Final Major Project - Lino printing process.

Before I could start printing my lino design I had to make sure that I had all the right equipment first, this included :

• A square piece of lino.
• Lino cutting handle
• Lino cutting blades
•  Lino Roller
• Printing ink
• A thin sheet of plastic
• Newspaper

 Once i had all of the equipment I could then start on my lino, firstly I transfered my design onto the lino using tracing paper making sure that my design was drawn on the opposite way round in which i wanted it for when i printed it, it would be printed in reverse, i then went over the pencil lines on the lino in a perniment marker so that when I started to engrave the lino the lines would not smudge or fade away.

I then started to cut out the lines that were drawn on my lino using a lino cutting handle with a cutting blade, the blade that i decided to use is called a Liner, i decided to use this blade for it created the thinnest lines and does not cut to deep in the lino.

Before I could ink up my lino I made sure that the area I was working in was  Protected so that I did not get ink everywhere, I covered the whole area in newspaper.

I then tapped the thin sheet of plastic to the desk so that it would stay in place when I rolled out the ink, I then applied a small thin line of ink on to the sheet of placed and used a lino roller to spread the ink over the piece of plastic, i did this so that it I would be able to apply a equal amount of ink over the lino.

Once the ink was rolled out equally I then applied the ink that was on the roller onto my piece of lino with my design engraved, making sure that the ink was equally spread and there was not too much ink or not enough ink on the lino.

when i was happy with the mount of ink on the lino i could then carefully place my piece of lino face down on the sheet of wallpaper/paper in the correct place, making sure not to move it about when it was placed down as it would smudge  the ink and would not make a good clean print.

I then applied a large amount of pressure on to the bottom of the lino using a new clean roller, which would then transfer my design onto the paper.

Once i was happy with the amount of pressure I had applied to the lino i would then very carfully peel the lino off of the wallapper/paper once again making sure to be very careful not to move it about too much as it would smudge the print.

When I produce a first print that I am happy with i then would repeat this whole proccess again untill I had printed on the whole sheet of wallpaper.

When creating a lino reduction print I would have to make sure that the first base colour of ink on the paper/wallpaper was dry before I could start my second layer, whilst waiting for the ink to dry I would then cut out the second and third sections of the lino.