Stick weaving
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Lino printing tips
- When you're carving, keep your blade as horizontal as possible and place your first finger on top of the blade to control it
- Think about what parts of the lino you want to keep and what to remove. Place your blade outside of your cutting line (not on it) so that the edge of the cut just touches the line.
- Use the no. 1 blade for carving the outline of your design, and the 3 or 4 for removing larger areas
- Always keep the supporting hand behind the blade in case it slips
- Go slowly and carefully! Remember that you can take away more lino if needed, but once it's gone you can't put it back!
- If your ink has gone solid, add just 2-3 drops of water and patiently stir it around until it is a smooth paste again.
- Roll out a small blob of ink to a thin even layer on your cellophane. This will create a thin layer on your roller as well, ready to transfer to your lino. If the layer is too thick, the ink will run into the carved areas of your linocut.
- Use the roller to ink up your linocut. Go carefully and make sure every uncarved area has been inked up.
- Do a test print on paper first. Use this to practice printing, but also to check if there are any areas of your linocut that need cutting away more.
- When printing, use your fingers to press down on every area of the lino to make sure all the ink has transferred onto your print.
- Don't be afraid to be creative with your cards! Use your linocut pieces in different ways, and utilise the downloadable pages from the Jessica Jayne Design website.
See this kit in action with our video tutorial!
Lino printing inspiration
I'm a big fan of lino printing and I follow a range of lovely lino printers on Instagram. Here are a few of them, I hope they inspire your future lino printing!
I asked a number of lino printers for their top tips for beginners, and collated them all for you - read the blog post to see what they said!
I've also created a Pinterest board of tutorials, tips and inspiration! Click the picture below to see what I've pinned for you :)
