned to it. Part of my original design was lacking so I cut an extra little block. This time the inverse and a lot smaller, so a real test of my cutting ability. Fortunately I had a suitably small cutter and a perfectly sized off cut of lino. I inked it up and added it to one of yesterdays prints. Not wanting to blow my own trumpet, it looked quite nice.
With a wad of nice card diligently sliced to the right size I set about printing my Christmas cards. As I stepped up a gear from experimenter to cottage industry I noticed a few problems. The ink was tacky to start with, but as it dried a little, it began to clog the more intricate parts of the block obscuring parts of the design. As well as that, as I layered up more ink, the block started to slide about. Neither of these problems have resulted in any write-offs but it prompted me to clean the blocks a couple of times. When I was drying the main part with blue loo roll, I noticed it created a nice indent on it.
It’s now late and I’ve printed 15. I’ll do some more tomorrow evening.
