Laura Boswell ARE – Printmaker

#linowithlaura
Step by step guide to creating a lino reduction print

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During the COVID-19 pandemic while so many people are stuck at home I thought I would post a series of videos about how I make a reduction linocut print. I hope you find them useful.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep.1, Series Introduction - This introduction explains a little more. If you’d like to say thanks for these films and help us to fund more, including a Japanese woodblock series, please chip in with a donation https://www.lauraboswell.co.uk/donate

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 3. Techniques and Ideas when Drawing and Designing for a Lino Print - This video looks at the way I approach designing a linocut and how I draw. It is a very personal method, but it works for me.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 2 Design Drawing: Pencils, Pens etc! - This video shows what I use to create the drawing prior to cutting the lino

Traditional Artist's Lino: Why I prefer to use it it for my Linocuts - In this video I talk about my reasons for using traditional artist's lino rather than any of the alternatives and how it improves my cutting, why it goes hard and other tips and hints.

Linocut: Techniques For Preparing Traditional Lino for Cutting and Printing - Staining, Sanding and other tips for getting lino prepared for easier cutting and cleaner printing.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 4, Printmaking Papers: Choosing the Right Paper for a Linocut Print - Things to think about when choosing the printing paper for a linocut reduction or multiblock print.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 6, Drawing and Design for Linocut Printmaking - This video is about drawing for printmaking and how and why I draw depending on each specific print.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 5, Linocut Printmaking: Printing Inks, Additives and how to use them - In this video I talk about Ink, explaining why I use the oil based inks I use for lino printing and a little about some of the additives I use to improve performance.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 7, Tour of Laura Boswell's Printmaking Studio - In one of the comments for a previous video I was asked for a studio tour - and here it is! Complete with a guest appearance from Doris: one of our cats.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 8 , Linout Techniques: Preparing Lino & Transfering a design - This video is about how I transfer my design drawing from paper onto the prepared lino. to make my reduction linocut There are many way of doing this, but this method is the one that suits my way of working best.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 10 Types of Cutting Tool for Linocut Relief printmaking - This video is about the tools I use to cut lino (and woodblock), from a collection of inherited tools from my mother-in-law's father, to cheap and cheerful amateur tool-sets.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 11. Linocut Tools: Honing Techniques for Sharper Cutting - This video is about how I keep my lino and woodblock printmaking tools razor sharp on a day-to-day basis by honing - includes a hack if you can't get the proper kit using materials to hand!

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 9 Mark Making on Traditional Artist's Lino - This video is about different ways that I make marks on my lino. I use a variety if methods including paint brushes, dip pens and chinagraph pencils.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 12, Cutting Lino Techniques part 1 of 3 - This is the first part of three about the techniques I use to cut traditional Artist's lino to create my personal take on reduction linocut printing

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 13, Lino Cutting Techniques part 2 of 3 - This is the second part of three films showing how I cut lino to create my personal take on reduction linocut printing

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 14, Reduction Linocut Cutting Techniques part 3 - This is the final part of three about the way I cut lino to create my personal take on reduction linocut printing (other methods are available!)

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 15 Linocut Printing: How to use Extender with Relief Printing Ink - In this video I talk about extender, a colourless printing medium used to make lino ink less opaque.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 16 , Rollers (Brayers) for Printmaking: Types of Roller and Maintenance - In this video I look at the range of printmaking rollers I use for lino and explain the differences between the different types plus caring for your rollers/brayers

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 17, Reduction Lino Cut: accurate registration on my Albion press - In this video I introduce my big Victorian Albion printing press and talk about the way that I get accurate registration for the multi-layered reduction linocut prints that I do.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 18 , No Press Registration Device for Table Top Printing - Our registration device for perfectly aligned prints every time. How it works and some of the tricks and hacks you can employ to get the most out of it. Our registration Devices come in two types: for hand printing or for use in a press. Standard devices will print lino up to A4 size and we can make bespoke sizes to order. They are available at my website: http://www.lauraboswell.co.uk/shop.php

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 19, Planning A Reduction Linocut, Design Hints and Tips - In this video I talk about some of the things I think about when designing a print, both practical and aesthetic.

How to create a Deckled Edge for Paper and a workaround to use it in Printmaking - Really nice paper often has a lovely rough edge that comes from the frame in which the paper is made, called a deckle. It looks great, but it presents a few challenges when linocut printing and in this video I talk about how to work with a deckled paper.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 20 , Printing Techniques: Fine Thin Inking onto Delicate Paper - In this video I finally get around to putting some ink on the paper. this may look a little alien to some linocut printers, but the super fine, faint layer that will be the background of the sky barely shows at this stage.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 21 Printing Techniques: adding a graduated colour Layer to a Print - In this video I will be adding a graduation to the sky that I printed yesterday. Inspired by my time learning Japanese woodblock printing, the method I use is related to 'Rainbow rolling' but is something I have adapted to suit my style.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 22, Linocut Cutting Techniques: Mimic a Brush stroke - I am painting onto the lino with white watercolour to create a brushwork cloud in my sky which I will then cut around before I print the next layer on my linocut

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 23 , Fine Detail Cutting for a Linocut Print plus hints & tips on tools - My previous video showed surprise success in painting a pleasing cloud & left me with some fiddly cutting to do, so this video shows a little of that and I talk more about tools and methods

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 24 Mixing ink with extender for Linocut Reduction Printing - In this video I talk about the ink I am mixing for the delicate cloud I am going to put into the sky in my lino print

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 25, Linocut Printing: adding a Subtle Bleed of Colour - It may sound a little mad, but this video shows me adding a white graduated layer to my white cloud. The important element of the process is the opacity of the layers, to create depth in the finished print.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 26, printing a Reduction linocut: white ink on delicate coloured paper - My reduction linocut prints are often built up with many layers of oil based printing ink, in this video I talk about why I do this and also answer a few viewer questions about editions that have variations.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 27 , Manipulating Pressure to Improve printing on a Press and by hand - When relief printing, in a press or hand burnishing it is important to think about the pressure you exert on your lino or woodblock. In this video I talk about the different things that I think about when I am deciding how much pressure to use.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep28 , Reduction Linocut Cutting Techniques and Planning Tips - Having printed a white layer on the far hill of my print I now need to cut some areas away from the lino to create the finer, shadow detail to make the print look like a hill rather than a white blob. I'll also be answering a few more questions I've had about process.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 29 Caring for your Oil Based Lino Inks - Today, in answer to a question from a viewer I am talking about leaving inks overnight to continue in the morning. I should point out that this is specifically about using traditional, oil-based relief printing inks. For other types of ink the answer would be very different.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 30, Creating Distance in a Reduction Linocut Print - In this video I talk about the additional layers I am adding to the hils in my print. This is to create texture and depth in the finished picture.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 31, Cleaning up Oil Based Printing Ink for Linocut Printmaking - Today, in answer to another question from viewers, I am talking about cleaning up my inks at the end of using them. I should point out that this is specifically about using traditional, oil-based relief printing inks, though I do refer to Safewash ink. For other types of ink the answer would be very different.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 31, Linocut Reduction Printing: inking wet on wet in different colours - A painterly approach to inking a layer of my reduction lino print. In this case there are 3 elements to the layer, a very pale shadow, a second layer of white on the tree and then, wet over wet, a slightly darker shadow defining the further hill.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 32, Mixing inks and Extender for Linocut printing: Lively Greys - In this video I talk about the way I mix lino inks and extender: my personal views on how to get grey and a bit about the use of colour saturation in depicting distance.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 33, Printmaking Tools Sharpening, Whetstones, Diamond Stones, Stropping - I need to keep my tools sharp and this is an overview of some of the sharpening equipment that I use to do that. The next video shows how I use these Diamond Stones and the wetstone which are my favoured tools

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 34, Sharpening your cutting tools for linocut and woodblock Printing - This video shows how I keep my cutting tools sharp. I'm not an expert, but I can get my tools sharp enough for my needs, and that's reall all that any of us have to be able to do!

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 35, Cutting and Printing a Linocut Reduction Print: the tree trunk - As my lino print nears completion the emphasis changes to adding the kind of detail that will create depth and realism

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 37 Cutting and Printing a Linocut Reduction Print: the final details - In this video I am cutting into the meagre remains of my lino, now almost all gone, to put a few shadows into the landscape. At the end there is a teaser of the final printing layer, but to see the result you will have to watch my next video!

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 36, Cutting and Printing a Linocut: the penultimate layer - This video is specifically about creating distance by manipulating contrast, using brighter whites and darker greys in the foreground and softer versions in the background,

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 38, The big reveal: My Finished Reduction Linocut Print - My finished linocut print on Kitakata washi paper from Awagami Factory. This is a reduction print with heavy use of extender and is available from my website at www.lauraboswell.co.uk

Fundraiser to keep making videos - Enjoyed #linowithlaura? We’d love to make some more printmaking tutorials and have more live-streaming - but we need a bit of help from you. If you’d like to say thanks for our recent films and help us to fund more, including a Japanese woodblock series, please chip in with a donation https://www.lauraboswell.co.uk/donate

Isolation, interruption by Doris the Studio Cat - Well, this video shows an extra challenge that we had during the filming: the constant 'photo-bombing' from our mischievous little cat Doris, who, in her lust for affection and attention would visit us in the studio.

Reduction Lino with Laura Ep 40 Framing Techniques for A Linocut Print with a Deckled Edge - For this video Ben and I have changed places, I'm doing the filming and Ben is framing the print: floating in a 'box frame'. We thought about doing this as as a tightly edited film, just showing a tiny bit of each process, but instead we decided to show the process in full. We are very proud of the quality of our framing :) it's well over 50 minutes, so you may want to watch it in a couple of sections. Ben and I chat about methods and materials along the way.

What I do in the Shadows: lino inks and extender for transparent tones - I'll be using my current print - a reduction linocut of Duncansby Head in Northern Scotland - to illustrate using very extended grey in a variety of tones to create depth. I'm also discussing the order of printing and how to bring a print together to make the landscape look convincing. The video that explains extender is here https://youtu.be/QrvGAUBc3Hw and I'll be filming the final layers of this print so do subscribe if you'd like to see how it turns out!

Last Layer on the Linocut: Make Sure it's a Happy Ending - Cutting and printing for the final layer of 'Sun on the Stacks'. This video is all about keeping the print balanced and avoiding clumsy layering where layers of colour look intrusive or unnatural. This print is now up for sale in my gallery at https://www.lauraboswell.co.uk/printgallery.php.

Multiblock Reduction Linocut: Why Bother? - Why bother indeed? In this video I'll show you how to combine multiblock lino with reduction, a couple of tips on avoiding mishaps and explain why I do it and what you could get out of this method. The artist referenced is Alexandra Buckle - you'll find process pictures of her work on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/alexandra.buckle/?hl=en

Nobody would want my drawings! From design drawing to finished reduction linocut - My designing process is one of feeling my way with many corrections and a lot of editing - shifting whole areas of the work around and constantly changing and adapting the design. I am using simple pencil and paper followed by Polydraw 0.50 tracing filme. Then I use a good quality carbon paper to transfer the drawign to my traditional artist lino. The scene is Wastwater in the Lake District UK.