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WAYWO: Making a Linocut Greeting Card [1]

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Date: 2023-01-15

I've been making my own New Year’s greetings cards since the 1990s. They're a Czech tradition dating back to the end of the 19th century these PF cards. The “PF” stands for Pour féliciter, a bit of French to congratulate, here used as more of a “best wishes.”

Lino cutting is a method of print making where the printing block is a fancy sheet of LinoleumTM glued to a hunk of wood and sold in arts and crafts shops for ridiculous prices— (or a discarded piece of vinyl flooring which is free for those brave enough to dumpster dive), which then has a design carved into its surface. What’s gouged away will not take any of the printing ink, so you're basically working your way around your design. The lines will be what you leave behind.

I began doing lino cutting when I was in elementary school— and then didn't do it for a decade or two. Okay, maybe three. Eventually, with a few of these PF cards done in various media (an ink line drawing, an acrylic painting ...) I decided to try my hand again at a linocut for my PF 2000 card. And since then I've returned to making a linocut card several times. Only once did I give people actual handmade prints— never again, not with our mailing list. Whatever I cobble together this year I'll digitally turn into a card-sized layout for someone else to print on some nice paper.

For this year’s card I perhaps got a bit too ambitious, making a larger scale piece with far greater detail than I'd ever attempted before.

The actual old hunk of vinyl flooring 45 cm x 51 cm when the cutting was nearing completion

I applied some ink to the unfinished block with a little roller and tried a test print.

I made a test print of one corner. You can compare it to the block above and see how things are reversed.

After doing the test print, I realized that I'd probably need the help of a friend who does a lot more of this kind of thing and actually owns a proper press— you know, for squashing the paper onto the inked block with massive, even force— quite unlike rubbing the back of the paper with the bottom of a spoon or a rolling pin.

Earlier this week, I finally finished gouging my sheet of vinyl flooring and called my friend. He didn't have time to help me with the printing until today. I decided to try a couple test prints on Friday.

First attempt. Fail. I swapped out the spoon for a rolling pin. The paper was too textured, my application of the ink too uneven.

Second attempt. Better. Still a failure. The paper was all I had and a trifle too small to get the whole border in. Uneven pressure and uneven application of the ink.

Maybe a couple more attempts and I'd get it, but I should get out and buy some larger format paper first before trying— and at this point, I'd soon be enlisting the help of an expert.

Still, I'm pleased with some of the details from that last attempt:

This morning I took my printing block over to my friend Pavel's studio. About all I did was cut paper and watch Pavel work.

Here Pavel has spread out a glob of black offset printing ink on a sheet of glass and, coating a roller with the ink, applies it to the printing block.

Then Pavel placed a piece of paper on the bed of the press, flipped the block and placed it inked side down onto the paper, covered the block and paper with a thick blanket of felt and ran the whole "sandwich" through a hand cranked press. Two screws at the top adjust the pressure that a rolling cylinder exerts on the bed and its passenger as it passes underneath.

Here about half of the attempts Pavel made are hung up next to some pieces of his own work that he'd printed earlier today

Perhaps the best of the lot. Not a great photo— taken in the studio while we were working. Uneven lighting and quite a bit of glare on the wet ink obscures part of the right side.

We packed up all the prints by placing them back to back and covering them with sheets of newspaper. The covered prints were then rolled up and secured with tape. I was given instructions to unpack them as soon as I got home and spread them out to dry— which they are doing in a room in the basement of our apartment building as I write this.

I'll hop down tomorrow morning to see how they're doing and sort them. I can already tell that I may want to piece together bits from different prints digitally. Like the dome on one of the buildings in the middle there is kinda blobby. The ink spread over the thin grooves detailing the dome. There may be a few blobs and splotches that I can't live with, but in general I'm pretty happy with the results. One fairly reasonable print was all I really needed. I could go back into the block with my gouge and deepen and widen the grooves that seemed to disappear most often and try for a better print, but I'm past the point of saying enough is enough— I mean, if folks are going to get my New Year's card before February …

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/15/2147239/-WAYWO-Making-a-Linocut-Greeting-Card

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