Linocut Printing: your questions answered

What is linocut printing?

If you don’t remember doing it in school…it’s a relief printing technique in
which you’ll carve a design into linoleum, roll on some ink, and print it onto
paper or fabric. The real joy is that you can print it over and over again, so it’s brilliant for cardmaking, fabric printing, paper crafts and even interior decorating. Go on… get carried away!

Do you have to be an artist
to use a linocut printing kit? 

Creating your design could be the bit that you’ll love most – or the part
that intimidates you! If you don’t know how to start, don’t worry, because our
beginner linocut sets are carefully planned for this.  You’ll find simple
lino print designs inside every Clever Hands printing kit, ready to trace and
follow…so you can skip worrying and start printing!

What is a linocut print? 

You can see lots of examples on the product pages. It’s an image which
appears in relief – so the lines that you’ll carve will have no ink when you print onto the paper. Depending on your skill, these images can be fairly complex – be brave. The lino-cutting tools inside our kits can be used to make lots of different marks so you can produce fine detail
(after a bit of practice!).

How do you lino print?

You’ll start with a fresh block of lino and a carving tool. This is the part
that requires practice. If you’re completely new to lino printing, we recommend adding extra lino to your order so that you can try out the mark-making techniques (following our simple tutorial) before your first design. Once your lino is cut, the magic happens! You’ll roll on your linocut printing ink, then press the block onto paper or fabric, lift it off carefully and watch your work appear.

What is lino printing used for?

Lino printing can be used wherever you want to print your work in multiples.
It produces outstanding cards – it’s useful when you need a big batch, such as Christmas and thank-you cards. It can also be used to print onto fabric, making a repeat pattern or singular motif (watch our artist Catherine’s fabric-printing experiment here). We can think of lots of other ideas for lino printing – from calendars to art prints and maybe even wallpaper!

Can I gift a linocut printing kit to somebody?

Of course. We may be biased, but we’re pretty certain that they’ll love it! Customers tell us that their friends and family are delighted to unwrap our printing kits – and we send out boxes and boxes at Christmas. Lino printing kits are truly thoughtful gifts for birthdays,
Mother’s Days, and graduations too. Add gift wrap to your order and we’ll make your kit look extra-special, with a handwritten gift message. Note that we can also send your gift directly to the receiver, which is helpful when you’re shopping for gifts at the last minute!