A linocut Christmas present

My daughter asked me recently for a linocut print of flowers, specifically Chrysanthemums. I scoured the internet for inspiration and came across an amazing woodcut print by the artist Katsushika Hokusai . I loved the simplicity of the design and fiddled with it a bit to fit my 6x8" Japanese Lino block, changing it up just slightly.

Carving this block was a joy. The style of the original woodcarving and other work by this artist has really given me the motivation to look at my own flower photographs, of which there are many, to see if I can turn those into this style of print.

Woodcut by Katsushika Hokusai

Drawn on paper

Transferred to lino

Carving stage

Just the 3 copies printed

Printed it with Calico Safe Wash ink in Prussian blue and printed on the Xcut Xpress.

Finished Christmas cards

I finally got round to finishing this years Christmas cards and I'm really pleased with how they've turned out. 

I tried the Chine Colle but it didn't work on the card stock I was using, it buckled and warped but its another good learning curve. 

Stupidly I also didn't spend long enough working out which bit of the card to print on and ended up printing the first 10 cards on the back and not the front, but I've cut these up to use as gift tags.

Failed Chine Colle and printed on the reverse

Printed on the right side

I decided to hand paint the baubles in the end, as this particular print on the white card is a bit stark and boring without any additional colour.

Hand painted baubles

Printed on orange card and stuck onto 4" brown card stock

Finished cards

My favourite cards are the little orange 4" ones but I think just a plain print on the brown card would also look lovely. Next year maybe, I already have more than enough for my needs for this year.