Lino Cut Owl

With sales slowing down to a hault in my hubby's Etsy shop, JoonBuggy, I decided to give buyers an incentive to purchase books from our shop.  I will soon be introducing a print of my owl lino cut as a freebie to those who buy any book from his shop. 

This is the sketch I started with.  I used carbon paper to transfer the drawing to the lino surface.  I had to stop when I was half done and start over again because I forgot to transfer the reverse image to the carving surface and I did not like this guy as well in reverse.

Here is the lino halfway through the carving process.

I finished the carving and did a test print, but I really need a good brayer.  I have spots in each print that have less ink, and I also have places where the ink fills the carved lines.  This is all because the brayer I am using is a cheap plastic brayer that is very uneven.  It even has a few indentions in it.  Yikes.  I also forgot to sand the protective coating off the linoleum before I got started which causes the ink to kinda pool up on the surface.  Next time I will make sure to do more research before starting a project with an unfamiliar technique!

Here is the finished carving and a (sorry excuse for a) test print.

I believe I can make this work with a good brayer.  If not I will recarve this cute guy again.  Live and learn, right?