How Your Print is Made

Chances are you've come across this post via my Etsy shop.  This is a pictorial guide to what goes into making the card or print you were just perusing.  Shown is the process of making my "Bloody Hell" print, but the same steps apply whether I am making a print or greeting card.  The only difference is the size and the paper. Every single step is done by me, from start to finish.

Step 1: The design is made and outlined is soft pencil.

Step 2: The image is transferred and then outlined with marker so it does not rub away while carving.

Step 3: The outline is carved out to help prevent mistakes later.

Step 4: All of the linoleum is carved away around the design.

Step 5: The completed carving is brushed clean and checked for any bits that need fixed.

Step 6: The ink is rolled out with a brayer.

Step 7: The block is inked and ready to make one print.

Step 8: The paper is carefully aligned on the block and pressed over with a tool called a
baren, which helps distribute even pressure over the surface of the paper.

Step 9: The paper is pulled gently from the block.  This is where the term
"hand-pulled print" comes from.

Step 10: The print is complete! It is left to dry for several hours, is then signed and dated
and is ready to ship.

The only thing you don't see above is the beginning design stages.  Before the steps shown here, I came up with my design idea and drew it out by hand.  Most are inked out completely by hand then transferred directly to the block.  Images involving a lot of text, such as this one, are scanned or designed in Photoshop before being printed and transferred.

I hope this has helped you familiarize yourself with the process known as linocut or block printing!  If you have any further questions about my handmade cards and prints, don't hesitate to contact me via mt Etsy shop.

Stuff I Love: Trees

Yeah, yeah.  Not a very creative title today, I know, but I'm feeling kind of tired.  The long and short of it is here is some cool handmade awesomeness and art, straight from Etsy.  All of these things come from my favorites list.

This first one is a painted Victorian style silhouette, with trees inside from the shop, theblackbirdsings, which is the art of Natasha Newton.  I love this simply because it combines two thing I love to put in my art, clean lines and, well, trees.  If an original painting is a bit out of your price range, she also carries lots of other beautiful smaller things from moleskines to postcards.

Silhouette of a Lady with Branches

I adore TheHauntedHollowTree's prints, especially her trees.  They are so fitting to the name of her shop and are done very uniquely with the art of pyrography (woodburning).  The art is serene, subtle, dark and so absolutely elegant.

The Companions Signed Print

Okay, so this next one merely has a tree as the logo, However, Julia and her husband, at BelleTerre are not only local soapmakers (which makes me happy), but they make amazing, completely natural soaps while trying as hard as humanly possible to be totally green and organic in doing it (which should make you happy).  Eventually, I will stop buying their soap when I get good at making my own, but I hope all of you, who love natural soap like I do, will try a bar of theirs.

Lemongrass Shea All-Natural Handcrafted Soap

Finally, if there is one thing I love more than trees, it is my first morning cup of coffee.  I recently got a small espresso a machine with some of our wedding money and I start every day out with a latte and these mugs from marywibis would be the perfect size to hold one, with just a dollop of creamy froth peeking over the top.  (I also love that I, inadvertently, picked another North Carolina artists).

Set of Two Winter Mugs

This won't be the last of trees you see from my favorites, I'm sure.