Linocutting and block printing

I´ve lots of projects on the go at the moment. First, I´m slowly cutting out the Alabama Stitch book pattern Angie´s Fall. Man, this is taking ages, and the mylar sheet seems so heavy and thick to cut. It even broke my knife. I´d seriously consider ordering the ready-made stencil from Alabama if I didn´t live on the other side of the world.

While I´m trying to locate a medium mylar sheet to see if this is easier to cut (I can´t find one in this entire country so far), I thought I´d try my hand at linocutting. I´ve fallen in love with Lena Corwin´s book Printing by Hand. She describes everything really well and the book is so well set out. Above is my first go at linocutting / block printing. Its a daisy from my garden. Cutting the lino is great and its easy to do a few cuts when I get a few seconds free. However, it took me ages to print it properly (too much paint, not enough paint, trying different colours, adjusting the pressure on the stamp, adjusting the length of time the stamp is on the fabric). I bought a brayer from Mitre10 (alot cheaper than an art one) and this made a huge difference to the clarity of the printing. It is printed on unbleached calico. I think I´d get a better print on a finer cotton fabric.

This is my second go at a linocut stamp, which I´m hoping to print on bags etc that I make. This print was made on calico, before the brayer purchase, but I haven´t had time to re-do it yet. The chicken I drew is our boss-chicken Susie, a Light Sussex.

Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand