Lino Printing
Lino printing is a block printing technique that involves carving your chosen pattern or image into a piece of lino and or rubber/ vinyl surface that can be then printed. The process of lino printing is, once you have picked your desired design and or image you want printed, you can either draw it straight onto a block of lino or transfer an image onto the lino. Next you will use a lino cutting tool to create a stencil of your design cutting out any part of the image you don't want the ink to get to and that you don't want printed in order to create a stencil. After carving your design and or image ono your block of linoleum, you then want to use a roller and some ink and prepare your inkto be used for the print. You can do this by, using a flat surface to roll out a thin layer of ink onto a surface, then roll the ink onto the carved block of linoleum, and then this piece of lino can be used for printing onto flat surfaces such as paper, which can be just a simple plain A4, or have a desired pattern or picture to print over.
Through my research behind creating lino prints and the history of them, I came across the work of Lucie Spartacus. Spartacus was well-known for her work in lino cuts representing strong bold women from 19th century in classical poses that attract an audience's eye to her work of representing female empowerment. She was particularly inspired by 19th century art, history, literature and the style of portraiture in that time period using photography from this period and generally carving out the stencils of bold classical women and using them in her prints.
Below are some examples of her linocuts:
She used repurposed images from 19th century women in classical and bold poses and transferred the images onto blocks of lino as a stencil and then printed them onto blank white sheets to produce images like the ones seen above. I want to try and experiment with the process of linoleum art with my own images, and analyse the process and outcomes and see if it is suitable for a final outcome for my project, and whether I am able to relate it to my chosen topic of creating photographic works around the word, "women", where I have chosen to dive deeper into the world of feminism and how passed waves of feminism and feminist figures have altered the lives of women today. This particular process of printing I want to use to reflect the history of feminism and create images surrounding feminist icons past and present.
Lino Printmaking Tools:
- Lino Cutter/ Gouge - This has different numbered blades, where the larger the number the larger the blade is, this tool is used to cut out parts of the linoleum block that you don't want to be printed in order to make a stencil like image similar to the ones above
- Lino Block/ Plate - This is the material that you cut out of and make the stencil with and will later on roll ink over the top and print it to create your desired image or pattern
- Bench Hook - This is used to place your linoleum block on in order to safely carve out your desired image/ pattern , and after carving your image the bench hook can also be used as a ink plate to roll your ink on before rolling it onto the Linoleum plate/ block
- Brayer/ roller - This what you are going to use to roll out the ink over the linoleum plate to then be transmitted to a flat surface to create your desired image or pattern
For my experimentation of lino cuttings I am going to use the iconic imagery of the Mona Lisa. Spartacus' work explored the portrayal of women in the artistic landscape of the 19th Century, and that is exactly what Da Vinci's Mona Lisa was. It was considered a revolutionary painting made during the era of the Italian renaissance, her "fake smile" has recently been interpreted by art critiques as a symbol of masking, a trait of suppressing true emotion and "putting a face on" to please others something, that is traditionally a trait women throughout history have been expected to fulfil, as they are seen as a carer and should have to put others such as family, friends and loved ones before themselves. Since Da Vinci's time in the artistic world this piece can be seen in the famous art museum the Louvre in Paris, France. It can also be seen in many other art pieces and referenced in different film and media outlets. For example, Andy Warhol who is a famous artist and photographer famously known for his work screen printing particularly his prints of Marilyn Monroe, he mass printed the imagery of the Mona Lisa as a way of showing the mass use of its imagery has made it in a sense lost sense of meaning in society and the belief of commodified consumerism of how women have been constructed to suit the acceptance of a male dominated society.
Below is the piece of lino block that I have carved out in the inspiration of the image of the Mona Lisa:
First Attempt
Below are my first attempts at lino printing:
Above are my first attempts at lino printing. As you can see they didn't particularly turn out at the best of its potential. Theres barely any detailing in the face and certain parts of the the lino just wasn't cut deep enough so the ink seeped in and still ended up printing. I think a main cause of this failed attempt at lino printing, is the ink I used, as it was very liquid based and made the printing smudged and watery even after a long period of it being printed. I am going to have another attempt at lino printing with the same image and use a different ink and try and cut out the parts I don't want printed to see if it improves the quality of my images.
Second Attempt
Below are my second attempts at lino printing:
I feel as though these prints have slightly improved from my first attempt there is a slight improvement in the detailing of the linos, however, as you can see in the two images at the end it is apparent that there was too much use of ink and that the ink bled into parts of the lino I didn't want printed. As you can see above I also went the technical process of letting the ink dry on the lino so that as you gradually print more and more the image becomes more and more faded which was a technique explored in the works of Andy Warhol, in his most famous series of silk / screen printings, he mass reproduced images of Marilyn Monroe as a way of embodying the American mass consumer culture symbols in his work. I am going to slightly morph this conceptual idea of Warhols work and allows my pieces to focus on the portrayal of women in an artistic landscape and also how the social construction of gender has frayed or in other words faded the representations of women throughout history and in modern culture/ society.
Above are some extra prints I made whilst experimenting with different coloured card, to see if it adds to the imagery. In conclusion of my experimentation of lino printing, I don't think it is a suitable process to further use as a final outcome in my work. This is because as you can see through my attempts of printing, I haven't been able to achieve full technical potential of my images. This was either due to wrong use of ink or either using to much. However, I have enjoyed being able to experiment with a new method of printing, and exploring the work of different artistis such as Lucie Spartacus that have worked in the field of lino printing or similar methods of printing such as wood cutting.
