Unit 2, Encounters, experiences and meetings: Lino printing

This is my drawing of african styled patterns on tracing paper that I will be using for my lino print.

I then turned the tracing paper upside down on top of the lino and drew over the lines again with a pencil so they would print onto the lino.

Next i used the Bench hook to place my piece of lino onto and used the lino cutting tools to cut out my drawing using the faint pencil marks as a guideline. At first I gently cut shallow grooves into my design to make it more neat and less likely for me to make any mistakes. I then went over any lines that would be too shallow to show up when printing the design and also cut some sections out completely.

Once I had finished I used a metal roller to cover my lino with green acrylic paint. I then placed my lino on top of a piece of sugar paper and placed it onto the printing press machine, when I took it out of the machine and pealed of the paper the image had transferred.

I used the same technique for this piece but this time I used orange and red paint on the lino to create this effect.

Characteristics- smooth, durable, bendy, tough, flat, hard, thin, reinforced, you can cut it/carve into it.

Potentials/advantages- you can cut it/carve it, print with it, can emboss with it/do rubbings, reduction printing, tough/sturdy, can be printed on multiple different surfaces, easy for simple designs and big size pieces.

Limitations/disadvantages- mistakes are unreversible, its not 3D, you have to work hard to get texture, quite difficult to cut, limited colour application, hard to clean, its smells, barrier cream for hands, white spirit needed to clean it, long time to dry, time consuming, takes time to get used to it and difficult to cut in detail.

I like this technique because it is unusual and looks effective, but it is also very hard to do without making mistakes. I would possibly like to develop this idea by cutting out pictures of animals into the lino or using this idea within another idea.