I am going to change gears here a little bit, because I am sort of tired of talking about my books (sorry, books).
While reading about woodcuts in our book, I thought, "hey! I've done this before!" (Sort of.) When I was in 8th grade, my Talented and Gifted class went to the Huntington Museum of Art for some kind of nature-y artsy day. Aside from going in the Conservatory and taking a hike and throwing bowls, we made linocuts of leaves, which was the second most fun thing I did that day (throwing bowls being the first).
Sadly, I do not have pictures of the process, but I remember what we did very well, and I will use images from Google to supplement my recollection.
First, we were given blocks of linoleum and a v-shaped gouge tool to create the design. We were provided with several leaves for inspiration.
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| Linoleum block |
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| Gouge and blades |
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| Examples of the marks different blades create. I think I used a blade similar to #3 here to create |
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| Example of print (top) and linocut block (bottom) |
Next, we used a brayer to spread some ink on a pane of glass, and then used the inked brayer to coat the linoleum block. The inked block was then put through a press to transfer the image to a piece of paper. I did not get to keep my block, but I did get to keep the print.
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| Brayer |
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| Coating the brayer with ink |
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| Inking the linoleum block |
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| A press similar to the one used to create my print |
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| 8th grade me = bad artist. Bear in mind that this was one take, and the first time I'd ever done this. I was mostly trying to not gouge a hole in my finger. Don't ask me what I was thinking with the squiggly lines around the leaf. |
Check out a detailed account (with pictures) of how linocuts are made here.
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