Block Print for Beginners: Learn to make lino blocks and create unique relief prints (2) (Inspired Artist)

Very nice book! Recommended to other printing beginners.

I already have experience of different printing techniques using a studio, but was looking at trying some simple designs to explore hand printing onto textiles at home. It was good to get back to basics but with ideas in a simple but interesting style, and using newer block materials. This book was just what I needed for ideas and straightforward instructions to do it at home. Great step-by-step pictures, and concise and clearly written instructions in good English. (So crucial - I've been intensely irritated and turned right off in some 'how to' art books by poor writing style that really gets in the way and not enough clear pictures. ) Nice ideas for exploring techniques progressively and then applying them further. I particularly appreciated that each project is written to stand alone with reminders of important steps in tracing or transferring images, and good advice for equipment and materials for beginners. I would recommend this book for beginners.

It's a great educational book with patterns for lino printing

Really enjoy using this book for ideas

A very good instructive book with very nice illustrations and photographs. I would recommend this book to people wanting to start lino cutting and printing.One criticism, is that most examples are floral based.A bit more variation would have made it perfect.

As someone who has never tried block printing before, this was a perfect primer. The instructions are straightforward with enough detail to feel confident it getting started. The projects are varied and fun, with lots of helpful photos. I borrowed this one from the library just to check it out, but I am ordering my own copy to keep for reference.

Easy to understand, clear instructions and beautiful photos that show the process and the results. Well worth the money for a beginner.

As a printmaking minor in college, I have collected a library shelf of beautiful books on the subject. I was not prepared for how good this book is. For a newcomer or an experienced printmaker, this book is beyond excellent. The best resource I have found on the topic. Well done.

I do block printing and wanted to get it to see if there was anything new to me in it. Plus, I wanted to see how good of a beginner book it is. It's pretty comprehensive on the basics. There's not much to carving a block other than getting a decent set of linoleum (Lino) block cutting tools and just digging in. Cut away what you do not want to ink, in other words whatever you want to show up on your print, cut around those areas. When you draw or transfer your image onto the block, remember it's in reverse. If you have words they must be put down on the block in reverse, the mirror image. There are several YouTube videos with instructions you can watch for a demo of how to do it. I use mostly my U and V shaped tools when I carve. You can buy mounted or unmounted linoleum as well as soft cut blocks. Because of my MS making my hands funky, I've started using mainly soft cut blocks and that's what is mostly shown in the book. The soft cut carve easier so they're great for beginners, kids, and people who have issues with their hands like I do. Also needed are a brayer (I prefer the soft roller brayers over the hard) to spread the ink onto the block, an inking plate with is something hard and smooth to roll the ink out on (I use a sheet of glass around 8" X 10" or 9" X 12" and it's easy to clean), and block printing ink. Water based block printing ink is the easiest to clean up. You can use the back of a wooden spoon to transfer the ink onto the paper or a barren. If you're just staring out, a wood spoon is fine until you see if you like it, then move up to using a barren if you'd like. I used a wooden spoon for years, then moved to a barren, now I use a printing press. Block printing is a lot of fun and worth trying out using this book as a guide. It's not that expensive of an art form to get into and great activity for the family. You may find that you have a passion for it and become a printmaker artist. I may even pull out my wood block cutting tools and give that another go. I have only done a few wood block prints and that was decades ago. This book is awfully inspiring. I hadn't though of cutting up my soft cut blocks into separate sections to ink them with different colors then reassembling them to print. So I'm going to definitely try that out. This really is a decent book on how to do block printing.

This covers a lot of ground on block printing. It's useful to get an overview of how it's done. But I felt it 'skipped' steps in carving. Meaning the author starts out in with a fresh block but very quickly in a short number of steps you're at the completed very detailed block. There are videos that show the carving process itself better. But this book is good for providing a broad look of tools and how a block print comes together.