Production of Linos

I printed some circles off the computer so they would fit into a 30x30cm square which is the size of the lino pieces I have. I selected the one on the first page of this presentation because I thought the proportions would suit the contents well. After roughing out my final images in pencil at the correct scale I then put these on the light-box and traced over them in black ink using a brush so I had a pure black and white image. This is the first colour of my print. I chose to do this process with ink and brush rather than a pen because I feel like this would allow me to capture the hand drawn quality of the brush lines. I think that doing this stage with a fineliner or black felt tip wold have made the image too structured and precise. 

After this stage I used tracing paper to draw out the shapes that needed to be cut out of lino (the white areas) and then flipped this over and pressed onto it with a pencil to transfer the image onto the surface of the lino. 

Problems I have encountered - when transferring the images onto the lino I have realised that through the process of tracing and retracing, the ovals have ended up slightly bigger than they originally were. Therefore they don’t fit perfectly onto the square so to solve this I am having to make the borders slightly thinner during the cutting process. 

I have started the process of cutting out my linos which is taking a very long time. My cutter isn't very fine so I have having to be really patient with cutting out small areas. I have managed to cut out two of my linos with no slip ups but on my third I have cut away a very small area I shouldn't have. It is around one of the pearls in the necklace draped on the chair which means that the chain is disrupted. I have tried to build it back up with a small piece of lino and double sided tape but I am not confident that this will print as it isn't exactly at the same level as the rest of the surface. 

For the lino featuring the queen, the border of the image is a string of pearls too. Because of my slip up with the other set of pearls, I tried to think of another way to cut out each circle without making a mess of it and making them uneven. I thought about a hole punch but it wouldn't reach far enough into the image and the lino was too thick. I ended up using my granddad's really old belt hole puncher, there are different sized holes so I used the biggest to punch out each pearl. This means it has cut all the way through the lino but I don't see why this would be a problem in the printing process. It also means that all the pearls are all the same size. 

All my linocuts for my five prints are finished now and thats a big relief!
Next steps - I need to print some test pieces and see if there are any changes that need to be made before my final prints. I need to find out where my second colour is going to go as well.