I’m giving a linocut workshop this thursday. I thought it would be helpful to give a rundown of the materials I use.
- Cutting Tools: I use Speedball cutters. They are very inexpensive and effective on linoleum. I have not had to sharpen them. If they ever did get dull I would probably just buy new ones.
- Linoleum: I’ve only used mounted linoleum from Hobby Lobby and Wondercut linoleum from Dick Blick. HL linoleum is smooth and soft. Wondercut is textured and extremely soft. I believe the Wondercut linoleum requires more ink to print due to the texture. I use a warm halogen light over my work space that keeps the lino warm. Lino gets very hard to cut when it’s cold.
- Ink: Waterbased Speedball ink is ok. It cleans up nicely. It dries fast. This can be a positive or a negative, depending on what your trying to do. I prefer water soluable oil based ink by Daniel Smith. It dries slower which allows me to be more meticulous with my printing. I usually allow my oil based inks a week to dry before I try framing them. I’ve found that humidity affects the drying time of both inks.
- Paper: I prefer Rives BFK. It holds up well to hand pressing and accepts the ink well.
- Baren: I use two speedball barens. I start with the teflon baren for soft pressure to get the paper evenly tacked to the block. I switch to the regular plastic baren for more pressure. Sometimes the plastic baren will pull the paper across the block if too much pressure is used in the beginning. You probably have to learn “the feel” on your own.
- Brayer: I only use soft brayers by Speedball. I have not experimented with different brands.
The Heron 