Printmaking- Lino printing

This week we have been looking into Lino printing. This is the process of using a sheet of linoleum and cutting away areas using a sharp tool to create a relief area on which to print. Our designs were simplified and made angular so that they would be much easier to cut out of the lino. We drew the design onto the lino and began to cut away at the lines; the lines must be cut fairly deep otherwise the image that you are trying to print will not come out as well. Another key thing to remember is that the image you cut out will appear in reverse when printed, therefore, if you were printing then you would need to flip it in order for it to appear in the right way. After removing areas of the lino, we used a roller and ink to charge the lino with ink to print. I took a piece of paper and placed it on top of the lino and proceeded to apply pressure from a large press over the lino. When the paper is removed, what is left should be a perfect print of your design in reverse.

Here is an image of my lino cut which has been adjusted since the first print i did- i removed more of the lino to create different looking images.

I incorporated the research i had done previously into Keith Haring and also the images i had created beforehand using monoprinting to make this image. It is a close up and angular spaceship using the symbol from Haring's greed sign. This was a good choice for a lino cut because the lines could be made straight and cut out easily. I found the process of lino printing quite enjoyable and i think that it is a really good way of getting multiple prints of one design- it is cheap and effective.