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Printing Lino on Linen

February 17, 2014 | janethaigh
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simple drawings for sensuous lino cutting

I haven’t cut and printed Lino for oh…..well, since I left art college in the late 1960’s, so that’s almost………. lets’ move on! Checking out our really popular  Lino Printing on Linen workshop at Heart Space Studios, run by Jacqui Watkins, I had an overwhelming urge to join in – the sensuous feel of cutting through lino really appeals to me as it is another form of drawing – but the transformation when the block is printed is almost miraculous.

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first simple line drawing on sheet of lino

Jackie had asked people to bring in some simple linear images or their own drawings to work with, the first cuts were quickly sampled and assessed..

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first sample print from the cut lino bird drawing.

then different colours and fabrics were printed…it is such an immediate technique.

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strike-offs of the bird block.

There were many different ideas in the group; lettering traced from a classic alphabet looks very different when cut and printed in this technique

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tracing for a child’s name and the resulting cut block – back to front don’t forget!

and the joy of the first sample print – magical….

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Da Da….first sample print…easy peasy!

it usually needs a bit of tweaking to arrive at the finished result – to print a personalised kit bag for a daughter to take to school..

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finished printed kit bag

Jacqui had brought several samples of her own prints to show that just small simple motifs can be placed together to suggest movement in the birds for example. Brilliant for beginners to just work on a few small images to gain confidence.

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sample swatch of small stuff ready to be assembled into different designs.

Looking round the I spied a drawing that was a very popular as a textile motif when I was an Art ‘A’ level  student…half a pepper…but so retro now!

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the pencil drawing of half a green pepper

I did wonder how the student would manage to overcome the solid shape; pepper insides are fascinating and intricate to draw, but a bit of a lumpen shape outside.

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side by side half a pepper and pea pod

But seen next to the giant pea pod on the lino block, I was reminded of the vegetable drawings in vintage cook books by authors such as Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson. When printed onto a linen tea towel the vintage look was made even more apparent

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looks exactly like a vintage tea towel, but so fresh and modern

The difference between the initial drawings and the eventual fabric prints was remarkable, even a very commercial tracing of a Jemima Pubbleduck type duck

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drawings of a commercial duck design

when translated into a solid shape that carries the texture of the lino surface with the marks left from cutting away the ground, form a lively visual combination .

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three bird prints and three slightly different prints…

and this all adds to the attraction of all hand-block print techniques, each print is subtly individual…

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just printed lino block with marks made by linen weave on the solid areas.

and looking at the freshly printed surface of the linen weave still apparent on the block above, you can see how this happens. Next time the block is ink rolled and placed on a fresh area of linen the results will be different.

Meanwhile one of the students really took advantage of another result of hand block printing – the intentional inclusion of the cut away surface of the background..

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original card of bird image with tracing and eventual print.

as can be seen below, the different stages of printing on different surfaces, on the upper left is the first print with a mottled background, the red and other blue print shows the background cut marks have been rendered in a rhythmical pattern to further enhance the whole image.

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various stages of print backgrounds for this bird and branch design.

I am hoping to resurrect my lino printing by making a block of the Heart Hand and Eye symbols that I use for the Heart Space Studio logo, this is from a tiny rubber stamp adapted from a commercial design.  I am considering to make products to sell in the our gift shop…so watch this space.

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Heart Space Studios Logo

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