Lino Printing at College Information

1. 1. First, I started with a drawing of a mug and a bowl with a
spoon in it. It is a simple yet effective design which is a good
place to start as the design isn’t too difficult. I also drew a
small design on the bowl and mug which is where the 2nd
colour will go.
2.
I then took this drawing and thought about what different
colour ways I could use to make this reduction lino work in my
favour. Here are some of the options I landed on, I think these
could work very well for a reduction lino.
Lino Printing

2. 3.I then traced over the design I had made, and then I flipped the design
over and re-traced the lines on to the lino plate.
4.After tracing the design onto the lino, I shaded in the parts that I needed
to cut out for the first print.
5.
I then cut out the shaded areas to make the first plate. Cutting out the
lino, was a challenge at first, but I managed to get the hang of it and the
gouges after a while. I did a good job with cutting the first layer and the
first print came out quite nice.

3. 6. To print the first plate, I used a placeholder. I used this so when I came
to do the second layer, I could put the paper and the plate in the exact
same place so the final piece come out correctly.
This is the place holder I used, the lino
plate rests in the cardboard corner and
the paper in the masking tape corner. I
also made a little sketch on the side of
the placeholder with the mug and the
bowl so I knew which way the plate
sits in the holder.
This isn’t the colours that I used for
my prints but when I was printing
the colours that I first used, I didn’t
get any pictures of the fist print, so
I recreated the plate and printed
this with a black block ink that I had
at home. But this is what the first
print looked like.
To print the lino, I used a Albion Press. To print
using this, you place the placeholder down first,
put the lino plate in the holder and also the
paper, then you place some felt blankets over
the top of the paper and plate, to add some extra
pressure to the press. After that you use the
lever on the side to move the board under the
press, and then you use the other lever on the
top and pull it to yourself. Pull the lever
completely towards yourself so all the pressure
is put onto the plate. Then you use the side lever
again to move it out an you’ve got your print.

4. 7.
After printing the first layer I took the plate out and I shaded
in the parts of the plate that I wanted to cut out. I cut out all
the parts I would like to stay the first colour that I printed. I
then cut the shaded area out with the gouges.
8.
I then printed the second layer just as it is so I could see if
there was anything that I needed to change.
I printed this so I could see if any of those
lines around the piece, where the linos
catching, would print over the first colour
and take away from the print.

5. 9.
Then using the place holder and the Albion Press I printed the second
layer on top of the first layer.
These are the final lino prints that I came out with. I feel like the colours in the first print, with
the light brown and the red, work better together than the second. I like how the design has
come out, even though I did make a mistake when cutting the second plate. On the mug, I
had originally wanted the shape to be a cross like the bowl, but I accidentally cut the wrong
part of the lino, and didn’t realise until I had done that much that I couldn’t work round it, so
we ended up with the design of 3 boxes instead of the cross. Even with this I do think that
the design worked well I do just wish that I had cut the second layer as I meant to. The red
on the blue print didn’t really work very well. I though that the red would be strong enough to
show up on top of the blue but unfortunately that didn’t happen.