Lisa C. Jackson

Carve, Hand Print, Sign & Number Linocut Prints

1. Choose a subject to create your picture from.
2. Make it into a fully black on white picture, with lines and dots for the greys and textures.
3. Make sure the picture will fit on the linoleum block selected. Make sure the design is eye pleasing.
4. Print the picture from the computer or photocopy it.
5. Place the picture upside down on the linoleum block.
6. Tape the picture to the block.
7. Rub the block with pencil to transfer the picture to the linoleum block.
8. Remove the paper from the block. Block is prepared for carving.
9. Get first aid supplies handy.
10. Place block linoleum side up on carving plate made of wood that is made to hold still on your table.
11. Get out your carving tools. Assemble them. Carve the largest areas of white out first. Do not carve deep. Try to carve near the surface. Do not put your other hand where it can get cut. Keep it on your lap or on the side, not in front of the carving tools' movement. It really cuts! Ouch!
12. Carve the medium sized white areas second, with more precise tools.
13. Carve the tiny white areas last, staying very, very close to the surface so that you don't overcut (and thus essentially erase your picture).
14. Using a typewriter brush, brush the linoleum flakes away.
15. Clean the linoblock surface with a damp cloth or damp sponge.
16. Clean surface with a damp cloth or damp sponge and air dry it.
17. Determine size of block. Add 2" to each dimension. Cut or wet and deckle- tear a paper that size. I recommend Japanese paper. My favorite is Kitakata paper. Speedball (R) Printmaking Paper is also very nice. Rice paper is elegant but more difficult to work with.
18. Prepare all of the papers you will need in the correct size.
19. Prepare a guide or card stock paper. This is the size of your paper with the area that the block will be in, cut out. I do this with a fiskars scrapbooking paper cutter.
20. To your table, desk, or around a mini cutting board, tape wax paper, nice and flat.
21. Get a thick card with a flat end, such as a credit card, a piece of mat board, or a group of business cards taped together. Also get paper towels, wet, ring out, and pull to straight (these are for cleaning ink off of your hands during the process, so that you don't get inky prints on your paper and your precious picture.
22. Put the border of paper you created onto the paper you will first be printing on.
23. Get out your waterbased printmaking ink. Mix it to the color you desire with the card.
24. Place a tiny amount of ink on your surface and wipe it across the surface. Put the rest of the ink under some wax paper to keep it from drying up.
25. You've got to think and be a fast person now. You've got about 30 seconds. Roll ink onto your brayer (the roller) until sticky but not goopy or wet, then roll ink onto your block in all directions. Keep refilling it with ink and cover the surface of your block with ink. Do this very fast! Do not let it dry! It can dry in about 1 minute.
26. When it is ready (after 30 seconds), Carefully turn the block over onto your paper, within the border you have created.
27. With your burnisher, press hard and rub the backside of the block, turn the block carefully so that the paper does not move, and rub the back of the paper a little more gently, so you don't rip it, but not so gently that nothing sticks.
28. With a ceramic-carving tool the size of a business card or the back of a spoon, rub the back surface of the print all over, very well, in every tiny piece, like you are scrubbing the dishes, but not hard or fast enough to rip it.
29. Pull your print up in a corner. Evaluate. If the paper is sticking to the linoblock too much, you waited too long to pull. If it is not dark enough, you needed more and wetter ink.Sometimes it will be just right. Pull it straight up and off.
30. Set it to dry on a clean, flat, surface exposed to air.
31. Print another if you wish.
32. Label your print by pencil in print directly under the print in a one eighth to one quarter inch space.
33. Put the title in the middle with quotes around it. Put your name on the right. I like to also put the year to the right of my name, but that isn't necessary.
34. Wait until you have seen quite a few prints. Decide how many to make and how to print them. Before you decide on paper and ink, you may want to label your experiments as "T.P." (Test Print). On the left, you can label about 15% of your prints as A.P.(Artist's Print), P.P.(Printer's Proof), or S.P.(Print given as a gift or a donation). The remaining prints should be part of your series. They will be labeled "1/25" or, in a second series off of the same block, "I/XXV".