Linocut Birthday Cupcake Card

I wanted to make something special for a birthday that's due.  Nothing in the shops that I particularly warmed to and that old self-sufficient thing rose inside me.  I decided I'd make one.

I did some sketches of cup cakes with a candle in them, simplifying the sketch until I had a style suitable for transferring to a linocut.

It would be a little gothic, but that suits the person.  I'd colour it afterwards, in any case, to brighten it a little :)

I drew the linocut design on paper first, then traced over it with baking parchment in lieu of tracing paper.

I turned this face down onto the lino and rubbed its outline onto the lino's surface.  I drew over this faint outline to guide the cuts I'm to make.

I started making big cuts with the tools, removing large portions of the lino's surface, then finer cuts followed.

I had an idea to leave a lot of background.  I spread water-based printing ink onto the surface of a ceramic tile I had left over from the kitchen floor (!) Nice and smooth and washable.

I worked the blob of ink to a thin, tacky film with one roller and applied it to the surface of the linocut.

I tried a test sheet of paper to see the ink coverage and the effects of the cuts I'd made.  I used a second clean roller to apply even pressure to the paper covering the linocut, then peeled the paper off.

It worked well!

I repeated the inking onto the card this time - job done.  Almost done - I have to let it dry, then colour can be applied to the cupcake :) BEWARE - don't get too close to the linocut with colour paint:  it will make the waterbased ink run...  Update: I resorted to acetone spray to fix the ink.  That worked.