Getting Started with Lino Printing

The first thing you need to decide on is the design that you would like to print. You can sketch the design directly onto the lino block or you can use tracing paper to transfer the design. It is very important to remember that a mirror image of the sketch must be transfered to the lino block because when you print the lino block the image will be reversed.

I alway use tracing paper to transfer my design to the lino block so that is the process that I am going to describe here. In the picture below you can see I am tracing my sketch onto a sheet of tracing paper with pencil.

Copying sketch with tracing paper.

You can use masking tape to secure the tracing paper to my sketch to ensure it does not move when you are tracing it. I recommend using a soft pencil to trace the sketch onto the tracing paper. Once the entire sketch has been traced remove the tracing paper from the sketch. Now with use more masking tape to attach the tracing paper in reverse to the lino block.

Tracing picture attached in reverse to lino block

In this case you attach it in reverse so the lead from the pencil is pushed towards the lino block. Once the tracing paper is securely attached begin tracing over the image outline with a pencil. In doing so you will cause the outline of the image to be transfered in reverse to the lino block.

Image traced onto lino block

In the photo above you can see as I peel away the tracing paper the image outline has been transfered to the lino block. Note that it is the reverse view of the image. The image outline can be very faint at times and can easily get smudged when you are carving the lino block if you leave it as just pencil. To avoid this the next step is to use a permanent marker to go over the image outline on the lino block. Using a permanent marker means you will not suffer from any smuding and also when you are washing the lino block after printing the sketch will not be removed.

Outlining the image on the lino block in permanent marker

The photo below shows the lino block with the complete image outlined with a permanent marker.

Lino block with the image transfered in reverse