The lino printing process can be frustrating when things don’t go according to plan - it happens to all of us. I have a few easy tips to help you get that perfect print.

1. If you notice ink in some of your narrowly carved lines, and these details don’t print clearly, try inking with thinner layers of ink. Roll it on your linoleum block in several thin layers instead of one thick application of ink.

2. Before you peel your paper fully back from your printed block, carefully peek and check to see if there are areas that need more pressure. Go back and use a little more force on these specific areas, perhaps with the back of a spoon. If you notice a light spot, you might even be able to use a small brayer to roll a little bit of ink on the lino block where you don’t quite have enough. Then, you can reveal your whole print.

3. Are you trying to print on heavyweight paper with a baren or spoon? If so, try a lightweight paper, which will give you consistently better print results with less effort. I also have a separate blog post all about choosing a good paper when printing by hand.

Inking a Lino Block with a Brayer

Linocuts are carved and printed from blocks of linoleum. What exactly is printmaking linoleum made of anyway?

Frederick Walton invented linoleum in the mid 1800’s and artists have been using it as a relief printmaking material for over 100 years. It’s a versatile alternative to wood for printmakers. But, most people know linoleum for its use as flooring.

Printmaking linoleum is a relatively thin material, about 1/8” thick, and is available from art supply shops. For purposes of this post, I’m not talking about the soft plasticky blocks like Speedball Speedy-Carve and Speedy-Cut, but rather traditional linoleum. According to a major linoleum manufacturer, art linoleum is made out of the following ingredients:

• Linseed oil

• Natural rosin

• Wood flour

• Limestone

• Jute (the backing)

Battleship Gray Linoleum Blocks

Battleship gray linoleum is one of the main types of lino that artists carve and print and it’s the type that I’ve used for many years. It does come in other colors, though, like tan. In addition to thin sheets of linoleum, sometimes it comes glued flat (i.e. mounted) to a piece of wood such as MDF.

If you’re curious about the environmental friendliness of linoleum, this Scientific American article talks about some of the green benefits of linoleum flooring, which is essentially the same material as art linoleum, as far as I understand. And, here’s a video about how linoleum is made and a funny little video about its natural ingredients.

Finally, I’ve been inspired by online conversations I’ve had with folks around the world seeking information here on my website about the art of linocut printmaking during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you.

The original idea for this new cactus linocut print came from a planter of succulents and cactus that my wife made for me not that long ago. There’s one plant that always catches my eye - a thimble cactus with its pattern of spines.

Cactus Linoleum Block and Carving Tool

Cactus Linocut | “Spines” (2020)

I hand carved the geometric pattern in battleship gray linoleum with v-gouges. This radial pattern can be found elsewhere in nature, like on Petoskey stones that I see when visiting Michigan. The cactus I have is tiny so this lino block print, which is printed on 16” x 20” acid-free paper, is more than 10x its size. It’s currently available on Etsy.

I’ve wanted to do a test of papers for hand printing linocuts for a long time and I took it on this year. Though I almost exclusively print with a press, I know most readers and students print by hand, which presents its own challenges. When I help people troubleshoot their printing problems, the choice of paper is sometimes a factor.

There are some specific paper recommendations at the end of this post and I’ve included Blick and Amazon links because they're easy places to order paper. It can be hard to find good printmaking paper at a local art shop. Blick, in particular, has some helpful customer reviews to read if you want other opinions. If you click on their links and choose to buy something, I get a small commission (at no extra cost to you) since I participate in their affiliate programs. You can find more details about this here. But, if you have a favorite neighborhood art supply store, go there by all means or try McClain’s Printmaking Supplies in the US.

Testing papers for hand printing linoleum blocks

What to Consider When Choosing a Paper for Hand Printing

If you were to ask me what block printing ink I think is the best, I would give you a couple suggestions and feel pretty confident that it will work for you. Paper is a little different, though. There are so many different types of paper to choose from and what you have available will partially depend on where you live. So, I don’t think there is necessarily a perfect paper for hand printing. But I’m going to give you suggestions on what to look for in paper to help guide you. I’ll also provide some specific recommendations.

A Paper’s GSM

Choosing a paper of the right weight is really helpful for printing linocuts, woodcuts or rubber blocks by hand. When you shop you’re going to notice a term on the package or product listing called, “GSM.” This stands for grams per square meter and is a measure of a paper’s weight. The higher the GSM the heavier the paper.

Importantly, if you’re printing by hand instead of a press, you’ll probably want a light to light-medium weight paper. Say, between 30-120 gsm, though this is not a hard and fast rule. You’ll want to avoid really thick paper like Stonehenge (250 gsm) or Rives BFK (250 gsm) when printing by hand, in my opinion. I would say, though, that those two papers are probably my favorites when printing on a press.

To give you a frame of reference for paper weight, I grabbed my pack of inkjet printer paper and it says it’s 75 gsm.

Paper Acidity

A final print you care about should be printed on acid free paper that will ensure it will last a lifetime, give or take. Here’s a good glossary that defines technical paper terms like acid free, neutral pH and sizing.

Paper Color

I’m reviewing neutral color papers than range from white to tan. Some papers are not nearly as truly white as others!

Paper Size

Paper comes in all sorts of sizes and is sold by the sheet or in a pad. Make sure the paper is a good size for your prints to reduce the amount of wastage. Some paper is of such odd sizes I just don’t feel like it’s much use to me.

Paper Texture

Some paper is extremely smooth, while other paper has a more rough handmade feel.

Very generally speaking, lighter / smoother paper will produce more consistently crisp prints with less effort by hand than heavier / rougher paper.

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Papers for Lino Printing by Hand

I used a small abstract linoleum block for testing a selection of the most promising papers. All the papers were printed dry. The linoleum block printing supplies I used for the test were:

• Caligo Safe Wash Relief Black Ink - (read review)

• Blick battleship gray linoleum

• Speedball soft rubber brayer

• The back of a metal spoon and/or a Speedball baren to burnish the print

The following are papers that I tried in my studio and found to be worth experimenting more with when hand printing linocuts. I’ve listed them from lightest to heaviest paper.

Six of the printmaking papers I tested for block printing

The lightest papers will be easiest to print consistently by hand. But, you have to be a little more careful with them because they’re thinner. They crease easier, frustratingly, and if you’re too rough when burnishing your prints little bits of the paper can slough off the back.

• Kitakata (30 gsm) - a delicate tan paper that comes in 16” x 20” sheets. Beautiful, neutral pH paper that’s competitively priced but thinner than I usually use.

• Awagami Mingeishi (45 gsm) - comes in three different colors and in larger sizes than many other attractive options. The paper is a little more see-through than the thicker papers like Rives Lightweight.

• Yasutomo Sumi-E Painting Sketch Paper (71.5 gsm) - this is an inexpensive white paper that prints well and comes in pads. I’ve used this on rare occasions over several years. Good for proofing blocks.

• Awagami Shiramine (110 gsm) - a new paper for me and I really liked it. It’s off-white. A little on the thicker side, but still produced a nice crisp impression.

• Rives Lightweight (115 gsm) - is sold per sheet and comes in medium and large sizes. An excellent, all-around high quality paper. It takes a fair amount of pressure to get a solid print. Keep in mind that even though there are a couple neutral cream-ish colors, none are truly white, in my opinion. Also, this is not to be confused with the 175 gsm option. I’ve printed successfully with this paper on an etching press.

• Strathmore Printmaking 300 (120 gsm) - one thing that’s nice about this paper is it’s relatively easy to find in art stores and online. It comes in pads of a range of sizes so it’s ready to use when you buy it. The downside is that it’s about as thick a paper as I would recommend for hand printing. It’s on the upper threshold for weight. It will produce very nice prints if you burnish the print with enough force.

So, there we go, a roundup of some good paper options for hand printing linocuts. They each have pros and cons so one printmaker might find one paper type better than a different person, so please keep that in mind. It’s worth trying a range of papers to see what fits your printing practice and studio / home conditions.

Have fun printing and feel free to contact me with any questions!

In 2016, I did a large review of printmaking inks for use in linoleum block printing. One of the inks I tested was Akua Intaglio Ink. At the time, I gave it a “Honorable Mention” grade but said it wouldn’t be my first choice of ink.

Though it’s marketed as an intaglio ink, it’s not uncommon for printmakers to use Akua for relief printmaking and monotype. Last week, I stumbled upon some woodcuts I printed with Akua Intaglio Ink in 2016 and was disappointed to see that an oily halo had formed around some of the edges of the printed image.

Akua Intaglio Ink Review - Example of the Problem

You’ll notice the yellowy haze on the upper left section of the woodblock print. It’s almost as if the ink has separated. Interestingly, the halo doesn’t appear uniformly on the print. Perhaps certain ink colors are more problematic.

I’ve also found a linocut I printed as a side project in 2016 that has a similar oily haze around the edge of some prints. The prints on the thin paper have the oily halo, while the ones on heavier paper don’t. Also, the halo doesn’t appear by the black ink.

Importantly, these two affected prints were made in different printmaking studios, with different blocks, ink batches and papers.

I’m definitely not the first printmaker to have had this happen, as a reader alerted me to their problem with Akua and there are mentions of it online (here and here, for example). I checked out Speedball’s webpage for Akua Intaglio Ink and they actually mention this problem in their product FAQ. It seems like thin papers may be vulnerable to this problem, which would be consistent with my experience.

Over the years, I’ve rarely used Akua Intaglio Ink as I simply prefer other inks. It is popular, though, and seems to work for most people (the customer reviews at Blick and other retailers are good).

But, the ink does have this halo problem in limited situations. For that reason, I would be hesitant to recommend this ink for block printing, except for printing test prints and other work that doesn’t need to stand the test of time.

This year I began offering original linocut prints for sale on Saatchi Art. Having been selling my printmaking art on Etsy for many years, I decided it was time to branch out.

I’ve been creating a lot of new linocuts over the last few months and these are a few of the limited edition prints that are now available on Saatchi Art.

Deluge | Black and White Linocut Print

This monochromatic, contemporary linocut is printed on 30” x 24” acid-free paper and is a limited edition of two prints. It’s titled, Deluge, and I really enjoyed losing myself while carving the abstract sky, clouds and rain patterns. You can see some work-in-progress photos and videos on Instagram.

Deluge - Linocut Printmaking on Saatchi Art

In-Flight Meal | Original Lino and Pochoir Print

This is a small, one-of-a-kind print of an abstracted airplane meal that I recently finished. Maybe this speaks to my sadness of not having any overseas trips to plan and look forward to due to the current pandemic. But, who doesn’t need airplane food art in their life :). It was made with a combination of reduction linocut and stencil (pochoir) printmaking techniques.

In-Flight Meal - Airplane Meal Linocut Print

Land and Sea III | Landscape Linoleum Block Print

A modern landscape linocut print made with many layers of subtle but colorful overlapping linoleum prints. Number III in a series of original artworks exploring the changing light, weather and feeling of time spent on footpaths, hiking trails and outlooks along the California coast.

Land and Sea III - Abstract Landscape Linoleum Block Print

Please, give me a shout if you have any questions!