Blog - Relief Printmaking
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We love printing with lino onto fabric – it can take your designs into loads of fun new places like t-shirts, homewares and bags! Back in 2016 we wrote a blog post about how to block print onto fabric and it’s still one of our most popular posts ever! Since then, we’re continued to refine … Continue reading "Lino Printing onto Fabric – Which Inks and Rollers to Use"
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Schmincke Gloss Medium can be used to add a glossy finish to your prints. We tested the medium in a few different ways to see how the results that can be achieved. Gloss Medium can be added into Schmincke inks to produce a finish with a sheen that is more like an oil-based ink. Combining … Continue reading "Relief Printing with Schmincke Gloss Medium"
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Making your own stamps is so satisfying. You can build up your own collection of personalised stamps for all of your projects and what’s more personalised that a portrait! These adorable portrait stamps are perfect for your arts business, signing cards and letters, scrapbooks or just for fun! Create a collection of stamps of your … Continue reading "Creating a Portrait Stamp"
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Using an equilateral triangle stamp creates an easily repeatable pattern that builds quickly whilst breaking up the typical grid structure often found in repeat patterns. This project is quick, easy and versatile. It’s important to use an equilateral triangle so that the edges will match up perfectly each time – if the sides are not … Continue reading "Making a Triangular Stamped Repeat Pattern"
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The ways in which we communicate with one another have changed recently and a lot of us are thinking about alternative ways to connect with friends and family. In this project, we show you how to design and print a stamp for the front of your envelopes to add something special to your snail mail … Continue reading "Designing and Printing an Envelope Stamp"
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Your printmaking doesn’t have to be tethered to a studio or kitchen table. This project takes you outside to gather and enjoy the natural materials around you! Go for a walk around the garden, your road or even just your house and collect a few leaves with different shapes and textures. Use a tray or … Continue reading "Printing with Leaves"
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There are lots of different blocks available to make your own stamps. Unlike linocut blocks, stamp blocks are designed to be cut into smaller shaped pieces. We have tested four of our blocks to help you decide which is the best block for your project and budget:Pink Speedy Carve, white Mastercut, blue Speedy Carve Easy … Continue reading "Printing with Different Stamping Blocks"
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This is a really quick, easy and inexpensive way to change the look of your indoor potted plants. Create a streamlined paper cover printed with your own design. Read on for full instructions or scroll to the bottom for a video of the whole process. You will need a large piece of stiff paper or … Continue reading "Block Printed Plant Pot Cover"
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The quest for a more eco-friendly, less wasteful Christmas is a great opportunity to get more creative about the way we wrap our presents. These pretty gift bags use up old newspapers – no non-recyclable wrapping needed. So raid your recycling bin and read through the instructions below. In order to make these bags Christmassy, … Continue reading "Handprinted Christmas Project: Holly’s Stamped Newspaper Gift Bags"
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This gorgeous DIY bauble will look amazing hanging from any tree! Use ink and paper to match your favourite Christmassy colours. Jez has opted for gold ink on black paper. Here’s how to make it: Print out our bauble template onto A4 paper – it can be downloaded here. We use using black paper for … Continue reading "Handprinted Christmas Project: Jez’s Printed Bauble"
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This is a fantastically quick way of printing a repeat pattern onto fabric. The block is so speedy to make, using a plastic inking plate and stick-back foam. We are using Permaset Aqua Metallic Textile Screen Printing Ink which works beautifully with a Textile Roller to print onto dark fabric. See the entire process in … Continue reading "Printing an Easy Repeat Pattern on Fabric with Permaset Metallic Ink"
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I’m Nathalie Krona of Krona Prints. I am a linocut printmaker from Birmingham, England and I currently live in Edinburgh. My most popular prints have been pieces that use multiple blocks. I hand burnish all of my prints and work mainly on paper but occasionally play with fabrics. I’m currently making prints that are re-framing … Continue reading "Meet the Maker: Krona Prints"
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One of the great things about printmaking is that one design can be used to create a whole edition of prints. That being said, editioning is something that some printmakers can find frustrating if you just want to get on with the next design! Knowing how to edition, sign and number your prints can be … Continue reading "Editioning Prints"
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Reduction linocut is one of the printmaking methods favoured by Picasso. To make a reduction linocut we use only a single piece of lino. Layers of colour are printed on top of one another, each from the same block which is carved between each colour. A reduction linocut can be easier to register than a … Continue reading "Making a Reduction Linocut"
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Colour mixing can become a very complicated topic. When printing, it is tempting to use colours straight from the tube as mixing the perfect shade can be a little daunting and result in a large quantity of unwanted murky brown ink. We wanted to create a few colour mixing guides to help printmakers build up … Continue reading "Introduction to Colour Mixing: Caligo Process Colour Wheel"
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Relief printing is a technique in which the raised surface of a block or plate is inked up and printed when in contact with paper (or fabric etc.) A linocut is a relief printing method using carved lino. Any areas that are left uncarved will be inked up with a roller and printed. This project … Continue reading "How to Carve and Print a Simple Linocut for Beginners"
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It can be interesting to include natural textures in our relief prints. Wood grain is a beautiful organic pattern and can be printed especially well if we emphasise the natural grain in the wood. We can do this with a blow torch. Scorch the surface of the wood to bring out the wood grain. (Please be careful … Continue reading "Relief Printing from Wood Grain"
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If you haven’t tried printing with magic Heat Stamps yet, this is your new project. It’s really quick to create a unique block that can be reused again and again to create different textures and patterns. All you need is a heat gun and a variety of objects and surfaces to create your stamps. Arrange a …
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Homemade decorations can be the best (and cheapest!) way to decorate for Christmas. These little birdies would make lovely presents too. Get the kids involved with this easy project. To make things even easier, we’ve made a printable template for you to use. Print out a batch of templates. Each A4 template can be used …
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When transferring designs to a block, there are several factors to consider: can the design be seen on the block? Will it wash off? Will the design be transferred to the print? In this project, we test two different carbon papers on six different relief blocks. We test them with three types of ink: waterbased, water …