After a numerous challenging attempts at carving, slipping, sweating profusely and slipping again, I decided to splurge and buy myself some quality carving tools for my lino-carving. Although I had my critical voice telling me “a bad workman blames his tools”, I also think that “you get what you pay for” and that spending money on art and creativity is always money well spent!
In fact, I bought two that made all the difference:
- A simple bench hook so not to have to hold on to the lino while carving – helps put all the focus on the carving, not stopping the lino from slipping.
- Some high quality linoleum cutters – yes, they were worth every centime, they feel lovely to hold, and cut through the lino like butter – what more could a person want?
I eagerly tried out my new tools and was quite happy with the result!
The Masters of block printing
One just has to type #linoprinting in Instagram to scroll through hundreds of beautiful, contemporary block-prints, but no two artists have inspired me more than block-printing masters Lynd Ward (born 1905) and Eric Drooker (born 1958). Genius.
Lynd Ward, God’s Man 
Lynd Ward, God’s Man 
Eric Drooker, The Great Flood 
Eric Drooker, The Great Flood