There are many ways in which you can add colour into a single colour print; by hand tinting using inks or water colour, by over-printing onto a collage of coloured paper ( a technique known as chine colle), or by creating a stencil to print through.

On Saturdays workshop, these two single colour lino prints were transformed by printing a graduated colour through hand cut or torn paper stencils.

Usually the colour is added first and the paper is then over printed with the carved Lino block as seen in Nikki’s print of wild grasses.

Mari has experimented with her beetle print and you can see that she has over-printed her lino print with the stencil, now the block of solid colour sits on top of the detail of the beetle.

As the black ink of the detailed beetle was not fully dry, the coloured ink from the stencil has reacted slightly creating a mottled effect. This happy accident has had a striking effect, perfect for the beautiful reflective shell of a beetles hard armour.