Hey folks,
I’m a visual artist who recently exhibited at the July Monthly Mess. You can find out more about that fab event here:
http://www.indyish.com/events/monthlymess/
My medium is linocut printmaking. Don’t know what that is? Don’t worry. I’m used to getting blank stares and “lino-what?” reactions when I say that. For this very reason, I’m making this mini primer on the what and how of linocut. So let’s get things started…
What is linocut?
It’s a technique used to make hand-printed art. The simplest way to explain it is that it’s like making your own giant rubber stamps.
Step-by-Step Linocut How-To
You start off with a plain block of linoleum or some other rubbery, carvable material.
After that, you carve out your design using a special cutter. Remember that you’re carving out everything that you’d like to stay ink-free. If you’re working with black ink on white paper, that means that you carve out the white parts.
Once you’re satisfied with your carving, you apply block-printing ink onto your carved block using a brayer, which is a sort of rubber paint roller.
Finally, you lay a sheet of paper down onto the inky block and apply pressure to it to transfer the ink to the paper and make the print.
Pretty simple, huh? Well that’s the beauty of this printmaking technique. The equipment needed is relatively minimal, and since there are no toxic chemicals required (unlike some other printmaking techniques), you can easily make linocut prints at home. Despite its simplicity, it can be used to create very complex images, especially when you start using multiple blocks and colours.
Here a two-block linocut print that I created:
"Jardin des Plantes, Paris" linocut by Evelyne Bouchard
You can find more of my work at evelynebouchard.etsy.com
See you at the Mess!
