Woodland slumber, linocut & print beginner gift kit

Description

A limited edition gift box kit set for linocut & print. I created this kit box because I would love to receive exactly these items if I were at the beginning of a printing journey.

Presented in a woodland creatures gift box made from sustainable bamboo the kit has a printed paper band and a handprinted hedgehog postcard which I have enjoyed to print each one myself by hand. Let’s set the creative scene from the very start! Great as a gift, or as a set for yourself, this kit works for anyone looking for something creative & mindful. Linocut is a very accessible arts activity suitable age 11 upwards supervised due to sharp tools.

Made popular by Matisse & Picasso, linocut & print is easy to master with the right instruction, often taught in education as a gateway to other arts disciplines. The kit itself will inspire you to have a go. I hope this gives confidence which I have found with my students is often the first battle.

What’s included in the price?

The tools:
– A4 white trays x2, space on each to roll out 2 or 3 colours. Easy clean in soapy water, white plastic to show the true ink colour
– Wooden handle palette knife, Italian made. A fine pointed metal blade allows easy lifting of ink from pots to mixing tray, great to scrape the best ink, the dried bits! Recently I discovered that we can easily scrape any unused ink back into pots for later which isn’t possible with traditional tubes.
– Wood handle rubber roller (brayer) size 5.5cm
– Wood handle rubber roller (brayer) size 10cm
– Japanese bamboo baren, this item we use in place of hands or fingers will spread the pressure more evenly in the process of print pressing manually.
– Cutting tool set of 4 UK made handles manufactured by Essdee, each with a cutting blade (numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4).
– A canvas bag to keep your tool set free from damage and in a place you can easily find them.

The inks:
Water based Uk brand Essdee 30ml screw tins.
– Pumpkin orange
– Espresso brown
– Vintage teal
– Forest green
– Mustard
– True blue
These are also added as tints in smaller pots of 25ml
– Simply black
– Chalk white

The lino:
– a mix pack A6 size of 3 sheets, easycut blue, mid density dark grey, light grey traditional hessian backed.
– a larger 2 sheet pack size A5, easycut blue and mid density dark grey
– offcut practise lino, a sheet to help you get started, make plenty mistakes on here.

The papers & cards:
– 4 sheets of A5 size natural handmade 100g LOKTA paper from Indonesia.
– 10 sheets of A5 size KENT paper super smooth 190g weight
– 2 postcards off white colour, a vintage feel, send to friends!
– 10 pack 15cm x 15cm bright white 240g greeting cards with white envelopes

The templates & instructions & help:
– written instructions guide with hints and tips
– a brief example of mark making, use this to get started carving lines, curves, dots & dashes
– A4 sheet x 4 with 6 design ideas to copy, or find your own design (correct scale 1:1 for the lino provided)
– tracing paper to help transfer the template design to lino
– links how to get to my demo & tutorial videos

What you will need

At home:
– access to a sink
– rags/cloths for inky fingers and drying equipment
– scrap paper & pencil