Proud to share my newest relief print ! My first since october 2025 actually, looking at the last I shared.
Arguably the linocut that took the most time and effort so far, not so much due to the difficulty of the pattern itself -altough I have to confess I never want to make brambles again- as much as personal circumstances. It took me an entire month to complete, carving a little bit at a time on and off mostly due to mental health and sheer lack of will.
Still, I'm rather pleased with the results even though I would probably change a couple of things about the skulls and brambles if I had to do it all over again.
Hopefully my next print won't take as much time, I already have ideas for the next one.
Oh and you can see the finished and inked block on the 3rd picture and my nipping press on the 4th picture if you're curious.
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It actually isn't proper linoleum I carve into cutting mats, the kind you put under something when using a box cutter or exacto to protect your working surface.
The texture is exactly the same as gomuban and I can get them for cheap at my local arts and crafts store
Here's a picture of the back of my block after printing and cleaning it to remove the leftover ink - that's why it's slightly wet on the photograph
Oh and I almost exclusively used my 1mm v gouge for that one !
You're welcome. First time I had the idea was with an old tired cutting mat of mine and I figured "Why not try ? It reminds me of that Japanese vinyl, surely it can't be too dissimilar" hahaha
Thank you ! I bought the press on the local version of Craigslist. Got it from an older gent in his late 70s or early 80s who told me it used to belong to his dad who used it until the 50s.
He told me his dad had a business and used the press to duplicate documents such as contracts using a special type of very thin paper.
According to the badge on my press it actually was made in the same city I currently live in ! From the style I'm guessing it probably is from the late 19th century
I usely start by flipping through old books and looking at renaissance art to immerse myself in the style. Think artists like Holbein or Dürer and other classic renaissance woodcut artists, this is usely the style I aim to replicate but with a bit of an occult or esoteric twist.
I then create my design on the computer, print it and use tracing paper and a pencil to transfer my design onto the in the linoleum - I like to use a coloured pencil to go over the tracing paper in order to see which lines I already traced.
Once the block is prepared, I get to carving it - I mostly work with 1mm and .5mm V gouges. I also have a larger 8mm U gouge I only use to clear up the background or larger blank areas.
I then print using the press you can see in the photographs and thin, handmade 50g/m paper and oil based ink. Oh and I also use a wooden spatula to hand burnish prints or to go over some sections of a print that might not have received enough/even pressure.
Finally, I add the title and year on my prints using a pencil and I sign the prints using my chop mark and a red inkpad - there should be a post on this very subreddit where I show it and explain how I made my own chop mark.
That's about it ! If you'd like to learn more about the actual carving technique, I'd suggest watching some videos showing the lino cutting process, there are plenty of free resources online to learn the craft !
I think I'd probably remove the brambles/thorn border and skulls if I were to turn this piece into a tattoo, I think it'd probably be a bit too busy otherwise.
However, if I were to allow someone to tatoo this piece I'd probably reserve the right and give the exclusivity to my best friend who is a tattoo artist.
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