This past weekend, Slow Industries’ Education Outreach Coordinator, Sarah Vogel, taught a two color linocut class at the ever popular Evanston Print & Paper shop. And what a class it was! Six industrious workshop participants carved and printed like crazy to finish six pretty amazing prints. Read on for more pictures and stats!
Everyone in the class quickly decided to print with very classic Chicago colors – light, bright blue and a bright red – and then ended up with a third, maroon color where their two blocks overlapped.
There were only two minor linocut carving injuries. Bandaids were applied, and everyone soldiered on.
Above, the block for printing all of the blue portions of the owl. Because the class was so fast-paced, there wasn’t much time for prints to dry between runs. That’s why you can see some of the red (which we printed first) transferred onto this block.
Everyone made fabulous use of linoleum’s textural possibilities, particularly in the negative spaces. Here, the red texture overlapping with the tree trunk makes for a slightly spookier, more atmospheric tableau.
A lovely dragonfly! It was particularly impressive that everyone finished carving their two blocks, not to mention two print runs, all within about five hours. Some people even had time for a lunch break.
Another red block.
Its matching blue block, turning a little purple.
Look at that registration! Spot on. Everyone did a great job making sure the images on their two blocks were aligned as carefully as possible, which prevented any tears from being shed during the actual printing process. A rousing success, if we say so ourselves. All the participants deserve a round of applause, and maybe an ice pack or two for their cramped fingers and sore wrists.
Tags: class, evanston print and paper, Letterpress, linocut, workshop
