Draw a dragonfly, in pencil, onto a sheet of tracing paper – make sure the design will fit onto the 10 x 10cm (4 x 4in) lino square blocks that you have cut.

Transfer the design onto each of your four lino block squares using carbon paper, which should be laid underneath the tracing paper.

Lift the carbon paper and tracing paper to reveal the dragonfly design on the lino. Strengthen the lines with a pencil or a pen if you need to.

You will end up with four identical lino blocks. The next step will be to cut each piece of lino in a different way.

Block One - Negative Cutting

Cut away inside your drawn lines. This will leave the design as a white shape on a printed background.

Block Two – Positive Cutting

Cut away outside your drawn lines – this leaves your design as the most prominent feature of the print. Use a larger gouging tool (5mm) to cut away the background around the design. This is the opposite method to the negative cutting shown above.

Block Three – White Line Cutting

Cut away the lines themselves.  You will end up with white lines on a printed background.

Block Four - Black Line Cutting

Cut away around the lines, leaving the lines only in relief (that is, standing out). Use a larger gouging tool (5mm) to cut away the background around the design. You will end up with printed outlines on a white background. This is the opposite method to the white line method shown above.

Once your cutting is complete, you will have four linocut blocks, each with the same design cut in very different ways. If you are unsure as to what areas to cut, please take a look at our example blocks here. Clockwise from top left: the negative cut block, positive cut block, black line cut block and white line cut block.

Make up a mix of the phthalo green and opaque white relief printing inks on a sheet of Perspex or glass. Roll the ink mix onto each individual block using a roller.

Lay each block on a cartridge paper backing sheet and lay a sheet of printing paper on top of the inked block. Use a wooden spoon to transfer the ink from the block onto a clean sheet of paper.

Lift the paper to reveal your individual print. Make a test print of each block to ensure no further cutting is needed.

If you are happy with the outcome of the individual prints, position your four lino blocks in a pleasing formation. Here, all four dragonflies are looking into the centre. To complete, print the full design onto a single sheet of paper.

The Finished Full Print

Clockwise from top, the prints show: white line cutting, positive cutting, negative cutting and black line cutting.