Join us for a one-day workshop to get you started making relief prints.
Relief printing is where the print is made by the transfer of ink from a raised surface to another surface, usually paper. Lino, Woodblock, Letterpress and, of course, potato printing all fall into this category.
One of the beauties of Linocut is that you do not require much in the way of equipment. The blocks are relatively inexpensive, tools and paper vary from cheap and cheerful to very pricey. The printing itself can be done with various presses to produce the pressure required, but can also be done with the back of a spoon.
We will be using Vinyl blocks, (easier to carve than traditional Lino), in the 100mm x 100mm format used in the Mini Print exhibition. The main focus will be on the reduction process, where you use the same block multiple times, printing and cutting away the surface to produce a two-colour print. The process can be used to produce extremely complex and detailed prints, but in the time we have, two colours is more likely. Keep your designs fairly simple and think in terms of flat colours rather than tone.
A couple of things to bear in mind: your designs will be reversed when printed and the inks we will be using are oil-based washable inks and sometimes they take a while to dry.
David will also be showing some techniques for multi-block and jigsaw prints and the different approaches you need to take with them.
What to bring: sketches and designs, reference photos, drawing materials.
What to wear: clothes you don’t mind getting inky, apron maybe, closed shoes please, no open sandals, we will be using very sharp tools.