Free Sample
The Purple Guide to Learning Linocut Printing in 10 Days
A 10-day starter plan to carve your first block, print it by hand, and decide if linocut is your next long-term craft
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: First Day
Welcome. This is day one of your ten-day experiment with linocut printing, and I'm going to be honest with you from the start: you are not going to carve a masterpiece today. That's not what today is for. Today is about getting your hands on the tools, making a few marks, and understanding what this craft actually feels like before you invest any more time or money in it. By the end of this first session, you will have a small carved piece of linoleum that you made with your own hands, and that's a real win. Let's get there together.
First, let's set the scene. You don't need a studio for this. You need a table that's not your best dining table, a decent light source, and maybe an hour of uninterrupted time. You'll be making some crumbs of linoleum — it's a rubbery, slightly fibrous material that will shed little bits as you carve — so a cloth or an old newspaper on your work surface is a good idea. You'll want to be seated at a height where you can look down at your work comfortably, because you'll be looking at it for a while.
Now, the tools. On day one, you don't need the full professional set. You need one thing: a carving tool with a small V-shaped blade, often called a "V-gouge." If you've bought a starter kit, it might have several heads that screw into a handle. Find the smallest