I’ve long enjoyed printed imagery. I have various books on my shelves of artists excelling at their craft - Kawase Hasui, Eric Ravilious, Angela Harding and Richard Shimell. But I’d never done anything myself beyond printing with stamps. Our local Waterstones had a leaflet in the window advertising Beginner workshops. So I went along this morning. I had a great time. Good hands-off tuition from Zara at Ginger Green Workshops - suggestions rather than directives - but always available to advise.

The two carved lino blocks side by side, the radiating leaf on the left and its inverse on the right

The theme was negative and positive. The aim was to create two matching blocks with the design inverted - so what is coloured on one is white on the other. I chose a leaf. This was a simpler design than any of the others did - others used candles, bees and geese. I carved the one with the negative space around the outside first, and then did the more mentally complicated inversion of that. Because mine was simpler, I finished carving sooner and got to make a lot more prints than everyone else.

First print with both blocks using black ink and positioned slapdash on the page

This was my first print, getting an idea of how they looked and what kind of pressure to apply.

Both blocks side by side using black ink

I decided that by keeping the blocks together as a pair I could get them aligned perfectly. I used this technique a few more times with a few more colours.

Both blocks side by side using a green ink

The green felt a bit bright.

Both blocks side by side using a brown/bronze ink

But the brown/bronze feels like a really gorgeous autumnal colour choice.

Test overprint of both blocks on one sheet, with a lighter black ink and the brown/bronze ink layered on top

Zara suggested printing one block over the other on the same sheet. Based on this print, I didn’t do a bad job of making the second block match the first as they stack pretty neatly.

Final overprint of both blocks on one sheet, with a richer black ink and the brown/bronze ink

My final print, putting a bit more black ink on and pressing down properly. Really pleased with how this turned out.

A great first workshop. Really enjoyable. Great location - in the Waterstones cafe. I think I’ll be taking those books off the shelf again, now that I know a little more about what goes into them. I’ve already booked my ticket for next week, which is “Tracing paper transfer”.