"Owl" by Liz Chaderton
“This is a hand carved and printed lino cut of an owl. We have little owls in the trees where I live, which make a racket, however this handsome chap was in captivity and flying at our village fair. This particular form of lino cut is called Chine Colle, which means Chinese collage. First the lino is carved back-to-front. You then cut the backing patterned paper to fit the shape. Next comes the super tricky part - you ink the lino and place it face up, then you apply glue to the reverse of the patterned paper and carefully (very carefully) place it face down on the inked lino. Next you line up the backing paper and run the sandwich of lino and paper through the press. I use a table top roller press, so you have to be careful that nothing slips. And the moment of truth! You pull back the covers and lift the paper. If all has gone to plan you get an interesting print and the collage paper has been stuck down in the process. You end up inky and gluey, but the images look fab as they hang on the line in my studio to dry. The joy of this process is that no two prints are the same.”
