Print making from lino.

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Printmaking

A print is a shape or mark made from a block or in our case, a lino tile that is covered with wet ink and then pressed onto paper.  Most prints can be produced over and over again by washing then re-inking the lino that you have cut.  A lino tile can be used for making relief prints (prints where the tile is cut into and the ink rests on the areas that have not been cut out).

Lino is a durable, washable material that is used more for flooring in today’s kitchens etc.  In art, it is usually backed with canvas to make it more durable.  The linoleum can be cut in the same way woodcuts are produced, however its surface is softer and has no grain, making it much easier to use for printmaking than soft woods, although wood can produce better results.  The surface of the lino is still fairly resistant to the lino cutter, causing it to slip occasionally.  To get round this problem, the lino tile is ironed to make its surface softer and easier to cut.  When heated, the whole tile becomes more floppy, so you have to be careful it does not bend under the pressure of the cutting tool and break in half, a bench clamp is used to get around this problem.

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Lino Cutting and Printing Process:

  1. Draw out your design on paper, no shading but make sure you know which areas are going to be light, medium and dark.
  2. Transfer the drawing from the paper to the linoleum with tracing paper; place the tracing paper over your sketch and, using a soft pencil to get thick, dark lines, draw your sketch onto the tracing paper. Break up large areas of nothing with shapes and lines.
  3. Place the tracing paper upside down (your markings facing downwards) and then trace the lines again onto the linoleum with a ...

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