Linocut is not only a great skill to learn. Carving it gives a great joy and you can produce the same drawing more than once. This linocut that I have made is halloween themed so you can decore your house with it or give some copies as presents to family and friends.

Supplies

Material needed:

-Linoleum sheet

-Soft pencil and rubber (you can also use a white pencil)

-Paper sheet

-Plastic sheet

-Linocut gauges (I used a kit)

-Linocut roller

-Linocut ink

Step 1: Designing and Drawing the Linocut

In this step I usually search for some inspiration on Pinterest and Instagram. I use to search things and then do my own design. In the picture above you can see the original design. Then, when I carved it, I removed the label.

Step 2: Carving the Background

Carving the linoleum is easy. It is a very homogeneous material and it makes carving easier because you can carve it in any direction. You can go as much deep as you want if you don´t break through the linoleum. I first did the background of the drawing and the background of the bottle.

Step 3: Carving the Details

Carving the details is more delicate than the background and I spent most of the time in it, so it´s basically spending time on it.

Step 4: Adding the Ink

In this step, you´ll use the plastic sheet, the paper, the roller and the ink. I used linoleum ink because by the moment I´m not able to use properly any other ink because of the thickness and the drying time of other inks.

You have to put a bit in the plastic sheet. It´s very useful using it because you can clearly see the ink that you have and you can also clean it easily in order to use it again.

Then you roll it with the roller and use the roller to spread out the ink in the linocut. Then, put the paper sheet over the linocut and press it with something (I used a heavy dictionary).

You may need more than one try until you control properly the ink and you are satisfied with the result.

The ink can take up to 3-4 days to get dry.

Step 5: Final Result

Voilá! The process is not difficult at all, but it can take long time, specially the first time.