These are 3 of my previous design art series I as examples of carving linoblocks.

What you will notice is that I have used 2 different types of lino I have used.

The red brown one is some lino I had bought in a really large piece and this is the 2nd last one I am carving using this particular brand. the last one is the one I am still working on – I find it easy to carve and great for larger areas but a bit ‘crumbly’ in the very fine sections of my carving and therefore a little annoying.

The linoblock below is the finished Banksia serrata – Old Man Banksia – part of the Design Art series and is the grey Silkcut Lino – as I have said before I am so glad they went back to the ‘older’ style of grey lino recipe rather than the one that was a very light brown that I found difficult to work with.  It was a complex design from the perspective of lots of small lines and spaces but worth it for the final results

So these two linoblocks are finished carving are essentially ready to proof print.

I do like to print a few blocks at a time as it means I have to only set up and clean up once and sometimes it helps with getting a good flow when you are printing.

You have more time to get into a rhythm and get some nice printing happening.

The linoblock below is of Australian Rainforest Flowers.

It is again quite a complicated and intricate design – what I would say is a very ‘busy’ design.

So my method of working with carving this particular block was to essentially start by carving around the outlines of the sections I wish to carve out the centre of to leave the ‘white spaces’ of the print with a fine blade. I then come back with a larger blade to actually scoop out these broader sections. This way can see the whole design with clear outlines and hopefully will be prevented from carving out the wrong sections.

I finally finish by coming back over the design again with the very fine blade and set up nice sharp clean edges so that I can get nice clean edges over the whole design for printing. It is time-consuming but I get the print that I want at the end of the day!

So below is PART 1 of the carving – the initial outlining of the design completed – now about to start with the wide blade and scoop out the larger areas I want to be white/colour.

Copyright – Lynette Weir