Linoleum
Experimentation
These are the works i made after the initial few prints done in monochrome. I began experimenting with new techniques. Honestly, i had fully learned to print well yet and was rushing when i began experimenting with this since i thought i would run out of time.
Printing on Masked prints
These are my masked prints. However, all of my masked prints were used in order to experiment.
​
For these i masked one side, printed, and then masked the other side in an attempt to make a two color print (3 if including newsprint color)
For this print, The print on the left has roller marks left un-removed. The lines are also quite faint, so i would cut the lines to be thicker if i had the chance to do this again.
​
As for the print on the right, it was placed at an angle so the print didnt line up properly. There is also a gap in the center due to positioning errors.
​
The right print is also completely overinked.
As for this print, it is of a higher quality than the one before. However, the blue is once again over-inked and the center aligning area isn't positioned properly. (although it is better than the last one)
Not the best nor the worst. The blue is over inked, but is better than the other two blue prints. the pink has a region where not enough pressure was applied.
​
the some ink must have smudged when applying the mask, as there is a gap without ink and then some blue ink spilling onto the pink
​
the gap also shows a positional error.
The green and pink prints are overall of a higher quality. I personally think that it is harder to position and print the part with more negative space.
​
The there are positioning errors when the second print was done. also, the green is overall not printed very cleanly.
​
The pink print also has a small patch where the ink wasn't printed properly (orange box)
​
Ink face down
water based ink
newsprint
plastic roller
mushroom burnishing tool
​
There are some printing errors throughout. Most notibly: the green corners and edges are not inked well, not enough pressure applied
The pink piece has roller marks and the regions next to the mask fade slightly.
​
Alighnment issues, patches without ink or overlapping ink.
​
Ink face down
mushroom burnishing tool
Newsprint
water based ink
Plastic roller
Hand Applied Pressure
Hand pressure print
water based ink
newsprint
ink face up
Overall, the ink is quite inconsistent, with patches printed okay and patches printed with barely any ink.
From how it looks, i think the main problem was the amount of pressure, and not the inking process.
Roller print
This type of print is where the roller covered in ink makes one pass on the lino. The areas uncut will lift ink off the roller and cut areas will be left on the roller.
This means that my design was transferred onto the roller which i then rolled onto a surface, printing the image onto it
The roller print is quite a cool idea that i didnt think about until seeing it in class.
In effect it is the opposite to a normal print, with the ink application being inverted.
​
Overall, i think this print is pretty good, as in some of my other attempts, the roller would slip during either the initial pass on the lino or the printing onto newsprint, making a wobbly print.
​
The looping area is also fully filled in, which is a problem i could not fix in my other attempts.
​
However, the ink application is inconsistent, with some lines going through the top part obstructing the patterns from being seen.
​
For this print, i started printing when the loop wasn't complete yet. as such, the first loop ended halfway through the bottom two patterns.
​
The second half is the second loop. It is a print made from the remaining ink after the first layer of ink has been printed.
​
For this print, the sides are not done properly, and the looping area has a large gap that basically ruins it.
Overall, i think roller prints are a really cool way to make prints. However, there are many difficulties to this process like the ones i said above (hard to make consistent print, different layers of ink produce different results, etc)
Also, roller prints cannot be used on large scale prints, as there is a limit to the length of the print. both width and length wise.
One-Time Experiments
Water based ink
Applied with pallette knife
ink face down
pressure from hands
newsprint
​
using a pallette knife wasnt the best idea, as the ink got into the gaps easily and was easily scraped off the flat areas.
​
If i could do this again, i would try to do it with an etching style inking format (scraped off all ink except for those in gaps)
the results may be quite interesting.
Water based ink
ink face down
applied using pallette knife
pressure from hands
Newsprint
​
Basically the same as the one above but much less ink overall.
Water based ink
ink face up
applied using Roller
pressure from hands
​
over inked, inconsistent pressure
No pressure added
ink face down
wooden handled roller
newsprint
water based ink
Ink face down
applied using roller
Ready Mixed Paint
​
Paint was too liquid and got everywhere, easily over-inked. Was not a good idea in hindsight haha.
Overall, i think lino is a very versitile and useful medium? material to use, as it allows control over the negative spaces. In the future, if i were to use linol again, i would try and use color blocking to depict an object in a semi-realistic manner. (note this reflection was done after the printmaking unit is over