creating with megan: block print lettering

Hi there! This is Megan from Makewells, and I’m here today with a super fun lettering tutorial. I’m going to show you how to take your lettering from pencil to print…block print that is!

Here’s what I used for this project:

Soft leaded pencil (4B or 6B)
Paper
Tracing Paper
Linoleum block (here)
Speedball Block Printing Starter Set (here) (includes brayer, ink, cutting tool, and linoleum block)
Speedball Water based Block printing Ink (here)

1.) To get started, draw the word or phrase you’d like to use, and then using tracing paper and a soft leaded pencil, trace the word very neatly.

2.) Place the tracing paper on the block, graphite side down, so that your lettering appears backwards. Then, using a flat object, such as the unsharpened end of a pencil, and rub gently over your design. Make sure you rub every area that has your design. When you remove the tracing paper, your design should be transferred onto your linoleum block.

3.) Now carve out everything but your lettering. The starter set includes 3 sizes to carve with. I started with the wide tool and carved most of the block, avoiding the lettering. Once that was carved, I took the thin tool and carefully carved out the details. Once my entire design was carved out, I took scissors and cut away some of the excess block.

4.) Next, I laid a thin strip of speedball block printing ink across a flat surface, and then using my brayer, I rolled out an area until ink covered the entire brayer. Then, I rolled the brayer across my block print, making sure to cover my entire design.

5.) Lastly, I printed the design by laying it face down on my paper and pressing down firmly, but gently, making sure not to move the print. Then, I lifted it up off the paper and voila! There’s my print!