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How to overcome artist and creative block
How-to Guides Sarah Ransome How-to Guides Sarah Ransome

How to overcome artist and creative block

Feeling stuck with your creative or artistic pursuits?

Don't despair - artist's block happens to everyone at some point. But there are effective techniques you can use to reinvigorate your imagination and get your creative juices flowing again. Read on for tips and strategies to overcome creative and artist block.

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How to Find Time to do Artwork
How-to Guides Sarah Ransome How-to Guides Sarah Ransome

How to Find Time to do Artwork

You have a busy full-time job or a hectic family life or both and alongside all the other daily chores and commitments, there simply isn’t time to do the arts and/or crafts that you’ve got your heart set on. 

I have set out some steps to build creativity into your life. I know it works because these are the steps I followed myself and I now have a regular art practice. 

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Beginners Guide To Lino Print: Choosing Linocut Tools and Materials
How-to Guides Sarah Ransome How-to Guides Sarah Ransome

Beginners Guide To Lino Print: Choosing Linocut Tools and Materials

Lino printing is a printmaking technique that involves cutting away parts of a block of linoleum with appropriate carving tools to create a design. The carved lino is then inked and transferred onto paper to create a print.

Lino printing requires a few tools and materials to successfully create the artwork and it can be daunting for beginners to understand the differences between brands. In this blog post I take a closer look at different lino printing tools and materials, as well as my own personal preferences, to help with the decision making process.

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How to create a reduction lino print
How-to Guides Sarah Ransome How-to Guides Sarah Ransome

How to create a reduction lino print

A reduction lino print is a method to create a print with more than one colour where only one lino block is used.

The printmaker carves and prints the first colour, then carves more from the same block before printing the second colour, then carves more from the same block before printing colour three. A reduction print can have as many layers as the printmaker would like.

In this blog post I describe the necessary steps to create a reduction lino print and provide helpful tips to ensure your reduction lino print is a success.

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Best Material for Lino Printing - Traditional Lino or SoftCut?
How-to Guides Sarah Ransome How-to Guides Sarah Ransome

Best Material for Lino Printing - Traditional Lino or SoftCut?

When most people come across lino printing, they start with a traditional lino block, but there are a variety of different surfaces available that you can use for lino printing. Once you start investigating all the different lino surfaces, it can become quite confusing.

In this blog post, I set out the pros and cons of each material to help you decide what you would like to use in your printmaking. I compared Traditional Lino, SoftCut by Essdee, Speedy-Carve by Speedball and Japanese Vinyl.

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