The word linoleum stems from the Latin words for linen and oil, linum and oleum. While it originally was made from pulped linen and oil, modern linoleum printing blocks are made from cork dust, which is mixed with linseed oil, gum and resin before being pressed onto a board or sheet of fabric. The resulting surface is very easily carved into, the intent being to leave only the areas to be printed raised, and to remove any area not to be printed.
Monochrome printing is relatively easy to achieve with linoleum cuts. The image to be printed can be drawn directly onto the surface of the linoleum and then carved around; however, the image created during printing is mirrored, so it is opposite to the image on the lino cut. Shading can be achieved by hatching, leaving thin lines groups of thin lines to suggest gray, or stippling, which is using dots to suggest lighter tones.
Lino cuts can also be used to produce color prints, but this is less often done due to the complexity of creating the prints and the color restrictions involved. The first layer of ink to be printed needs to be lightest, as this will have the greatest print area, with less material cut away from the lino cut surface. Once a layer of ink has been printed, more details are cut away from the lino. A darker ink is applied and this is printed directly over the image created in lighter ink. The darker inks effectively cover and hide the lighter inks. The process is repeated until the final, and normally black, layer of ink is applied.
Linoleum was invented in England in 1863, initially as a surface covering. It was quickly adopted in the book printing industry as a way to include images in books and to created pictures for sale. However, it was felt to be a cheap imitation of the more traditional woodcut printing methods and metal etching. This stigma was retained until modern artists such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse gave the technique more credibility. Lino cut printing is now an accepted means of producing limited editions of prints.