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Linocut

Name: Angel Jiang

Date and Time:

2018.10.08, 1:00pm

Location: Chandler 260

Subject: Transferring linocut design

Materials

Procedure

Before transferring my design onto the linoleum block, I drew a ¼ inch border using a pencil and ruler. The design I am planning on transferring to my linoleum block is based on a photograph of a lizard laying on a polished slice of blue agate.

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To transfer this image, I used charcoal. I coated the back of a photograph printed on white paper with charcoal, placed my paper onto linoleum block to fit dimensions of block with the charcoal side on the block, and secured everything together with tape. Traced design on photograph with a pencil, pushing hard into the design but not breaking through the paper. The tape is essential to this step so that the design doesn’t move out of register.

While tracing my design, I anticipated that it would be difficult to create tone and depth with my image, so I adapted my photograph with this in mind. I blocked out areas of tone to be printed in black and cross-hatched these portions with my pencil to indicate areas that should not be cut. I removed the paper. On my design I also included my initials on the left side of the linoleum block (the right side of the print). The transferred design was detailed and legible, almost as if the transferred charcoal had been drawn with a graphite pencil.

For transferring design with white chalk, see Jiang - Etching Field Notes FA18.

Name: Angel Jiang

Date and Time:

2018.10.08, 1:15pm

Location: Chandler 260

Subject: Carving linoleum block

Materials

Procedure

In order to carve into my linoleum block I chose blades of two sizes, the smallest blade and the large, curved blade. We used speedball linoleum cutters.

I began by carving out the area around details that I wanted to register as lines (to be printed in black), such as the hands and feet of the lizard. Next I carved out the spikes, shading on the head, and the outline of the agate. I carved details (to be left white) with the small lino cutter size and the background (to be left white) with the large lino cutter last. In order to keep track of what was being left in relief and carved out, and which portions corresponded to black and white on my design, I referred to my photograph frequently.

The lino cutter tool was easy to use and fit in my hand comfortably. I also noticed that after I worked with the block and cutter for thirty to forty minutes, the linoleum was easier to cut, likely because it warmed up from my handling.

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Name: Angel Jiang

Date and Time:

2018.10.12, 6:15pm

Location: My apartment

Subject: Carving linoleum block, continued

Finished carving linoleum block. I estimate that the process in total took about 1.5 hours.

Name: Angel Jiang

Date and Time:

2018.10.23, 1:30pm

Location: Teacher’s College Print Room

Subject: Printing linoleum block

Materials

Procedure

I inked linoleum block with the help of Carolin. I dabbed a few spots of black ink onto the stone block and used the rubber roller to spread the ink. I used short, quick 6-8 inch rolls with the roller. The ink became tacky and reached the ideal “satin” consistency recommended by Carolin after about 30 seconds of rolling. (Since the ink is water soluble, if it is rolled for too long it will become too dry. If this happens, it can be moistened with water.)

Once the ink was ready, I inked the block using quick motions covering the entire block, going in each direction. I inked the block 8-10 times with the roller, going right and left as well as up and down.

I laid the lino block face down on a piece of newsprint and on the roller press to print. (Compared to the roller press use to print our etchings and engravings, this roller press was much smaller.) Placed newsprint on top of the lino block, placed hand on top of the newsprint and block to hold it in place, and lifted the felt blanket of the roller press over the print matrix. Pushed the roller press surface until it made contact with the roller and cranked the lever until the print went through the roller, as indicated by the “pop” of a backfire.

The first print, the proof, was printed fairly evenly and darkly. Some of the background was touched by the black ink. These marks (intended to be printed as white negative space) transferred onto the paper, indicating that it was not carved deeply enough.

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I inked the lino block again, using the same ink block, then printed the block again. This block was nearly uniformly black, but also printed more of the background carved in relief intended to be printed as white negative space.

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To clean the linoleum block, I used a damp sponge to wipe off the lino block until only a pale wash of ink left. This initial wiping left a faint film of ink on the block, which Carolin suggested may be interesting to print. I printed my block with this ink as well. This print resulted in a mostly even gradient of pale gray.

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I placed all three of my prints on the drying rack to dry.

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Name: Angel Jiang

Date and Time:

2018.10.23, 2:10pm

Location: Teacher’s College Print Room

Subject: Retouching linoleum block

Materials

Procedure

In order to remove parts of the negative space in the background that had transferred onto the print in future iterations, I carved deeper into the background of the lino block using a curved lino cutter blade. I concentrated on the corners, which is where I observed transfer on my finished prints. Just identifying and removing portions that were stained with ink would not have been accurate since washing the linoleum block after printing resulted in ink being spread all over the background. This touch-up took only about five minutes but removed a relatively large quantity of linoleum.

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