About
Linocuts &
the Artist
Linocut & Printmaking
About Linocut & Printmaking
Linocut is an old craft where you carve a motif in a material called linoleum. Linocut is a so-called relief process, which means that only what remains of the linoleum is printed, what is cut away is the unprinted area.
With a lot of patience and craftsmanship one can create detailed and large linocuts. The finished carved linocut is cleaned and then rolled in with linocut ink so that the motif can be printed on paper. This requires a lot of strength and good technique when printing by hand. If the work is done neatly, the result is a flawless linoprint. The paper is specially selected for each design, often handmade paper, which harmonises very well with each unique lino print.
After the lino print is printed by hand, it is hung to dry for a few days. After it has dried, each print is hand signed by me.
The process of the printmaker
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Design
At the beginning of every lino print there is a conceptual idea, which leads to a draft in many time-consuming sketches. When the design is in it is final phase, I start with the final artwork. Every design should not only be aesthetic, it should convey a message and emotions. Each design is also a part of me. A part of flora & fauna, to protect and accept these creatures.
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Carve
First the finished design is transferred onto the linoleum plate, there are different methods. Mostly I transfer the design onto transparent paper with a pencil, this paper is traced upside down onto the linoleum block, the pencil lines are transferred. Then I prepare my carving tools, sharpen them and start carving. Carving is very time-consuming and requires a lot of concentration to avoid mistakes.
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Print
The finished linocut is specially cleaned. The linocut ink is rolled out evenly on a plexiglass plate with a roller. Then the dried linocut is rolled in with the coloured ink. I take my prepared paper and lay it on the linocut. Since I don't own a printing press, I print each linocut by hand with the help of a wooden spoon and a folding leg. This hand pressure transfers the colour from the linocut to the paper.
The Artist
Handmade Linoprints by The Burrow Prints
The Burrow Prints is a one woman print shop producing high quality, limited edition prints using a traditional printing technique and selling international.
Her works are inspired by flora & fauna, the grievances and injustices of human behaviour towards nature. The viewer's attention should be drawn to the protection and tolerance of flora & fauna.
Some of the proceeds from sold prints are donated to the respective animal so that organisations can protect them.
Often native animals are aesthetically and mysteriously enclosed in plants as well as flowers and typography in a frame in their own world. They seem safely tucked away. Delicate detailed lines and the dark colours of the print give the works a familiar homely and also melancholic feel.
All works are created in her home studio in Brandenburg. Here they are designed, carved and printed by hand.
The Burrow Prints is a member of People of Print and The Printmakers Collective.
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About the Artist
Steffi Möbius Ehrlich grew up in Brandenburg on the edge of the forest and grew up with nature. Numerous beautiful green forests and lakes are her home.
She studied graphic design as well as communication design and media in the north of Germany at the Baltic Sea. Here she was out and about in nature a lot besides her work. Today Steffi is a graduate Diplom Designer and works in an agency in Berlin, but she missed the analogue craft very much and started with linocut besides illustrating. Today she is an enthusiastic linocut printmaker and lives again in the nature of Brandenburg.
If you'd like to find out more about The Burrow Prints and the process of lino printing, visit their FAQ page or check out their Instagram account.