Last night I really got busy! I finished carving (is that the word?) my lino block a few days ago but I was just too scared to try printing it. I know, that’s a wee bit silly. The word pathetic springs to mind but we won’t say that. Most people probably did lino printing in Art at school but I never did, so I have been learning via library books really. I find Jackie’s lino prints simply amazing and I have to say that seeing these made me think I could do this. Thanks Jackie, you are an inspiration!
Anyway last night I was annoyed because there was nothing good on telly and we had no decent DVDs to watch (Paul and I usually watch a movie or two together every Friday and Saturday night) so I decided that now was the time!
Let’s get lino printing!
I should mention that Paul made this great lino cutting board for me. It stops the lino from slipping and is much safer. Also pictured is the lino printing ink (orange!) and a brayer (the roller, used to ink the lino) and a baren (used to press the paper). The baren was really expensive (about $40) but it does a great job.
I used a plastic spatula to put some ink onto a plastic overhead projector sheet and used the brayer to roll the ink out. I think I put too much ink on the plastic as the brayer picked up too much ink, but I got the hang of it soon enough.
You can see the lino all inked up here:
In the picture above, you can see the book I was consulting as I did all this - it tells me that the term “pulling a print” is used because you are “pulling” the ink from the lino on to the paper which is on top. So you put your paper or card carefully over the inked lino and use the baren to press it down all over. If you were all set up then you would use a paper press for this step but the baren does a great job and I think a paper press costs a little bit more than $40.
While rubbing the paper with the baren, I was a bit nervous, wondering if I had put too much/too little ink on the lino, was I pressing too hard etc. It turned out okay though…
I was very happy with my print! I will actually be cutting a new lino of this picture because there are places that I messed up when cutting (the branch looks funny for one thing) and I’m excited because now I can use what I have learned this time to improve. Here it is.
I love lino printing!
 
 
 
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