Lino Printing Tools

Lino printing setups can vary depending on the size and quantity of prints you want to produce, the quality of the print is determined by the setup too. You can find a list for all of the needed equipment for lino printing below with links to buy the products online.

If you are starting out with lino printing you can get started with the below list of tools without spending too much money:

• Wooden Spoon
• Printing Roller
• Lino Printing Inks
• Lino Printing Paper
• Pencil
• Rubber
• Ruler
• Lino Cutting Tools
• Perspex Sheet to Roll Ink Onto

When it comes to the tools you use for cutting lino, it can depend on a number of things, including the budget you have to work with. This will obviously affect the quality of the tools available to you. Below, we’re going to look at a mixture of tools from cheap tools to more premium rated tools. From red handled lino cutting tools that allow you to change the size of the cutting tool to more expensive, dedicated options, here’s our run down of the best tool selection out there:

Speedball Lino Cutters

These are usually one of the first tools that artists use as they’re cheap and super versatile. The blades can be swapped and replaced as and when needed. Usually priced under £10, these are worth far more than the little amount they cost.

Essdee Lino Cutters

The Essdee lino cutters are a definite essential. Much like the Speedball, the Essdee is versatile with interchangeable blades on an ergonomic handle. Incredibly well priced too. Great value for money.

Power Grip Carving Tools

Power Grip carving tools are made in Japan by Mikisyo. They have sharpened steel blades with a handle that fits nicely in anyone’s grip. With a range of ‘U’, ‘V’ gouges, straight chisels for woodwork and a skew knife, these cutting tools offer it all and are step up from the Speedball in terms of quality. The blades on these tools need to be sharpened by a water stone or honing block.

Pfeil Palm Carving Tools

The Pfeil Palm carving tool is incredibly high quality, made for wood and lino cutting. This Swiss-made tool can be categorised by the mushroom or pear shaped handle. While more expensive, you can save by buying as part of a set.

Josei Moku Hanga Tools

Considering the quality of the Josei Moku Hanga tools, these are great value for money. They come in a variety of sizes and despite heavy use, can last you a number of years. You can also cut the handle to fit your own hand, making it an even more perfect fit.

When it comes to choosing the right lino printing roller, it can often feel a little daunting. There are so many different sized rollers out there, rollers for different uses and even rollers for different budgets. There are also your own preferences to take into consideration and it’s these preferences that can have a heavy influence on the rollers that are best suited to you.

To make the process of choosing the right roller a little easier, we’ve compiled a list of different rollers, from cheap rollers to Speedball rollers and of course a few premium quality rollers. We’ll factor in everything from whether the roller is hard or soft, the roller’s circumference, its width as well as whether it’s suitable for block printing onto fabrics too. Let’s take a closer look:

Abig Roller

The Abig Roller is a small roller with a circumference of only 6.5 cm, sitting at just 6cm in width. Its wire handle acts as a stand and the rubber on the roller has a little give in it, making it far harder to make roller marks – a huge benefit. Inexpensive, easy to clean and especially great for small relief prints. A great addition to any printing kit.

Red / Black Lino Roller

Red lino rollers are quite the classic. They’re offered in a variety of widths from 50mm to 200mm and come in 10 cm circumferences. Much like the Abig roller, they’re very affordable so make a great entry level roller. This roller is much harder than the Abig too so won’t leave any deposits in recesses of the block however, could cause roller marks.

Speedball Soft Rubber Roller

The Speedball soft rubber roller comes in a width of 10cm and has a circumference of 11 cm. This soft roller also boasts a ‘pop in’ mechanism allowing the roller to be made free of its handle for cleaning. While the soft roller allows for even distribution of ink, it can also get a little stick but overall a great roller.

Deluxe Rubber Roller by Speedball

This particular roller comes in three widths from 1.5” through to 6”. Its circumference is 10 cm regardless of the width and the soft roller provides a great even distribution of ink. It can become sticky after using solvents to clean it however, this doesn’t affect its use. The most popular of the bunch being the 1.5”.

Japanese Hard Rubber Roller

Put simply, these rollers are wonderful to work with. They come in 30mm, 100mm, 165mm and 210mm and all boast a circumference of 15 cm. This is a high quality roller giving you a lot of bang for your buck. The rollers do rock a little from side to side however, this doesn’t affect its use. All rollers come boxed separately from their handles too but are relatively easy to put together.

Japanese Soft Rubber Roller

Just like their harder counterpart, the soft rubber Japanese roller is available in all the above mentioned widths however, have a much softer rubber. Once again, this is a high-end roller and excellent value for money. All boast a wooden handle, bar the 30mm roller which has a plastic one.

Hawthorn Inking Roller

This is a particularly great all-rounder of a roller. It’s 15 cm in width and has a circumference of 17 cm. It’s heavy and robust yet the rubber is soft. This roller is particularly high quality for the price you pay.

To print your linocut you will need to use something to apply pressure to the inked lino and paper, this could be a wooden spoon, barren or printing press. Most people won’t have access to a printing press, so a barren would suffice and if you are on a budget a wooden spoon should do the job. You need to apply a lot of pressure evenly to get the best results for your print to come out well.

Speedball printing baren.

If you have the time and materials you can also try building a press to use at home, a user on reddit built this press.

There are a variety of other miscellaneous tools that come in handy for lino printing, some of which you may already have.

TOOLS TO ADD TO LIST

• Perspex sheets
• Tissues
• Blue Roll
• Pencils
• Rulers
• Block to stop lino from slip[ping with hand guard
• Rubbers
• MDF Board to back lino
• Stanley Knife