This is the final result of the carving!! It is the most tedious section of the carving but it means that essentially I will gain the neatest and cleanest edge so that when I roll the ink over the uncarved remaining raised areas of the lino block the ink if applied carefully, evenly and in thin layers will give the clearest edge to the design as possible.

It requires going over every section of the carved edge with a fine No 1 blade that at it’s widest opening of the ‘V’ gauge blade is only approximately 2mm across.

It also requires as sharp an edge as possible to make sure that the carving is as clean as possible. As I carve I make sure I keep the blade as sharp as possible using a small amount of grinding paste on a piece of heavy leather and giving the blade a light sharpen.

Step 1 Carving

Step 2 Carving

After completing all the final carving of all the edges of the design and carved sections with the No 1 blade I then carve around the edge of the shape of the final block back basically with the lino cutting blades to again create as neat as possible edge and make it easier and ready to cut back with the Stanley knife.

Step 3 Carving

I then finalise the carving by cutting back carefully the outside lino that needs to be discarded before printing.

Below is the final Carved block with edges complete.

Step 4 Carving

Copyright – Lynette Weir