Ancient History

Brandon and I went to visit my family a few weekends ago, and while at my mom's house, I picked up some of my old linoleum block prints. I thought I'd share them with you.

I first learned to carve linoleum about 2 1/2 years ago, in an art class in college. The final assignment for the class was to make a book (I hope to get more seriously into bookbinding as Nimble Toad grows) and fill it with some of our favorite techniques from the class. The book had to be cohesive somehow, not just a random collection of drawings. So, I decided to tell a story with pictures. The book included four block prints.

I tried to use the background texture to punctuate the actual picture.

The book tells the story of a girl falling asleep in class and dreaming about various things, including ninjas and Jedis.

This is one of my favorite charcoal drawings.

I used the theme of writing words related to the dream being illustrated across the page. It fulfilled the requirement of demonstrating my pen-and-ink skills. I know, it's kind of a cop-out to just write with the pen instead of draw, but I really disliked pen-and-ink.

Hilariously enough, I posed for a photo so I had something to go off of when doing that charcoal drawing:

Yes, I own Jedi robes.

Here are some of the block prints on the page:

Here she is, after waking up with a start at the end of class. She's a bit embarrassed.

The really exciting thing about finding these old prints was being reminded that there is a third type of linoleum! I've been struggling with beginners linoleum, which is too soft and too flexible, but can be cut into small pieces (which is great for the kind of work I do) and regular linoleum which has the right firmness, but is mounted on a wooden backing, which makes it impossible to cut (except with a band saw, which I do not want to bother with).

Check out the backing on the linoleum from my art class:

It's woven!

This is perfect! It's firm and sturdy, but it can still be cut down into smaller pieces. I need to find out where I can buy this. Does anybody have any advice for me? I'm going to send my old art professor an email right away. ^_^

Have a good week. Happy crafting.