Linocut: A Creative Guide to Making Beautiful Prints

Product Information

Books and printmaking go hand in hand, so I hope this has inspired you to head out and find a good bookshop and a good book too!

By varying the depth of the tool you can make the line wider or narrower. This is especially effective with the V-shaped tool. Raise and lower your wrist as you carve. Try a curved line by moving your wrist from side to side as well as up and down. With 18 easy-to-follow projects that can be adapted to suit your own ideas, experienced printmaker Sam Marshall guides you through the whole process – from the drawing to the carving to the inking to the printing – of creating your own beautiful prints and handmade cards whether you are working from your kitchen table or a more advanced studio set-up. Varied widths of line made by different tools. Notice how the two ends of each line you carve are shaped by the tool. Top to bottom: 1 mm U, 3 mm U, 5 mm U, 1 mm V, large V (shallow cut), large V (deep cut).With 18 easy-to-follow projects that can be adapted to suit your own ideas, experienced printmaker Sam Marshall guides you through the whole process from the drawing to the carving to the inking to the printing of creating your own beautiful prints and handmade cards whether you are working from your kitchen table or a more advanced studio set-up. There is a wealth of information out there on the internet and it's a great resource! But, how do you know if it's always valid and useful advice? That's the beauty of a good book! If you're you new to printmaking and wanting to learn more about linocut, stamping and relief printing, have a look at these top 10 tried and tested printmaking books. With the best books for complete beginners starting at number 1, to beginner/improvers at number 10;

The Relief Print: Woodcut, Wood Engraving & Linoleum Cut by Watson and Kent (1945) - mentions that linoleum was used for printing wallpaper in Germany, “as early as 1890.” Gentle curves can be made by moving your wrist or arm left and right as you cut forwards. More pronounced curves may require you to move your whole body. Try to keep your hand level as you move, so the cutting tip of the tool remains upright.

What You Will Need

From my research so far, the transition of linoleum from flooring and wallpaper to printmaking material does not seem to be thoroughly documented. There also seems to be discrepancies within the available literature on the matter. Germany, Austria (through Franz Cizek) and the United States seem to have been amongst the first to turn to linoleum for creating art around the turn of the 20th century. The Word for Linocut in Different Countries, Languages and Eras

You will find that you have to push harder with the larger tools, as you are removing more lino. Try to push the tool with your whole arm, using your body weight to generate the force. When you use the smaller tools or make shallower cuts, you need less force – a small movement of the wrist may be enough. Your cutting technique will develop over time, but do try to keep everything relaxed as much as possible … and remember to breathe! In this beautiful and lively book, you feel welcomed into the world of relief printing. The instructions are well set out with easily understood practical guidance, and such a friendly vibe, you can’t fail to want to grab your tools and get started. The exact angle you need to hold the tool will vary slightly depending on which tool you are using. I haven't done any linocutting since school but this book made me go and buy a kit and take the hobby up again. Inspiring and very user friendly, this really does teach anybody (older children included) how to linocut. -- Rachel Hyde * myshelf.com * The first few beginner books are full of colour photographs and illustrations that are clear and concise, perfect for first steps into the basics and getting your head around some of the printmaking terminology. They have easy to follow instructions, have great mini projects to get you going, so are perfect for getting you started.The list of famous artists who contributed to the art form in its first 50-60 years is long, but they include Edward Bawden, Pablo Picasso, Sybil Andrews, Claude Flight, Frances Gearhart, Leopoldo Mendez, William Rice, and Lill Tschudi, just to name a few. U.K.-based artist Sam Marshall’s Linocut (...) makes doing it yourself feel approachable, with friendly, precise instructions and projects that build in degrees of complexity Search Press supports the Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising of the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada (DAAC), and the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA). Vienna was amongst the first places where linoleum was used for art. This essay in Schirn Mag gives a nice summary of the relief printmaking movement there around 1900. Though it focuses on the woodcut, it includes Hugo Henneberg’s linocut called, Night Scene - Blue Pond from 1904. The Grove Encyclopedia of Materials and Techniques in Art edited by Gerald W. R. Ward (2008) - mentions that linoleum was used for printing on wallpaper in Germany in 1890. Then by artists in the early 1900’s. Notes the importance of Cizek.