Printing 'Dungbeetle' in gold ink

This lino block of a Dungbeetle with its lovely ball of dung is one that I carved long ago and it has lived in a drawer for years - and then I had the idea to try it again with a bit of gold ink as I was printing some other gold prints...luckily it has survived well and printed perfectly still. Inked up it looks like an ancient relic to me with the gold. Plans now are to make an edition in gold, printed onto black Stonehenge paper and enjoy printing a lovely golden ball of poo!

Lots of lino printing events coming up this Spring...

I have just updated my website with some of the lino printing events that I have got coming up and it is a great list!   Take a look below or check them out on my site where all the links are sitting...I might try to fit a few more in too if I get the chance.

Workshop - Sunday 9th Feb - Lino Printing Workshop at We Make Bristol - suitable for all, an introduction to Lino printing using Bristol landmarks as inspiration.  Details HERE

Workshop - Tuesday 11th Feb - Lino Printing beginners workshop at my Studio in Bristol BS3 10.00am - 1.00 pm £30.00 - with snacks and tea/coffee

Try out the tools, make a lino block and print on greetings cards, gift tags, lovely printmaking papers etc - lots of help if needed, no drawing skills needed, just come and play.  Contact me on melaniewickhamlino@gmail.com to book a place/find out more...

Frome Independent - 1st March - I will be with my trusty suitcase, so come and say hello! First Frome Independent of the season...

North Wales Print Fair - Sat 7th March - Really excited to be heading to NORTH WALES PRINT FAIR at MOSTYN - will bring lots of lino prints, come and say 'Hello' - details HERE

Workshop - Sunday 29 March - at We Make Bristol - suitable for all, an introduction to Lino printing using Nature as an inspiration.

Southbank Arts Trail - 16 & 17 May - Southbank Arts Trail - My local Arts Trail in BS3 - always a good one!

Manchester Print Fair - 23rd May - Manchester Print Fait at Manchester Cathedral - lots of printy goodness, all day long!

Shopcreative Pop Up Market at Cabot Circus - 30 & 31st May - looking forward to this fun weekend in Bristol, lino prints, tote bags, enamel mugs - I will bring them all...

Lino Printing Workshops 2020

I have started adding a few Spring lino printing workshops to my website - keep an eye out...

They are suitable for beginners, improvers, craft explorers...so come along even if you think you can't draw or if you want to try something new - it is so much fun making your own printing blocks.

Website link is HERE

Feel free to send a message too if you can't make the dates that are listed or have something in mind as a project as I am often able to fit in extra slots at my studio in Bristol for some printy play!

Lino printing in gold ink

 Here is a peek at my Bristol lino print in gold coming up off the lino block - always a good moment when it has worked well.  I've started using gold ink for some of my lino editions and really enjoy the way it makes them look.  I think this lino print, with lots of little buildings, works really well in this colour way.  The gold does show up really well on white paper too, but this black Stonehenge paper is the one for me.

Lino Print fabric designs

I have often thought that some of my lino prints would work well as fabric designs and so have made a couple into repeat patterns and had them printed onto cotton - and I am so happy with it!

In the photo here are 'Pigeons' and 'Stars' - both digitally printed onto 156 gsm cotton in the UK, so fully washable and a great fabric weight for lots of different types of sewing project.

I have hand printed fabric with lino blocks several times and it can be great fun, but it is really time consuming and so makes the fabric more expensive (quite rightly as it takes a while!).  I hand printed my bedroom curtains with big birds and I love them so it was completely worth the process.

As these fabrics have been digitally printed I can have much larger quantities and so I have listed them in my ETSY shop if you fancy taking a peek.

I have no idea what projects might suggest themselves using this fabric (I am up for trying lampshades and PJ's first) so have listed a few different lengths as options to buy, but am really up for suggestions of what sizes of fabric would be useful...

Below is an amazing set of coin purses made by JoeJoeHandmade using my Pigeon fabric and I think they are just fab!  I love the contrast of the black and white with the zingy zippers.

I am really excited to see what else these fabrics turn into in the future!  Pigeons everywhere....

Greetings Cards

Great to get another delivery of my cards from ARTPRESS recently - including the new Christmas Card, yipee!

I'm so happy to have my lino prints on their lovely cards and it is great fun looking out for them in shops/galleries/museums as I travel around the country.  Do let me know if you spot any out in the wild...

Summer Lino Printing Workshop in Bristol

It's workshop time!

Always exciting - if you are based in Bristol then pop 18th August in your diary - Nature inspired lino printing...


Everything you need provided, including a lot of nature finds as inspiration - no previous experience or arty skills needed - we will print the designs onto cards, bunting, stationary and fancy printing paper - here is the link if you fancy booking in

New Dog lino print and Featured Maker on Folksy

Here is  a new lino print, freshly printed - Dog Disco

My sketchbooks are filled with dogs so it was only a matter of time before they all got together and had a party and here they all are.

This lino print was also great fun to cut out - all those twirly bits on the string of lights... but then I am happy cutting out lino prints anyway, however twirly.

The image happened during a weekend at an Art Fair - they had amazing twirly lights along the beams which I doodled all over my sketchbook and then I started drawing all the dogs who were visiting the Fair.  It was a particularly popular one for dogs and some very fine hounds stopped to say hello which was fun.  Somehow the dogs and the bright lights got mixed up together on the page and before I knew it the idea for Dog Disco had arrived.

I have popped it into my Folksy shop and right now I am their Featured Maker which is exciting - so to celebrate I have done one of those money off things.  Type in PIGEONPARADE15 as you go through the checkout bit and you get 15% off (until 9th June 2019) - hurrah!

Golden Pilea lino print

Really pleased with how my little Pilea friend is looking in gold ink on black Stonehenge paper.  The gold isn't glittery, its a lovely soft warm gold and seems to suit those lovely leaves perfectly.

It is in my little Etsy shop at the moment too...

Lino Print Exhibition at Tobacco Factory, Bristol

Really excited to be putting an art show together for an exhibition at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol!

It will run from October 17th until November 27th and will be in The Snug, so a great excuse to go eat there, meet some friends, have a hot chocolate - I think I may end up hanging out there every single day :)

The really hard part is choosing which lino prints to exhibit, because I have been working on three new series of prints and want to show them all to everyone...but actually that would be a terrible, cramped mess so I had better get curating!

I really hope you can come and have a look at the show.

Drawing and printing plants

I have spent a few weeks drawing plants, all those amazing leaf and flower shapes, foliage shadows and criss-crossing stems and branches.  It's been fun.  Now I am trying to make some of the doodles and drawings into prints that show off the plant forms...

I do like taking a plant out of context so that you can really see its shapes (like this one above) as well as drawing/printing the whole tangled mass that exists in a garden.  We will see what happens...

Night Dancing lino print on Folksy

Happy to spot my 'Night Dancing' lino print on Folksy's Favourites list at the moment.  I love the idea  of pets getting up to things as we sleep (and we all know that they do!) and lets hope it is just a bit of harmless dancing...
It is fun printing this one too as I so rarely use blocks of tone in my lino prints, so a good dramatic area of black is good to see when you peel back the paper from the block.

Check out what else is on the Folksy list here (and take a look quickly if you want to see my kitties there as who knows when the Folksy team will find some new favourites!)---> FOLKSY FAVOURITES

Owl lino prints

I have been busy proofing a lino block of owls, drawn from the Natural Science collection at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.  They have an amazingly interesting and varied collection of specimens and it has been a real privilege to be allowed into the stores to draw them.

This block took a while to carve as I wanted to keep the 'drawn' feel of the original whilst turning it into a lino print - all the lines and no tone, a bit of a leap of faith that all the cutting out would pay off, but I am pleased with how it has come out.  Next stage is to print it in gold on lovely black Stonehenge paper which will change how it looks all over again...

Projects, lino cutting, print drawers

I've had a lovely couple of weeks lino cutting - a tricky map showing bird migration routes for a book, some more museum bird specimens and a couple of test blocks to try using with different inks. Ive been printing in copper and gold for a while, but really want to try out some different ink/paper combinations so I have been collecting papers ready - should be a fun experiment!

I've also had a great clear out/rummage through my print drawers, which meant I uncovered this little goat - one of my favourites.  It is definitely Spring Cleaning season around here.
My little goat lino print is hanging out in my Etsy shop if you want to pop over :)

Leeds Print Fair

I had a stand at Leeds Print Fair for the first time this month and it was really fab.  Very busy and lots of interest in my lino prints which was great - also time for an amazing pizza, a French film at the lovely Hyde Park Picture House and a pit stop in a great house filled with amazing children's art...yeah!

Spring printing projects

I find the sunny, lighter days are perfect for a flurry of lino cutting activity...

In the past week I have lino cut the Teeny Tiny Bridge you can see in the photo, a flock of birds, an angry goose, an alien, a girl climbing over a mountain range and a herd of wild boar.

Next I need to print a whole lot of cards for our local arts trail in May, because that will be here in no time at all, lickety-split...

Lie On the Ground - lino cut print

A new lino print  One that has been simmering for quite a while now and has finally made it onto paper.  It has a friend too, but that one is still in a sketchbook.  I've popped it into my Etsy shop too :)

I was also pleased to carve all those little words without mishap - that doesn't always happen!

Little images in lino....

Lots of little images which I thought you could have a look at :)

lots of lovely lino prints...

Packing up prints for todays deliveries....

Nest in an oak tree

An oak tree is exactly where I would build my nest if I had the skills to do it and needed somewhere to store a brood of hungry little birdies!

I wonder what's for dinner because they are looking pretty hungry.

Carving oak leaves out of lino is one of my favourite hobbies at the moment, they are creeping into lots of my pictures recently...