Adventures in Linocuts

I’ll be honest - I’ve never been a huge fan of stamps or printing with stamps. Just doesn’t appeal to me, and I didn’t like the restrictiveness of the medium. You’re limited to literally one image, and usually one color! Not my favorite.

But. Then Instagram showed me another designer working on creating block prints from a linocut she carved herself, and I was absolutely fascinated. Here was something I could do with one of my OWN illustrations! It could look beautiful in black and white, and I’d be able to create real prints for friends and gifts.

So I took myself down to the local Hobby Lobby, bought their LAST Speedball linocut kit, and started carving that night. It was so therapeutic - the motion of carving out rubber, seeing the drawing come alive, rolling on the black ink, pressing the print paper with my flat wooden spoon, and the big reveal! Both prints I’ve done so far are so beautifully rustic, I can’t wait to do more.