Lino Printing

When we went to the Higgins on th 22nd, we were able to see some of the original lino blocks that Edward Bawden used to produce his beautiful prints, alongside the finished work. Lino printing is probably the simplest method to understand; you simply cut away the parts of the block you don't want to print. The main limitation is that it is difficult to reproduce fine detail, as the lino is soft, and can be very crumbly.  As the cutting process is quite laborious, today we are going to just use an existing block and take some new prints.

The ink is thick and sticky, so it must be rolled out evenly before inking the block. 

 

Marion inks up the lino block. Because we don't have a printing press, we are going to use a tablespoon to burnish the back of the paper, to transfer the print. 

 After carefully peeling off the paper, we have our print.