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So, last year I made my own holiday cards. I did some sketches of an idea I had about two people walking through a birch forest in the winter. I wanted white trees on a darker background, maybe with a splash of color.
When I had a sketch I liked, I decided how to best translate my image to a card. Then, I transferred a completed drawing to a couple different pieces of linoleum (multiple colors mean multiple templates). Next I did some test prints on different colors of scrap paper. I found a black background too stark and spooky, but a cool grey looked just right with my red caped and black shodden folk as they travel to their winter destination.
I made about 45 of these 4.25" x 5.5" cards, and sent out around 20. I packaged the rest up for sale and have waited until today to release them on
my Etsy site, and to reveal the "how I made this" process here.
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I started by creating a frame to hold my linoleum.
Nothing fancy, I use what is at hand - in this case cardboard.
Since my linoleum isn't on a block, cardboard is a fine depth.
I outline my piece of linoleum on the cardboard,
and cut out the rectangle so the linoleum fits snug within. |
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Adding white ink to my brayer. |
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With my linoleum in the frame,
I drop down a protective cover for the edges, and began to roll. |
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I lift the protective layer up
so I can place my card on a clean surface. |
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Aligning my card stock with the inked linoleum.
A white bit of paper covers an inked area I didn't want to print. |
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A brayer will apply an even pressure to the raised areas of linoleum. |
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A bone folder works well if you don't have a brayer,
or if you need to focus on a spot that didn't print well. |
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And of course, you can use a spoon in a pinch. |
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The result of my print. |
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Next, hand-painting my people! |
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Ready, |
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Set, |
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Go!
I actually flipped the card over
and used a small bone folder to print my people. |
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Here's how they printed... walking down the path. |
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Ta-da! |
Check out the finished product listing on
Etsy, as of right now there are three sets left, each has 5 cards.
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