I've been meaning to get carving on some linolium and finally got to it while developing new pocket notebooks. I figured why not mix the two. I thought I'd go with a simple solid feather and have been stuck on the idea of gold ink on black paper. I started by tracing the shape of the 3.5x5.25" notebook for sizing.

I scribbled graphite on the back, traced over the lines to transfer the image to the block, then got to carving.

Linocut Memo Books - image 1 - student project

I used an old block that was cut down in size with an abandoned drawing on it laying down the image diagonally to make it fit:

Linocut Memo Books - image 2 - student project

I'm printing this on a 10x15 C&P Craftsman letterpress. I shimmed up the block to bring it up to type height to print on the press. Here's the inked block locked up in the chase:

Linocut Memo Books - image 3 - student project

Once I made all the cuts, I was sure the feather would be too large after cutting the booklets down and also thought I messed up enough of the cuts to ruin the overal print.

Turns out the print came out beautifully. It took a little extra impression to get solid coverage, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. I pulled prints on French Paper's Black Licorice 100# & Night Shift Blue 80#. In additon to printing the memo book covers, I also printed some 5x7 prints while I had ink on the press.

Linocut Memo Books - image 4 - student project

This was a really fun project and I'm already looking forward to my next linocut. Thanks for putting this class together, Jon. I had a blast!

Linocut Memo Books - image 5 - student project

Corbin Watkins

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