Transfer design to block for Linocut

Lo and  behold it actually worked! Yesterday I painted the matte gel medium on to the linoleum and put paper copies of the design on top of it. I let that dry overnight. I had hoped to peel it off the top like the one youtube video I watched (although I see that he used glossy gel medium) but it didn't. I then proceeded to Plan B. I simply rubbed the paper off with a damp sponge and it "magically" left the design on the block. Success!

Next step is to start the carving. Each block will be used for a different color; red, green and black and I have a spare if I really screw one of them up. I need to move pretty quickly at this point so that the linocuts are ready when the ink arrives. The ink is arriving from a couple of different sources, it seems there has been quite the run of printers ink across the country during the pandemic.

I cut down the paper to the size of the block after the gel had dried.

Here the paper is wetted down and I'm rubbing it off gently with a damp sponge.

And here the image is revealed. I didn't rub the paper all the way off since most of it is going to get cutaway anyway. Time to bring out the blades!