Lino Printing Workshop

Sally Zaranko is running a lino printing workshop at Ampleforth Abbey on Sunday 5 July, a half-day session spent carving and printing your own linocuts. The theme is local wildlife, and the focus is on the birds that nest around the abbey: the swifts and common house martins that spend their summers in the Ampleforth area.

Zaranko comes from Ashford Cottage Design, where she works as a lino printmaker. She'll be leading the session, so you'll get her guidance throughout the session rather than just a set of instructions to follow on your own. The whole point is to walk away with a print you've made yourself, with the local birds as your starting point.

There is a choice of two half-day sessions, starting at 9:00 am or 1:30 pm. The price is £45 per person, and that covers everything you'll need for the session—all the materials are included, so you don't have to bring your own tools. Lunch is also part of the deal, served in the abbey's oak-panelled Tea Room.

If you've never tried lino printing before, it's a straightforward enough process to pick up in a session: you carve a design into a linoleum block, ink it, and press it onto paper. The wildlife theme gives you something concrete to work from, and having Zaranko there means you can ask questions as you go. It's open to anyone interested in arts and crafts, and with lunch and materials all sorted, you just need to turn up.