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How to Make a Morris-Inspired Lino or Block Print

No museum source records tested steps for a Morris-inspired block print, so this guide teaches general technique and uses the V&A's account of Morris's own method as the guiding principle.

By: William Morris Art Prints

Daisy Variant 57 by William Morris, Framed PosterView this print →

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No supplied museum or primary source records tested steps or measurements for making a Morris-inspired block print, so this guide teaches the process in general terms. What it can ground you in is the V&A's account of Morris's own practice: he researched and revived historical printing methods rather than looking for shortcuts. Expect a general craft process, clearly labelled, plus tips on the pattern-drawing stage where Morris's example applies most. For the fuller story of the man behind the style, see William Morris's life.

What the sources do and do not tell us

Start with the honest limit: no source used here supplies tested steps, timings or measurements for cutting and printing a block in a Morris-inspired style. This page will not invent them. The steps below are standard lino and block printing practice, framed as such.

What is documented is Morris's approach. According to the V&A, to make his first wallpapers Morris researched and revived historical printing and dyeing methods. The V&A also characterises his insistence on building a from-scratch understanding of process as a hallmark of his practice. That is the part of his method you can genuinely borrow.

Why Morris's method matters for your print

The V&A dates Morris's first wallpapers to the late 1860s and notes that their designs were inspired by English gardens and hedgerows. Before those wallpapers existed, he had put in the research: the V&A records that he studied and revived historical printing and dyeing methods to make them.

The lesson for a maker is order of operations. In the V&A's characterisation, Morris insisted on understanding the process from scratch before producing through it. Translated to a lino print: learn what your block, ink and paper actually do before you worry about decoration. A pattern printed on a process you have not tested will disappoint you in ways no design can fix.

Start with the pattern, not the block

Draw the pattern on paper before you cut anything. Morris's wallpapers drew on English gardens and hedgerows, so plant forms, meandering stems and dense repeats are the natural territory for a Morris-inspired design. Work out the repeat on paper, where mistakes cost nothing.

For the drawing stage in full, follow our guide to drawing a Morris-style pattern, which covers the pattern-building steps one by one. This page does not repeat them; it picks up once you have a design ready to transfer to a block.

General steps, clearly labelled as general

The following is a standard lino or block printing sequence, offered as general craft practice. It is not sourced Morris workshop technique, and it carries no measurements, because no source here supplies any.

A typical sequence runs as follows.

Finalise your drawn pattern and decide the repeat, mirroring it where the design needs it.
Transfer the design onto the lino or block, usually by tracing or rubbing the reverse of a pencil drawing.
Carve away everything that will stay unprinted, keeping the raised lines that will carry ink.
Ink the block evenly with a roller, testing on scrap paper first.
Print by pressing the block onto paper with even pressure.
Repeat, re-inking between pulls, and adjust registration if the design is a repeating one.

Treat each stage as a thing to understand, not just perform. Pull test prints at every step and note what changes. That habit, more than any single technique, is what the V&A's account of Morris suggests.

Common mistakes, including the research ones

Most beginner errors are practical. Over-inking floods fine lines and fills in carved areas. Carving too deep or too fast weakens the block and produces ragged edges. Misaligned repeats break a pattern that looked correct on paper, so check registration on the first two or three pulls before printing a run.

The research mistakes are just as common. Do not assume a specific pattern name, colour count or historical method for your project without a source. The material used for this page identifies no specific Morris designs, methods or measurements, and inventing them would defeat the point. If you want to claim something is how Morris did it, the standard the Victoria and Albert Museum applies to Morris himself, his insistence on establishing a from-scratch understanding of process, applies to you too: find the documented process first.

Keep these in view while you work.

Test ink coverage on scrap before every printing session.
Carve conservatively; you can cut more away but not add it back.
Check repeat alignment early, not after a full run.
Separate what you know from what you are guessing about Morris's own methods.

One further caution: Morris-inspired means inspired by, not by Morris. If your interest is in the man rather than the style, the different William Morrises is a useful page for keeping the designer distinct from the car maker and the dancers.

Quick checklist

Before you print, confirm each of these. If you want more background on Morris himself before you start, William Morris's life covers the biography in depth.

The pattern is drawn and its repeat worked out on paper first.
You have tested the process itself, not just the design.
You can say which claims about Morris's methods are documented and which are your own choices.
You understand this page teaches general technique, not documented Morris workshop practice.

For the design stage in detail, continue to our step-by-step guide to drawing a Morris-style pattern. To see the finished works themselves, the V&A collections hold Morris's wallpapers, textiles, carpets, embroideries, tapestries, tiles and book designs, and they reward close looking at how the repeats are built.

Evidence