A Sketchbook Blog 002

For this sketchbook blog post I've decided to show you the process of making my lino cut zine 'Little Darlings'. For a while I'd been considering putting together a booklet featuring all of my bird paintings, but I also liked the idea of the book being completely original. Before creating this mini book I had given lino cut a go exactly three times so I wasn't expecting to create anything exceptional but when I printed the first editions I was pleasantly surprised!

So, for this project I started with sketching out four bird designs; a starling, robin, blue tit and sparrow. I then traced these designs onto a single piece of paper and created a draft version to see what the little book would look like. I then transferred my designs onto four small sheets of soft lino and carved each of them individually. I practised printing each after carving them to check I was happy with the design and then stuck the four tiles together and printed the finished designs.

To turn each print into a book I folded it in half and half again and then cut between the robin and starling. I then backed the front and back with recycled card and wrote the titles on the front.

Again, let me know on Instagram whether you're liking these blog posts and if you have any suggestions for which pieces I should talk about!