Linocut Printmaking Kit

Soft "carve" linoleum (or the modern easy-carve blocks) cuts smoothly and cleanly with hand pressure — the floor linoleum is too hard to gouge. The soft block is the relief-printer's standard; it holds fine detail and cuts like butter. Gray or golden, in blocks and sheets, sized to the print.

The V-gouge makes narrow lines (the outlines and the fine detail); the U-gouge makes wider scoops (the broad white areas). Together they remove the linoleum that stays white in the print. A set of V and U gouges in a few widths is the linocut tool kit; sharp gouges cut cleanly, dull ones tear.

The inked block prints its mirror image — whatever you cut prints reversed. Text must be cut backwards (it reads correctly when printed); the design's left/right is flipped. Always plan the block reversed (or trace the design reversed onto the block). Forgetting this is the classic linocut mistake (a backwards word).

The brayer (a rubber roller) rolls a thin, even layer of ink on the block (and the ink on a glass palette first); the printing paper (a printmaking paper, dampened for relief) is laid on the inked block and rubbed with a baren (or a spoon) to transfer the ink. The hand-pulled print is the linocut's satisfaction; an edition of ten is the goal.