I was getting frustrated at the beginning because so many of my prints were not printed well enough and I had to throw away many bad prints on good paper.
Since then I learned a few tips that might help you if you want to try hand printing:
1- Make a test print with water based ink to see if you need to make adjustments to your plate
Before going in full print mode, test a few times your linocut plate with ink on regular paper. To do that I like to use a water based ink because it is easy to use, easy to wash and dries fast. I will use an oil based ink for the final prints but the water based ink works great for those quick tests.
Once you see your test print, you can make adjustments to your plate. I usually end up carving off a few bits here and there to clean up the print.
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2-The choice of Ink and Paper is very important
Different papers react differently with different inks so I would recommend you try different combinations until you find the materials that work best for you.
I am a Blick Art Materials affiliate and I receive a small compensation for sales. That does not effect in any way the cost of the purchaser’s order but it helps me keeping the content of this blog free.
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3- Don’t rush, it is going to take time
I think that was my main mistake, I expected a hand print to be done in a few minutes and it actually takes quite a while to print. You also need to be very focused.
Here are some tips:
If printing with oil based ink, you will see that it is difficult to not get ink on your fingers that will later transfer to your paper. Some artists use gloves when inking the plate but I find it a bit inconvenient. My favourite solution is to have a bowl of baby powder next to my printing area and dip my fingers into the talc before touching the clean paper. It absorbs the oil paint and prevent transferring it on your clean paper.
I tried many different objects to help with printing : Different kinds of barren, wooden and metal spoons, a kitchen pin roll. What actually works the best for me is a smooth medium sized river rock!
You can see me using the river rock on this video, this is a time lapse as the rubbing with the river rock will last at least 5 minutes:
4-Drying the prints
What works the best for me is to have the prints dry on a laundry line:
I also sometimes pin them to a wall in the studio:
or I lay them flat on a table:
As always, I would love to hear from you and your experiences with linoprinting in the comments!
Originally from France, I have been living in North Vancouver, Canada for the past 20 years.
My work has been collected and exhibited extensively in Canada and internationally. I am also part of the Art Rentals and sales program of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Many of my paintings have been published in Art books and magazines (Artist Magazine, Watercolor Artist Magazine, Acrylic Magazine, International Artist Magazine). I wrote 2 art instruction books with North Light/F+W Books.
I have been writing for the last 5 years for my blog: paintingdemos.com, that has a mailing list of about 10 000 subscribers and about 20 000 visitors per month.
I am an active member in the community, as a co-founder of the North Shore Art crawl, a co-founder of a weekly life drawing group, a board member of the North Vancouver Arts Council, and have been invited as a juror for public art, art grants and juried exhibitions. You can read more about my collaborations here.
Comments (6)
Eileen
Thank you Sandrine for sharing your process.
Sandrine
Thanks Eileen 😉
Sonia Leggett
Stunning prints! Very effective with your signature patterning in the background.
Sandrine
Thanks Sonia! I am glad you liked them 🙂
Sonia Leggett
My prints are not as ambitious as yours, but you might be interested in this little machine – see my blog post here https://paperpaintandprint.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/handy-printing-press.html
Sandrine
yes, I have one ! I need to make my prints a bit smaller though so I can use it more.